After Long Wait, South Bay BART Service Off And Running

The long-awaited, 10-mile BART extension into San Jose is finally open for service as of Saturday.

For some, it’s almost hard to believe, but BART service has arrived in Santa Clara County with the opening of two new stations in North San Jose and Milpitas.

The first train left the Berryessa/North San Jose station shortly before 8 a.m.

With ridership down due to the coronavirus pandemic, only a handful of residents made it out for the first train departing Saturday morning. For those who did make it, they were feeling good.

"(It's) awesome, amazing," San Jose’s David Ginsborg told KCBS Radio. "I was here 20-odd years ago when we were trying to get the thing done and it’s so exciting to be here."

A day 30 years In the making! Passenger service begins this morning on the two-stop BART extension into Milpitas and San Jose. Passengers I spoke with say they’re not sour that it took this long - they’re just glad it’s here! pic.twitter.com/vN6QjhSJSH

Ginsborg, like so many South Bay residents, had expected this opening to happen a lot sooner. In fact, he even promised as much to his wife before they got married that a new BART station would be coming soon.

"It was always a joke in our marriage like 'Oh yeah, when’s BART coming?'" Ginsborg said.

Well, it’s here now.

"Yeah, I think she’s forgiven me," Ginsborg laughed.

The next phase of the BART extension plans to bring the service further into downtown San Jose and then to Santa Clara over the coming decade.