ANNOUNCEMENT: There will be a BAD meeting at the Pacific Coast Brewing Company on Wednesday, Feb 9 at 7:00 pm

[Tony Godshall]

According to Erich Schubert,
> Hi,
> Coming from Berkeley (where I'm since 01/13/05, coming from Munich. Yum,
> fresh keys to sign, folks!), what is the best way to get there?
> Bart seems to be okay, except for me taking 10m to the next bart
> station. Judging from the distance it would probably be as fast to go
> directly...
> Is that a safe area for biking (also at night, when going back), going
> along Market, San Pablo, Broadway? Is there a better route (from
> Sacramento Street)? or should I better use Bart?

I bicycle from Berkeley through downtown Oakland to Alameda
several times a week, so I can address this from experience.

But bicycle safety is in the eye of the beholder and the
experience of the rider.

I learned to bike in Mexico City, so I bicycle /everywhere/.
But folks who grew up in rural or suburban neighborhoods in 
this country tend to be afraid to bike on city streets period.
Of course your own personal paranoia level is also a factor.
I assume people don't actually want to kill me, so I wear
360-degree-visible blinking lights.  But I know (insane) 
people who don't even have reflectors.

Traffic is heavyish on Broadway downtown daytime but it
lightens up by evening and it has a bike lane all the way 
through Grand Av, so it's a pretty good route.  I typically
take the little streets near College and then go past
Rockridge BART since I like slight hills and tree-lines
streets, something like...

  http://mapsonus.switchboard.com/bin/maps-route/usr=badoak/
  password: debian

If you don't mind more concrete and people standing around
on street corners, coming down West would probably less
traffic and certainly fewer buses.  But like I say, I don't
mind traffic and go right down Shattuck to Telegraph when
I'm in a hurry. 

Bikes are allowed at all BART stops during this timeframe.
They are banned from 12 St BART during rush hour.

Anyhow I expect to bike from Dwight near Shattuck, so if 
you like we can bike down there together.