12th Street Oakland City Center station

The Oakland City Center entrance to the station

The station has three underground levels. The first level is a concourse with ticket machines and faregates. An island platform and two main tracks (C1 and CX) for northbound trains (bound for Richmond and Antioch) are on the second level. A side platform with one track (C2) for southbound trains (bound for Berryessa/​North San José or San Francisco) is on the third level.[3][4] The station has red brickwork, contrasting with the blue of nearby 19th Street Oakland station.[5]

The station has eight public entrances: two at 12th Street, three at 13th Street, and two at 14th Street (one from Frank H. Ogawa Plaza), plus one from the belowground plaza of Oakland City Center near 13th Street. Surface elevators are located at the Ogawa Plaza entrance and at the southwest 12th Street entrance, while the platform elevator is at the south end of the station.[3] An unused passage leads directly to the Central Bank Building at the north end of the station.[6][7]

The disused entrance to the Central Bank Building

Map of the KE Track project

Oakland City Center/12th Street station, along with 19th Street Oakland and Daly City stations, was designed by Gerard McCue and Associates.[8] By 1967, owners of three Oakland buildings were considering paying for private entrances from the station mezzanine.[9] Only one was actually constructed: an entrance from the Central Bank Building (1400 Broadway) was approved in February 1968.[6]

The station opened on September 11, 1972, as part of the first section of BART to open; service was extended to Richmond the next year. Service to Concord was added on May 21, 1973, and extended to San Francisco through the Transbay Tube on September 16, 1974. Richmond–San Francisco service was added on April 19, 1976.[1]

The station initially had one side platform on each level, with one track on the east side of each platform. The KE Track project, begun in 1980 and completed on March 17, 1986, converted the upper platform to an island platform with a new west track (Track CX).[10][4] The new track was originally used for peak hour service (southbound towards San Francisco in the morning, and northbound in the evening).[11]

Schedule changes on June 22, 1992, introduced timed transfers between Richmond–Fremont line and Concord–Daly City line trains. Oakland City Center/12th Street was the transfer point between northbound (Richmond-bound and Concord-bound) trains, while MacArthur station was the transfer point between southbound trains.[12][1]^:35 Timed transfers were discontinued in 2002, but resumed on February 9, 2004.[13]

The station was renamed to 12th Street Oakland City Center around 2008.[14][15][16] On September 13, 2010, the northbound transfer location was changed to 19th Street Oakland station.[17] Sunday-only service to the station on the Dublin/Pleasanton line was operated from February 11, 2019 to February 10, 2020 due to construction work in the Transbay Tube.[18][19]

Construction of the Oakland–San Leandro East Bay Bus Rapid Transit line (later branded Tempo) began in August 2016.[20] Tempo route 1T service began on August 9, 2020, with surface stations at 14th Street and City Center.[21]

A route 1T bus at City Center station

Downtown Oakland is a major transfer point for AC Transit buses, which stop at various locations on Broadway and cross streets near the station:[22]

• Broadway Shuttle: Day and Night
• Rapid: 1T, 72R
• Local: 6, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 29, 33, 40, 51A, 72, 72M, 88, 96
• All-Nighter: 1T, 840, 851

Route 1T stops at dedicated platforms at two locations: 14th Street on Broadway at the north end of the station, and City Center just east of Broadway on 12th Street (northbound) and 11th Street (southbound) at the south end of the station.[22]

Media related to 12th Street Oakland City Center station at Wikimedia Commons

• BART – 12th St. Oakland City Center