This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of East Bay Regional Park District's Parks Express bus program, a low-cost, pre-scheduled system of transportation to the parks for people who otherwise would have difficulty making the trip.

The program was started in 1982 on the initiative of Richard Trudeau, then the Park District's general manager, with the goal of making the Regional Parks accessible to seniors, inner-city youngsters, and others with limited transportation options.

Since its beginning, Parks Express has transported hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy a day of recreation in the Regional Parks. Last year the program served more than 15,500 riders.

Parks Express operates in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The program is designed specifically to serve groups that serve seniors, people with disabilities, low-income families, and schools with at least 30 percent of its students enrolled in the Free & Reduced Lunch Program.

Here's how it works: an organization wishing to schedule a Parks Express bus trip contacts the Park District's Parks Express staff to set up a field trip date. A bus will pick up the group at a convenient location, transport them to the park of their choice, then return later to take them back. The Park District doesn't have its own fleet of buses because that isn't cost-effective, so the service is contracted through private bus companies.

It costs $110 to schedule a bus for a day. There are three choices: a "yellow bus" with a 40-passenger minimum, a 46-passenger coach (25 passenger minimum) available only for seniors and other adults, or a van that can accommodate up to four wheelchairs plus eight ambulatory passengers.

The program is funded mainly through the Park District's Recreation Department budget. It also receives contributions, earmarked for Parks Express, through the Regional Park Foundation. For more information on how you can help, contact the Foundation at 510-544-2202.

Parks Express bus transportation is available to any park in the District. Buses run Mondays through Fridays only, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during school months, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the summer. There's a seven-hour maximum from pickup to drop-off, so while organizers can plan a trip to any Regional Park, the travel time has to be factored in as part of the seven-hour maximum. Back to top