SEPTEMBER 2026-1

ECRA WALK & ROLL FAMILY-FRIENDLY HAPPY HOUR – SEPTEMBER 9, 5–7 P.M.: Join us to hang out, eat, have a beer, and talk multimobility and safer streets with like-minded neighbors! Bring the kids/family/friends/partners! Our happy hours are every other second Wednesday, 5 to 7 p.m., at family-friendly Fatapples, 7525 Fairmont Ave. Look for us at the picnic tables or indoors, depending on the weather. Mark your calendar for our last 2026 happy hour on November 11.

SOLANO STROLL IS SEPT. 13 – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Hang out with El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll and spread the word about how we’re working to make safer streets at the 50th Solano Stroll on Sunday, Sept. 13. Sign up for a shift here or write to us at info@ecrawalkroll.org to volunteer. (We can especially use help with bringing over the table, chairs, canopy etc. on the morning/afternoon of the event.) As in prior years, the El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll booth will be adjacent to Masonic Ave./Ohlone Greenway near our friends Albany Strollers & Rollers. Stop by and say HI!

LOCAL ROAD SAFETY PLAN AT EL CERRITO CITY COUNCIL MEETING – SEPT. 15: The El Cerrito city council is expected to finalize the city’s draft Local Road Safety Plan on Sept. 15. See “ACTION ALERT” below for more information and to sign onto our letter.

ADAPTIVE CYCLING DEMO – SEPT. 18 @ EL CERRITO PLAZA BART: Have you ever wanted to try a hand cycle, therapeutic trike, or other adaptive bike? This summer, CCTA, BORP, and Independent Living Resources are bringing adaptive bikes directly to the El Cerrito Plaza BART parking lot on Sept. 18, 3 to 6 p.m. BORP staff and community leaders with disabilities will be on site to help you find the right equipment and ride at your own pace. Transfer support is available, including a Hoyer lift, transfer chair, and transfer board with staff assistance. No experience is needed — whether you want to check out the equipment or go for a ride, you are welcome. Open to people with a wide variety of disabilities and all ages, and caregivers, family members, and friends are welcome. Free, with advance registration encouraged at tinyurl.com/AdaptiveCycling. Questions? Call 510-848-2930 or email cycling@borp.org. Source: 511 CCTA 

SUSTAINABLE RICHMOND EXPO – SEPT.  26: The City of Richmond's Economic Development Commission is hosting the city’s inaugural Sustainable Richmond Expo 2026, a free public event celebrating sustainability, innovation, and community. The Expo is on Saturday, September 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic Center Plaza. The Expo brings together residents, businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders to explore the ideas, products, and solutions shaping Richmond's sustainable future. Opening ceremonies begin at 11 a.m. with city representatives. Source: Richmond City Manager’s Weekly Report

Volunteers needed!: Sign up to help staff our table at the El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll table.

EL CERRITO TRAIL TREKKERS 2ND ANNUAL PUBLIC PATHS FESTIVAL – SEPT. 26-27: Besides the wonderful trails that wind through El Cerrito’s Hillside Natural Area, many other public pathways and stairs enliven El Cerrito neighborhoods. This free festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, explores a selection of these oft-ignored, non-Hillside trails. The festival includes five walks over the two days, visiting hidden creeks, neighborhoods of fine homes, riparian habitats, and historic spots, as well as several impassable public paths that Trail Trekkers is working to restore. ECRA Walk & Roll’s Janet Byron is leading Walk 5, the Ridge Ramble, on Sept. 27 at 9 a.m. Get more information and see the schedule here. Source: El Cerrito Trail Trekkers

Sign ECRA Walk & Roll’s letter on draft Local Road Safety Plan

On July 27, El Cerrito published its draft Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) and opened a 4-week public comment period (which ended on Aug. 21). The 42-page draft Local Road Safety Plan is a culmination of crash data analysis, input from the El Cerrito community, and strategies centered around Vision Zero, a goal to eliminate serious and fatal injury crashes in El Cerrito by 2035.

Above, data collected in the draft plan shows that motor vehicles account for nearly 90 percent of all collisions on El Cerrito’s local streets, yet vulnerable road users bear a disproportionate share of serious outcomes.

While the El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll coordinating committee supports adoption of the draft Local Road Safety Plan, we also urge the city to strengthen the plan in three important ways:

• Give greater attention to safe routes to schools.

• Commit to a full update of El Cerrito’s Active Transportation Plan.

• Include a 20 mph speed limit for all neighborhood streets.

TAKE ACTION!

1) Read the draft Local Road Safety Plan and add your comments in the online document. Although public comment was officially closed on Aug. 21, the online document was still accepting comments when this newsletter was sent.

2) Sign onto our letter to El Cerrito Public Works and City Council. Write your name at the bottom of the letter; or write to info@ecrawalkroll.org for us to add your name.

3) Attend the El Cerrito city council meeting on September 15: El Cerrito city council is expected to finalize the Local Road Safety Plan at its September 15 meeting. Share your views on the draft plan and speak during public comments and/or the LRSP agenda item.

4) Send emails about the draft Local Road Safety Plan to cityclerk@elcerrito.gov before 2 p.m. on Sept. 15.

Best wishes to Jarrett Mullen, with deep appreciation

Jarrett Mullen, El Cerrito’s first sustainable transportation program manager since 2022, is moving on to new professional horizons. We will miss him! El Cerrito has greatly benefited from his safe-streets wisdom. As multi-mobility advocates, El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll appreciated his many meetings with us and we valued his support of our passion, as well as his sober feedback about what is feasible and what is not.

Before coming to El Cerrito, Jarrett was a senior transportation program manager at Fehr & Peers (a consulting firm) and before that at the City of Palo Alto. Jarrett has a deep awareness of the multidimensional implications of transportation infrastructure for a community. His mission was to not just put bike lanes on Richmond Street and at Del Norte, but to advance a network of streets safely navigable by all users: bicyclists, walkers, bus riders, motorists, children, and seniors. The objective: to allow everyone, whether they can drive a car or not, safe access to the things they need and desire for daily living.

Soon he will be working with the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. By comparison with El Cerrito, San Mateo County is vast in area with a greater range of transportation conditions. We are sure he will bring the same impressive commitment we experienced to his new responsibilities. 

Jarrett, farewell and best wishes!!!

NEVs for local travel to and from hillside homes

By Steve Price

So many communities in California, including El Cerrito, have hilly neighborhoods that generate traffic into the flatlands. Almost all cities in Contra Costa County have hilly residential areas. According to U.S. 2020 Census data, almost half of El Cerrito’s population lives in the hillier parts of town (see chart below). To achieve El Cerrito’s climate goals, we may be able to get many more people in the flats to walk more and ride bicycles, but those living in the hills will likely still be the source of continuing traffic of full-sized cars throughout the city. 

We can't expect many folks living in the hills to bicycle down from the top of the hills, run some errands, and then bicycle back up, but they could drive small neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) down and back up without threatening the safety of other street users. NEVs are golf-cart-sized vehicles or smaller, which are charged at a wall socket, travel up to 25 mph (the posted speed limit for all streets in El Cerrito, except San Pablo Avenue), and are intended for local trips rather than long-distance travel on freeways. NEVs weigh about 1,000 pounds — about a quarter or a fifth of a full-sized car — and they are narrower, so less likely to door a bicycle rider. (Above, FIAT’s Topolino micro-car.)

In some of the census tracts in the El Cerrito hills, a third to almost half of the population is 60 years old and older. NEVs first started out marketed to seniors, many of whom don’t feel safe on a two-wheel bicycle. NEVs have the potential to provide a low-carbon, small-footprint vehicle that doesn’t take much room to park. This is a potentially transformative transportation option for hill-dwellers to get around the inner East Bay. 

SEPTEMBER IS TRANSIT MONTH! California Transit Month — which is presented by a consortium of organizations including Seamless Bay Area — is continuing its annual tradition of celebrating the buses, trains, operators, and riders that make the wonderful Bay Area transit system we all know and ride. Public transit is essential to thriving cities and the people who make those cities special. It is more important than ever before that we show our elected leaders how important transit is to our riders and the entire community, and that we need to continue funding it. Prove it to them this Transit Month by getting out and taking transit! Visit Bay Area Transit Month for a ride contest and local events in September. Source: Bay Area Transit Month

EL CERRITO PLAZA BART STATION PARKING SURVEY: The City of El Cerrito is evaluating parking changes for the area around the El Cerrito Plaza BART station, and is collecting feedback to shape its draft Parking Management Action Plan, which will be presented to the community for input in early 2027. Learn more at the Tri-City Safety Day Pop-Up, 1000 El Cerrito Plaza (in front of Lucky) on Sept. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; drop in any time. Learn more and take the online survey by October 3 at at parking.elcerrito.gov. Source: El Cerrito City Manager’s Weekly Report

CCTA LAUNCHES TRANSIT READY PROGRAM: CCTA (Contra Costa Transit Authority) is launching Transit Ready, a new countywide travel training program designed to help older adults and people with disabilities travel more confidently and independently on public transportation. Transit Ready is about helping residents better understand the transportation options available to them so they can stay connected to health care, services, family, community activities, and the places they need to go throughout Contra Costa County. CCTA will introduce the program at a free community launch event on September 30 at the San Pablo City Hall, 1000 Gateway Ave. (in the City of San Pablo), 10 a.m. to noon. The launch is the first step in a broader countywide effort to give residents practical skills and greater confidence navigating public transportation. Source: CCTA

BART SCHEDULE CHANGES: BART’s schedule changed on August 10, with targeted improvements to enhance reliability and reduce wait times for some riders, including on our Red (Richmond) Line. Trains will be more evenly spaced apart for Richmond-bound riders coming from San Francisco, which means wait times will be reduced and trains will have less crowding. Yellow Line and Red Line trains are now spaced 10 minutes apart instead of 5 and 15 minutes. This gives riders the option to take a Yellow Line train and transfer at 19th Street/Oakland to a Richmond-bound Orange Line train or take the direct Red Line train. Riders coming from Antioch (Yellow Line) transferring toward Richmond (Orange or Red Line) will save 17 minutes with a new four-minute transfer at MacArthur from Platform 4 to Platform 1. BART encourages riders to check the schedule to see if their trip is impacted. The new schedules are posted here as pdfs, and BART's Trip Planner is updated with the changes. Source: BART

CCTA BACK-TO-SCHOOL SAFETY TIPS AND FREE STUDENT RIDES: As the school year begins, brush up on the above safety tips to help keep students safe. Also, apply now for two months of free student rides on AC Transit, County Connection, Tri Delta Transit, or WestCAT buses. Passes are going fast; apply now while supplies last. Limit: two students (grades 1-12) per household. Source: 511 Contra Costa 

AC TRANSIT PREPARING FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIO: At the El Cerrito City Council meeting on July 21, AC Transit staff reported that if long-term funding is not secured by December 2026, AC Transit will need to reduce services beginning in June 2027. AC Transit is working now to develop an emergency Contingency Service Plan that would outline which routes and schedules would be reduced. Please provide your feedback on which routes, schedules, and connections matter most to your daily life. Your feedback will help AC Transit focus limited resources where they will have the greatest impact, if funding is not secured. Learn more and provide input at actransit.org/contingency-plan. Source: El Cerrito City Manager’s Weekly Report

REPORT TRAFFIC CONCERNS TO EL CERRITO PUBLIC WORKS: If you see a traffic hazard or problem of any type — such as potholes, trees down, maintenance needs, lights/signals out, bad sidewalks, illegal dumping, or graffiti — the best way to take care of it is to report it to El Cerrito Public Works Department via their traffic request page.

REPORT ROAD HAZARDS TO RICHMOND AND BEYOND: To report debris in bike lanes and other transportation-related road hazards, be a squeaky wheel here; and for up-to-date links for reporting systems in every East Bay jurisdiction, go to Bike East Bay’s hazard reporting page.