Transbay Transit Center and Salesforce Park opening in August [Updated]

Update: Earlier this week, the Transbay Joint Powers Association [TJPA] would not quite confirm the reported August 12 opening date, preferring to wait until it was time for an official announcement.

Friday morning the word came out: The public will get its first look inside the new multi-billion dollar terminal on August 11, when TJPA hosts a “neighborhood block party” event to mark the completion of the eight-year-long process.

Regular service in the new structure will kick off on August 12, with rooftop park, connector bridge, shopping, gondola, and of course Muni bus service and all.

After years of waiting and months of delays, we have a date: The new Transbay Transit Center, complete with its 5.4 acre rooftop park and dynamite views of the ever-changing South Beach skyline, will open to the public on August 12.

That’s what San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King reports. The Transbay Joint Powers Association was not immediately able to confirm the date when asked, but it’s a day that’s been floated as a potential opener in the past.

The latest weekly construction update released by TJPA on July 5 assures the public, “The Transit Center is nearing completion. The ground level Muni Plaza (between Beale Street and Fremont Street) is now open, with the Grand Hall, Bus Deck, and Roof Park opening this summer.”

The city hoped to have construction on the long-in-the-making transit hub finalized last December, with public access and Muni service to follow some weeks later.

But labor shortages and other delays pushed that date back, and back, and back, to the point that the most recent July target date was at least the fifth one in 2018.

Photo by Brock Keeling

It now appears that contractors will make that deadline at least, leaving a few weeks for finishing touches and to train bus drivers how to navigate the facility.

Of course, it will be many years more until the building has train service, making it something of a long-term work in progress. But at least curious passersby will finally be able to scope out the view—and the ever-increasing foliage—from up top.

• Transit Center Opening Date [SF Gate]
• Transit Center Opening Delayed [Curbed SF]
• Transbay Update, 7/5/18 [TJPA]