Parking at Amtrak Emeryville vs Amtrak Oakland/Jack London

Hi,

I'm planning to take the Coast Starlight from the San Francisco Bay area down to Los Angeles and would like to park my car at the station for a few days.

When I called Amtrak about the parking at Oakland/Jack London, I was first told that long term parking was $13/day. When I called Impark, whom Amtrak indicated was the company in charge of parking), they told me that it would be $15/day.

I decided to also look into parking at Emeryville because my return trip will drop me off at 9:30-10 pm (or later, if the train is running late) and I wasn't sure if Oakland/Jack London would be safe for a solo female traveler. The first Amtrak representative told me that long term parking at Emeryville would be free if I could find a space or otherwise $20/day. When I spoke to the Amtrak employee at the station, though, he told me that it would be $5/day but that parking was limited and that there were no overflow parking options.

Which station would you recommend for me to use? I am at a bit of a loss because I cannot get a consistent answer from Amtrak.

Thanks!

I have used the Emeryville parking many times and it seems safe and secure. You get a pass from the amtrak counter after parking in the structure and it makes it 5.00 a day instead of 26.00 or something crazy. I have not parked at the other,hope it helps

hermit said:

I have used the Emeryville parking many times and it seems safe and secure. You get a pass from the amtrak counter after parking in the structure and it makes it 5.00 a day instead of 26.00 or something crazy. I have not parked at the other,hope it helps

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Is it difficult to find parking at the Emeryville station? I'm not familiar with Emeryville and am not sure what I would do if the parking lot/structure at the station was full when I arrived. I also saw some news that the station parking lot is closed for construction, which might limit available parking even further... Thanks

Llyn said:

hermit said:

I have used the Emeryville parking many times and it seems safe and secure. You get a pass from the amtrak counter after parking in the structure and it makes it 5.00 a day instead of 26.00 or something crazy. I have not parked at the other,hope it helps

Click to expand...

Is it difficult to find parking at the Emeryville station? I'm not familiar with Emeryville and am not sure what I would do if the parking lot/structure at the station was full when I arrived. I also saw some news that the station parking lot is closed for construction, which might limit available parking even further... Thanks

Click to expand...

The parking structure is very close by the train station and right off the highway. It is very easy to find and I can't see it being full,it is multiple stories

Emeryville is probably the safer of the two, but there isn't much difference. I just wanted to add, while it is generally safe, DO NOT LEAVE A SINGLE THING VISIBLE IN YOUR CAR. Not a cell phone charger, not a FasTrak, not a blanket.

No contest, it's Emeryville for sure!

Tip: if the Amtrak Long Term parking @ the Station is Full, across the Tracks @ the Hyatt House Hotel ( lots of us have stayed there) there is a Large Lot and they may let you Park your car @ a good rate,( haven't done it myself but others have told me they did) and there is a Sky Bridge across the tracks to the Amtrak Station.

You may also want to see if parking in Martinez is a workable option.

I stay at the Hyatt House and can verify that it does have a very large lot which is never full and the sky bridge entrance is in the Hyatt parking lot. There are elevators at each end of the sky bridge. The desk clerks at the Hyatt House are very nice to me so I am thinking they would possibly offer to let you park in their lot for reasonable fee. You could always call in advance and see what is available. Also I should point out that parking lot and sky bridge and Emeryville station are well lighted all night long.

Thank you all for the advice and tips! I am feeling a lot better about parking at Emeryville.

I'd just point out for those who haven't used it in a while, the parking lot on the train station site is completely gone. That was a great place to park, as it was free with a permit and relatively safe and convenient. They're building an office building and garage on the site.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/service-alerts/emeryville-station-parking-lot-closing-for-construction/

I heard it used to be free to park at the garage that Amtrak contracted with, but now there's a charge. One is supposed to get the old window sticker parking permit (from the Amtrak ticket agent) and present it to the parking cashier for the discounted daily rate.

This is what it was looking like during construction (notice the train in the background):



This is what it's supposed to look like when done (notice where the pedestrian bridge is and the extension from the tower to the office building):