AC Transit is hosting a series of community meetings to elicit public comments and suggestions on how its Bus Rapid Transit - BRT - stations ought to be designed. 

With recent approvals from the AC Transit Board of Directors and the cities of Oakland and San Leandro, the BRT project has moved into the design phase with actual construction expected to begin in 2014. The system will run from downtown Oakland to San Leandro BART, offering service every five minutes at new boarding stations that will be spaced at four- to five-block intervals.

To meet neighborhood needs and ensure community compatibility, AC Transit is holding workshops to display proposed station designs and get opinions from local businesses and residents on what might work best.

The last meeting will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the 81st Avenue Library Meeting Room, 1021 81st Ave. in Oakland.

At the meetings, the public will learn about the “kit of parts” approach to tailoring stations to neighborhoods and communities and be informed about crosswalk treatments and other amenities. A second round of meetings on neighborhood designs will be held in November.

The community input will ultimately impact the stations’ preliminary designs that will be released to the public in early 2013.