Casual Carpool: Popular commuter option to cross Bay Bridge returns with Oakland stop

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Casual Carpool has officially made a comeback in the Bay Area.

It's the popular option to speed up commute times that ended at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, organizers are hoping that its first day back will lead to a stronger program than before.

So far, just one pick-up spot in Oakland is running. It's at Grand Avenue and Lake Park Avenue under Interstate 580 and runs from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday - Friday.

Passengers meet there and get dropped off near the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.

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Camille Bermudez is one of the community organizers who helped drive the push to get the program to come back, which started with a survey to gauge interest.

The survey found that there was an interest from those who used carpooling in the past, and many who hadn't.

"Our survey ended up telling us that about 43% of our respondents have never used Casual Carpool before," Bermudez said. "There is a new generation, as I keep calling it."

If you are one of those new riders, here's how it works: You meet at the Oakland location, find a car in the lineup and after filling with 2 passengers, it heads to San Francisco, taking advantage of the carpool lanes and sharing costs.

"Monetary contribution is recommended or suggested to our passengers, at least, offer the driver $1, $2, whatever you think or the participant thinks is appropriate," Bermudez said.

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Longtime participant Greg Riessen created an app that puts a new twist on the program called Rapid Carpool.

"The driver and the rider are connected just moments before the driver is getting off the freeway, and so the driver doesn't even have to exit the freeway and come looking for riders," Riessen said.

Though most participants Tuesday agreed that it's going to take some time for the program to get back to where it was pre-pandemic, they're grateful it's back.

"Hopefully the word spreads and things get going again," Chuy Perez said. "It's a great system."

Community organizers are planning to open more locations gradually.

The hope is that by August 2026, all 20 of the original locations will be open.

For more information on Casual Carpool, click here.