BART riders sipping their morning cup of coffee in cafes near Oakland's Rockridge Station now know when to go for their trains by simply glancing up at flat screens mounted in windows or on countertops - screens that display train arrival information.

So far, two cafes and one retail business located next to Rockridge Station have screens displaying live train information - Peaberry's Coffee & Tea, Cafe Lyon and Maison d'Etre. BART is looking for more businesses, as well as major office buildings, to put the screens up in store windows and lobbies to help customers or employees better time their trains.

"Now passengers can better plan their arrival to a BART station," BART board member Bob Franklin said in a news release. "If you don't know the schedule, you now have instant access as to when the train is actually arriving, either in the palm of your hands or in a store window display, instead of having to rush ahead to the platform to find out."

"It's good for us because it's another way to draw BART riders into our cafe and give them a sense of timing so they don't have to rush to their train," Cafe Lyon owner Lev Kilun said in the news release. His cafe sits at the corner of College and Miles, just across from Rockridge Station.

Businesses with an extra monitor and an old computer can display this information. They can download the free instructions and software from http://www.bart.gov/display or www.bart.gov/display.

Customers can get a text message or an e-mail alerting them to train delays or other information by signing up at www.bart.gov/updates. BART's text message and e-mail alert system is in its beta stage. Customers can even pick a time of the day when they want BART to alert them on their mobile phones or via e-mail so they don't get messages when they don't want them, such as in the middle of the night.

BART customers can also get information on their Apple iPod, Palm, Pocket PC and Web-enabled mobile device. BART was the first transit agency in the nation to offer both schedules and maps for iPod.

For more information on BART's mobile trip planners, visit www.BART.gov/mobile.

BART also offers a desktop news alert "widget" that brings breaking BART news and service advisories to the computer desktop. Visit www.bart.gov/widgets.