Phone numbers running low in 510 area code

East Bay residents: get your 510 area code number now, before you lose your chance in 2018.

The California Public Utilities Commission expects that available numbers in the 510 area code will be exhausted by June 2019. Before that happens, the commission will phase in a new area code by the end of 2018.

The 510 area code consists of portions of western Alameda and Contra Costa counties including the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, San Leandro, San Pablo and Union City.

No one with an existing 510 phone number will have their area code changed. Instead, anyone requesting new phone numbers in the area will receive the new area code once it’s implemented.

The CPUC is planning to hold a series of public meetings to discuss the changes in Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward beginning in January.

The commission has not yet said what the new area code would be.

The 510 area code was itself split from the 415 area code in 1991 and the 925 area was created from the 510 area in 1998.