Politics & Government

Transit Agencies Gear Up Again For Possible BART Strike

BART workers will walk off the job again on Monday morning if no contract agreement is reached before then

Bay City News Service

With a second BART strike possible on Monday, Bay Area transit agencies are again preparing alternate ways to get commuters to their destinations without BART trains running.

A 30-day contract extension between BART management and two of BART's employee unions -- Service Employees International Union Local 1021
and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 -- expires Sunday night and there is
no sign yet that an agreement is likely before then.

Union and BART negotiators met for eight hours on Wednesday without reaching an agreement.

The first strike occurred during the Fourth of July holiday week. It lasted four and a half days and ended on July 5.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin said today the MTC is creating a strike contingency plan that is "largely the same" as the approach used during the first strike.

BART officials said the agency provides about 400,000 rides daily, with slightly lower ridership during the summer months. However, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said a strike in August would impact more riders than the one during the holiday week in July.

A conference call was held Tuesday with leaders of Bay Area transit systems including AC Transit, BART, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District and the San Francisco Bay Ferry. Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and Oakland and San Francisco city officials also participated, Goodwin said.

He said participants discussed the logistics that need to be in place in the event of another strike.

As with the first strike, BART will provide charter buses from the East Bay to San Francisco in the morning, and back for the evening commute.

Trost said BART is working to secure up to 95 buses that will pick up passengers at four East Bay BART stations -- Fremont, Dublin/Pleasanton, Walnut Creek and El Cerrito Del Norte -- and possibly at two others, Concord and San Leandro.

Those buses will stop at West Oakland, where passengers will transfer to another bus into San Francisco. Passengers heading to the city can also board at West Oakland.

Extra service will be offered again on the San Francisco Bay Ferry, which operates lines to and from San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo and South San Francisco.

There will be 13 vessels systemwide instead of the normal eight, ferry spokesman Earnest Sanchez said. During the last strike, the ferry system operated 12 boats.

There will be additional departure times from Vallejo and Oakland in the morning, and for the evening commute there will be two extra ferries leaving from the San Francisco Ferry Building.

"We are encouraging people to try to travel earlier," Sanchez said.

He advised getting in line for a ferry before 7 a.m. and avoiding the Ferry Building during the 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. crunch time.
           
AC Transit hopes to bolster its transbay service depending on bus and staff availability, Goodwin said.

On the Bay Bridge and its approaches, carpool lane hours will be
expanded and Goodwin advised motorists to use FasTrak passes to expedite
trips through the toll plaza.

Although the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge may appear to be a viable alternative to the Bay Bridge, MTC officials are warning motorists to expect delays on that bridge as well.

The MTC is urging drivers to carpool, including by using casual carpool pickups at BART stations and other designated spots. There will be free parking at all BART stations in the event of a strike.

Commuters can call 511 or visit http://alert.511.org/ for information about transit options during a BART stoppage.


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