BART stoppage threatens thousands of commuters
By: Mike Aldax
August 14, 2009
 |
| Off-board: BART’s 300,000-plus daily riders may have to find alternative methods of transportation Monday morning, when a worker strike is scheduled to begin. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Get ready for a nightmare commute in the Bay Area starting Monday morning, when the entire BART system is poised to stop running and drivers on highways and city streets could experience gridlock of epic proportions.
At midnight Sunday, BART workers plan to walk off the job following a collapse in labor negotiations. The union representing train operators and station agents declared the strike action Thursday, after more than four months of tumultuous negotiations that ultimately failed.
The announcement came one week after BART and union leaders reached tentative deals that many thought would avert a work stoppage or lockout. The last step was to gather final approval from union members, which was expected since their leaders publicly endorsed the deals. Members of two BART unions overwhelmingly approved their contracts, but those with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents train operators and station agents, rejected theirs.
It was the second deal Local 1555 members voted down since negotiations began in April.
“This is completely in the union’s court,” BART spokesman Linton Johnson said. “It’s their choosing to throw our riders out in the street.”
Johnson said the union would have to “offer something” to break the impasse.
But with no one left to operate the trains or work the stations, BART service will grind to a halt, leaving some 340,000 daily commuters scrambling to find transportation.
Travel alternatives are slim in the Bay Area. Many commuters will choose to drive instead, adding to highway and street congestion. Those driving to San Francisco from the East Bay will likely experience the longest delays, since their best option — the Bay Bridge — will be overwhelmed by new traffic.
“I’m totally screwed,” said Carissa Spencer, a freelance filmmaker who lives in San Francisco but works all around the Bay Area. “I’m trying to be green and ride BART, but I guess I’m going to have to not be green and drive my SUV.”
Others will attempt to pile aboard ferries, buses, Caltrain or Muni. However, those modes couldn’t possibly accommodate the influx of additional passengers, particularly in this economy, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
“Bay Area commuters have shown a lot of resilience. That resilience will be tested come Monday,” commission manager Randy Rentschler said Thursday. “Everyone should be concerned. Everyone’s going to be inconvenienced.”
How bad it’s going to be remains to be seen. Many Bay Area residents still remember how a six-day BART strike in 1997 clogged roadways and nearly doubled the time it took to drive to The City. Currently, 85,000 more people ride BART each day and the number of vehicles traveling from farther away has also increased.
Top elected officials plead to avoid strike
With a BART strike looming Monday, lawmakers are calling on transit workers and managers to continue labor talks this weekend to avoid a work stoppage that would shut down the train system.
The sentiment was supported by BART management. During a late-night news conference with reporters Thursday, board of directors member James Fang said BART is ready to return to the bargaining table immediately.
“I want everyone to cross their fingers and do a little dance so that [a strike] doesn’t happen,” he said.
Workers plan to walk off the job at midnight Sunday, said Jesse Hunt, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, BART’s second largest union, which represents about 900 train operators and station agents.
The transit agency’s largest union, Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which agreed to its contract earlier this week, said Thursday it would honor the picket line.
In reaction to the strike declaration that will cripple the Bay Area commute and wreak havoc on the local economy, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday called for both sides to return to the negotiating table immediately and work on a deal.
“Halting service to BART’s 340,000 daily riders will hamstring Bay Area commuters, clog our freeways and affect businesses across the region as workers and consumers are left stranded,” Newsom said in a statement.
Schwarzenegger said he would “not entertain a 60-day cooling-off period at this time in negotiations,” which would postpone the strike but would not provide an immediate resolution to the labor fight. He urged both sides to do all that’s possible to “reach an agreement without any strikes, lockouts or other job actions.”
“The public expects that the parties will remain at the bargaining table until an agreement is reached,” he said in a statement.
Even so, jabs from both sides persisted Thursday.
“Only [Local 1555] can choose to go on strike, and they can also choose to keep the trains running,” BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
Hunt said management’s “bad-faith” bargaining gave union members no choice but to declare a strike.
BART by the numbers
340,000 Average weekday trips in 2008
13.5 Average trip in miles by rider
4.6 million Total trips in 1973
107.5 million Total trips in 2008
1.3 billion Miles per year traveled on BART
104 Miles of track in BART system
43 Stations in transit system
31 Percent of daily BART riders in or out of The City who ride from Alameda County
Source: BART
Commute substitutes
Driving
- BART parking lots will be converted into carpool parking lots.
- Muni will expand the casual-carpooling pickup areas on Beale Street.
- Carpooling information can be found at www.rideshare.511.org/carpool.
- Muni will deploy parking control officers to direct traffic through SoMa.
- Caltrans plans to have more tollbooth workers during the morning rush hour and have more people on traffic duty to monitor stop lights and clear obstructions.
Bus
- BART will run rush-hour charter buses out of the Dublin and Walnut Creek stations to West Oakland, where passengers can transfer to a bus that will take them to San Francisco. The cost of these buses round-trip will be $5.
- AC Transit will run regular service in the event of a strike, with additional buses where most needed. Bus routes that typically go through BART stations will be routed to temporary spots outside station areas to prevent the crossing of picket lines.
- SamTrans will run a temporary free rush-hour shuttle between the Daly City and Colma BART stations and Mission and Goethe streets in Daly City, where passengers can connect to Muni.
- WestCAT will run additional express buses between Hercules and the Del Norte BART station and San Francisco.
Ferry and train
- Baylink Ferry will run extra rush-hour service between Vallejo and San Francisco.
- Alameda-Oakland Ferry will provide extra rush-hour service between San Francisco and Alameda, Alameda Harbor Bay and Oakland.
- Golden Gate Transit encourages East Bay commuters to travel to San Francisco via Marin County by taking advantage of existing extra capacity on ferries and bridge ferries; it will also run an additional high-capacity ferry from Larkspur each morning.
- Caltrain is already running all of its trains and will not add any service.
Preparing for the long road ahead
The Examiner approximated how long some morning commutes could take when BART is not running, based on current commute times and delays experienced by drivers in 1997. The predictions do not account for the increase in commuters or cars since 1997, or any roadway construction.
| City | Route | Destination | Approximate distance | Current commute time during morning peak* | Delay times during 1997 BART strike** | Expected minimum commute time if BART strikes*** |
| Concord | Hwy. 242/Willow Pass Road | Bay Bridge toll plaza | 21 miles | About 31 minutes | About 70 minutes | 1 hour 41 minutes |
| Lafayette | Hwy. 24/Pleasant Hill Road | Bay Bridge toll plaza | 13.2 miles | About 19 minutes | About 50 minutes | 1 hour 9 minutes |
| El Cerrito | Interstate 80/Potrero Ave. | Bay Bridge toll plaza | 8 miles | About 16 minutes | About 115 minutes | 2 hours 1 minute |
| San Leandro | Interstate 880/Hwy. 238 | Route 92 | 4.1 miles | About 6 minutes | About 50 minutes | 56 minutes |
| Emeryville | Interstate 580/Powell Street | Bay Bridge toll plaza | 2.1 miles | About 8 minutes | About 30 minutes | 38 minutes |
* Source: 511.org Web site ** Source: Caltrans *** The Examiner combined the current commute with the 1997 delay times
maldax@sfexaminer.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
