AKLAND, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco Bay area commuters endured another
tough morning commute on Tuesday, as a strike on one of the region's
heavily used train systems entered its second day.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters who rely on Bay Area Rapid Transit
— the nation's fifth largest rail system — had to find alternate
routes to work. Traffic heading to San Francisco on the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was jammed leading to the bridge's toll
plaza.
Lines for ferries and buses appeared even longer than on Monday, and
BART said charter buses it was running at four stations reached
capacity before 7 a.m. and could no longer accommodate additional
passengers.
Workers representing two of BART's largest unions went on strike after
talks with management broke down on Sunday. No new talks have been
scheduled.
The striking unions and management reported being far apart on key
sticking points that included salary, pensions, health care and
safety.
"Our members aren't interested in disrupting the Bay Area, but
management has put us in a position where we have no choice," said
Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555.
The unions, which represent nearly 2,400 train operators, station
agents, mechanics, maintenance workers and professional staff, want a
5 percent raise each year over the next three years.
BART said train operators and station agents in the unions average
about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The
workers also pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.
BART spokesman Rick Rice said the agency had upped its original offer
of a 4 percent pay increase over the next four years to 8 percent. The
proposed salary increase is on top of a 1 percent raise employees were
scheduled to receive Monday, Rice added.
The transit agency also said it offered to reduce the contribution
employees would have to make to pensions, and lower the cost for
health care premiums.
BART, with 44 stations in four counties and 104 miles of lines,
handles more than 40 percent of commuters coming from the East Bay to
San Francisco, said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission.
Transit authorities have made accommodations to help, including longer
carpool lane hours, additional ferries, and extra buses. BART doubled
the number of buses serving West Oakland to 36 on Tuesday.
Stuart Cohen, executive director of TransForm, a nonprofit
organization focused on public transportation and walkable communities
in the Bay Area, suggested employers allow workers to telecommute.
"Truth is, on a nice summer day, it's good to telecommute," he said.
"Hopefully this won't go too long. It if continues into a non-holiday
week next week, we're going to find a lot of people settling into new
patterns, finding carpools," he said. "I think this experimentation
could settle in a bit, and if it lasts long enough, I'd expect when
BART service comes back ridership will be down."
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