SF Bay area transit strike snarls commute again

SF Bay area transit strike snarls commute again

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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