Community Corner

BART Strike Brings More Commuters to Ferries

Vallejo ferry service is seeing more commuters than usual.

Bay City News Service and Patch Staff —

With a new work week getting under way and no end to the BART strike in sight, Bay Area commuters set their alarms early again and set out on buses and ferries to make the long journey to work.

While many in the East Bay used buses to get from BART stations to San Francisco, many are turning to ferries for the first time. On the San Francisco Bay Ferry, 12 vessels were in service Monday morning, with commuters filling up the boats at the transit agency's terminals throughout the Bay Area, ferry spokesman Ernest Sanchez said.

"So far, ridership is heavier than it was on Friday," he said. There were 7,150 passengers Friday morning. Monday's figures have yet to be tabulated, Sanchez said. 

John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, said the peak time for commuters is much earlier during the strike than on a typical day. Based on the Friday and Monday commutes, he said, "interesting patterns are emerging." The commute is starting around 5 a.m.

The Golden Gate Ferry saw an uptick in passengers on Friday, and there were also more people driving on the Golden Gate Bridge. Friday saw 1,932 ferry passengers on the Larkspur ferry, while on the previous Friday there were 1,792. On the bridge, 19,339 cars crossed the span Monday morning, compared to 16,887 vehicles than during the same morning period the week before.

Golden Gate Ferry is providing two vessels to San Francisco Bay Ferry and operating trips between San Francisco and Oakland in the morning and afternoon peak commute periods.

The additional ferries coming from Oakland/East Bay may impact some Golden Gate Ferry San Francisco arrival times due to limited terminal availability.

Although there is limited parking near the Larkspur ferry terminal, a free shuttle for ferry riders is operating along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. "The Wave" shuttle picks up passengers on a route between Fairfax and the Larkspur Ferry Terminal during the morning and afternoon commute hours. 

At the Bay Bridge, the metering lights were activated at 5:30 a.m., which is about an hour earlier than usual, Goodwin said. Traffic was particularly heavy this morning on southbound Interstate Highway 80 from Pinole to the Bay Bridge.

In San Francisco, police and the California Highway Patrol will be beefing up patrols at key intersections near approaches to the Bay Bridge where traffic is heaviest. He said that based on Friday's congestion on city streets, more units have been requested.

 Also because of issues that sprung up Friday, the regional transportation agency is trying to ensure that more drivers are available to pick up casual carpoolers in San Francisco during the evening commute. Goodwin said there has been an imbalance, with the pool of riders waiting to be picked up outnumbering the drivers offering space in their cars.

 East Bay-bound drivers can pick up passengers on Spear Street between Howard and Folsom streets in San Francisco. To lure more drivers to fill up their cars, a "street team" will be giving out $5 Peet's gift cards to those who pick up passengers this afternoon, Goodwin said. "If you're headed to the East or North Bay," Goodwin said, "take somebody with you."

BART management will be meeting with union leaders this afternoon to resume contract negotiations, a BART spokesman said.

 A federal mediator who has been working with management and the two striking unions throughout the labor dispute will be at the meeting. "We're going to try to reach an agreement," BART spokesman Rick Rice said. If an agreement is reached by 6 p.m. today, Rice said trains will be running again Tuesday morning.

 Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 representatives will meet face to face with management as talks resume, he said.




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