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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Prepare to Soil Your Pants - BART STRIKE may Start at 12:01AM Friday

If you are reading this and today is Thursday, you might want to ask your boss for tomorrow off. A brand new report from KPIX/CBS5 is that a BART strike is possible starting at 12:01AM tomorrow (Friday).

The article states that the 72 hour notice was only effective during the contract extension. Since the contract ends tonight at 11:59PM, it means the unions do not have to give prior notice to strike one second after midnight on Friday.

I'm re-posting my tips to alternate ways to get around without BART and add some new ideas (new ideas will be in green):

East Bay to SF: Your commute is going to really suck since the Bay Bridge is a nightmare.
  • AC Transit Transbay service. But you'll get stuck on the bridge.
  • Oakland/Alameda and Harbor Bay Ferries to the Ferry Building.
  • Golden Gate Transit at El Cerrito Del Norte and Richmond BART via Richmond Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge. Then transfer to a SF bound bus, or gamble on a space on the Larkspur ferry.
  • Casual carpool. Yep, stuck in traffic too.
  • BART said in the news last night that they could hire strike breakers to drive buses from certain major stations to SF, but since they depend on our freeways, expect long delays and confusion.
Inter-East Bay:
  • AC Transit's local service. Rapid likes 72R and 1R will help a bit.

San Mateo County to SF: Well, nobody gives a damn about BART in that area since there's such low ridership.
  • Caltrain (DUH!)
  • Samtrans express buses to Transbay Terminal.

Inter-San Francisco: Tack on an extra hour on your journey.
  • Muni (Cough! Vomit! Puke!). But Muni will offer increased service in areas like Mission St. and the N-Judah (where Caltrain stops).
  • Taxi!

San Francisco Giants Fans, the San Diego series is happening this weekend:
  • Check with Golden Gate Ferry, Vallejo Baylink Ferry, and Oakland/Alameda Ferry for direct service.
  • AC Transit Transbay service, but be warned of traffic on Bay Bridge.
  • Dumbarton Express and transfer to Caltrain.
  • Just sell your tickets on StubHub, there's no chance hell you are going to make it in time.
For more strike tips, visit: http://www.511.org

UPDATE: BART's unions are talking to the media and they claim "reasonable notice [of a strike]" is at least ONE HOUR. What the hell is that? They are curtailing that answer by not claiming "one hour."

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