BART Strikes

BART is on strike. Today was their first day. The union contracts ended Sunday, June 30. Before it did, no new agreements were reached. About 72 hours prior, all the BART unions voted to strike. And so they did.

The impact of the strike was pretty wide spread, with thousands of riders between San Francisco and the East Bay affected. Estimates ranged from 200,00 to 400,000 riders. Without trains rolling, you can imagine the chaos and nightmare this created. If even half of these riders came to work, just imagine how many more cars would be on the already crowded roads and freeways, or much longer would the lines at the bus stops and ferry terminals be?

In my department, there are 3 of us who take BART to work. The week prior, my boss told us to bring our laptops home on Friday just in case there was a strike. As you know, I went to the city with my son, James, on Friday, so I didn't bring my laptop with me. Instead, I drove to the office on Saturday and picked it up.

Midnight Sunday (well, it was Monday, July 1st), I was glued to the TV waiting for the latest development. And it came, as expected -- a BART strike. Almost immediately, I got a text from a co-worker, who lives in San Francisco, informing me of the same news. By then, it was time to call it a day, for tomorrow was a new workday. At least, I didn't have to dress up for it.

Aside from one conference call in the morning, it was pretty much a quiet day. I kept tuned over the radio to get updates on the strike and how horrible the commute was from almost everywhere. There were people who have not taken any other public transportation before other than BART, and they all seemed lost and confused. Trips that would normally take 45 minutes took almost 3 hours. In the city, it took drivers 1.5 hours to travel 2 miles.

From what I've heard in the news, it doesn't look like any agreement will be reached between the union and BART management anytime soon. This may mean an extended strike. The last BART strike in 1997 lasted 6 days. We'll just have to see if that record will be broken.

Author would like to acknowledge sfgate.com for the use of the photograph in this post.