The federal government is telling the Bay Area’s transportation commission to take a more active role in checking whether proposed public transit projects would have unfair impacts on minorities and low-income people. Read the rest of this entry »

The AC Transit Board voted last night to appeal a court order forcing the transit district into arbitration with its prolonged contract dispute, and also decided to appeal an injunction forcing the bus sytem to return to old work rules and contract provisions in operating the district. The decision is the latest twist in the confict over the board’s effort to wring cost-cutting concessions out of its unionized bus drivers and mechanics as the district struggles with financial problems and service cuts.

  Read more about it later today at www.contracostatimes.com . AC Transit reiterated last night that  it is going to look in the coming weeks at cutting weekend bus service and other money saving options to offset the higher cost of operating the district under the old contract provisions. Read the rest of this entry »

You know you’re having a bad commute day when your trip by seaplane accidentally violates restricted air space around the president’s Air Force One and military jets are scrambled as result. That’s what happened Tuesday afternoon to a pilot and passenger who flew into Lake Washington next to Seattle.

The sonic booms caused by the fighter jets triggered an avalanche of 911 calls and the production of ”Obooma” t-shirts for sale online. Read about it here. Read the rest of this entry »

A new parking garage is going up at the Richmond BART station as part of a trend of building transit-oriented development near rapid transit stations. Work began Tuesday on a six-story parking garage that will free up space for construction of 100 homes at the station, reports Katherine Tam in the Contra Costa Times.

The parking garage at McDonald Avenue and 15th Street is part of the city’s 16-acre Richmond Transit Village. The project is  is aimed at revitalizing downtown Richmond and easing congestion and air pollution by providing homes and businesses close to BART. If BART is so near, residents of the transit villages won’t drive so much, the thinking goes. A similar strategy is behind transit village projects finished or underway near the following stations: Pleasant Hill, Dublin, west Dublin (the station under construction), El Cerrito Del Norte, Fruitvale, South San Francisco and Union City. Read the rest of this entry »

Rocky Fernandez, the AC Transit board president, won’t seek re-election in the  financially beleaguered public bus system.  “It’s with a heavy heart that I have decided not to seek re-election to represent Ward 4 on the board,” Fernandez said in a statement released over the weekend. “Right now, I need to step back on focus on my career.”

He was elected in 2006 in a ward including San Leandro,  Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Ashland, and the part of Hayward east of the Nimitz Freeway. Read the rest of this entry »

BART police officers, their K9’s, and some transit board members are visiting four train stations from 4 to 7 p.m. today to promote crime prevention on National Night Out.

The officers will distribute child fingerprint kits for parents, key chain whistles and crime prevention bulletins at the Pleasant Hill, Fruitvale, Fremont and 24thStreet/Mission stations. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest labor dispute over cost cutting in the public transit industry moves to a court in Oakland today when a judge hears arguments for and against a request by the AC Transit bus drivers’ union to turn their beef over to an arbitrator. Drivers and mechanics are unhappy that the AC Transit Board voted June 30 to unilaterally impose new contract provisions upon workers that change work rules and require co-pays for medical insurance.

The rules are scheduled to take effect Sunday.

Attorneys for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 and the transit district are scheduled to square off this morning sometime after 9 a.m before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch in court department  31. The location is the U.S. Post Office Building, 201 13th St. (between Alice and Jackson streets), Oakland. Read the rest of this entry »

Walnut Creek is beginning to discuss a big-time move in the effort to make cities more pedestrian friendly: closing two of the four traffic lanes along three blocks of Mt. Diablo Boulevard in the heart of the downtown. The idea of the street narrowing is to create more space for outdoor dining and strolling.

  This  proposal in early discussions, as reported by Elisabeth Nardi  in the Contra Costa Times, is worth following.  This could affect your transportation if you live or travel in Walnut Creek. Even if you’re not a Walnut Creek regular, the story is noteworthy because it plugs into a debate about whether we need to remake American cities and life styles to be less dependent on cars. Read the rest of this entry »

AC Transit’s rough times could perk up public interest in the transit district’s board election this November. Transit board elections are usually low-key in the Bay Area, but the AC Transit board’s votes to cut bus service twice this year and impose contract conditions uililaterally on unionized bus drivers and mechanics can be expected to raise the stakes.

Board members say they are doing the best they can in a recession that has hit transit agencies hard throughout California and forced cost-cutting measures. That explanation may not stop political hopefuls from eyeing this as an opportune time to run for office and argue they could do better in addressing the bus system’s declining revenues and rising costs for workers’ health insurance and pensions.   Read the rest of this entry »

Free bus lines that shuttle Walnut Creek and Foster City riders to shopping centers and transit centers are in danger of being swept away by the financial storm buffeting cities and transit systems.

The two cities have subsidized the local bus services for years to reduce congestion and air pollution and ease parking shortages in busy areas important for producing sales tax dollars.  But in these days of tight money, free bus service is viewed as icing on the cake.   Read the rest of this entry »