You’re driving down a Bay Area freeway, and a message flashed on the electronic sign overhead warns of an accident ahead and then invites you to dine at a pizza parlor. Then the sign beckons you to see a new action movie.

Does this seem a little jarring? Aren’t  these state electronic message boards for things like child abduction alerts and traffic reports?

Yes, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to change that with a plan to sell space on overhead freeway signs  for advertising. The idea: make money for the struggling state. Read the rest of this entry »

AC Transit is joining the ranks of government boards allowing the public  to listen to their meetings on the Web, starting Wednesday. The idea: make government more open and little easier for the public to follow.

Operators of the bus system for much of western Alameda and Contra Costa counties said being more transparent was their motivation for starting to stream live audio of their board meetings, and also archiving the meetings so the public can listen to past meetings by visiting  AC Transit’s Web site. Read the rest of this entry »

BART riders at five stations in Oakland and San Francisco will be given ticket discount coupons for the musical “Wicked” from 6 to 9 a.m. Thursday during a rider appreciation event.

The $30 coupons, plus other goodies, will be given to riders at the Embarcadero, Civic Center, Powell and Montgomery stations in San Francisco, plus the Oakland Civic Center-12th Street station in Oakland.

In a press release, BART said the 50,000 discount coupons are donated by the folks at “Wicked,” now showing at the Orpheum Theatre. The ticket coupons will be wrapped around a download music card of songs from the musical

BART started out the New Year smoothly. No passengers were shot, injured or arrested. That might not seem like much to brag about. But it was a more peaceful start than a year ago when a transit officer fatally shot an unarmed passenger to death early Jan. 1 as the rider lay on the ground at the Fruitvale BART station. The officer quit BART before he was charged with murder. 

BART’s efforts to avert trouble this New Year’s Eve appeared to pay off.  Read the rest of this entry »

Some grinches shut down a portion of a Sacramento’s light-rail line for 12 hours on Christmas Eve by stealing copper wire from track joints. Talk about crooks stealing from the public to make a few bucks.

The Sacramento Bee and other media outlets reported that the thieves cut out the copper wiring some time between 1 and 5 a.m. on Christmas Eve. Shortly afterwards, fuses blew when the first early morning train tried to make its run. Read the rest of this entry »

Even  mellow, slow paced rail travel can have its challenges.

 A San Pablo woman interviewed for my front page story Wednesday about the increased popularity of holiday rail travel had quite an adventure last week during her four-day, cross-country train trip from Martinez to Fayetteville, North Carolina . Her trains ran into a blizzards.  She got sick.  Her train got stuck for many hours in Washington, D.C. because of locomotive problems  And she ended up going to the hospital with respiratory problems after the trip was over.

Still, Georgia Schumann hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for train travel. ”I still like the train,” the retiree  told me over the phone yesterday. “I’m feeling much better now.” Read the rest of this entry »

California’s highways  are in lousy condition. That conclusion, contained in a new study by a group that advocates highway construction,  is not exactly a news flash to Bay Area residents used to jarring, bumping rides on their commute.

But hey. It’s nice to know that someone recognizes the pain of Bay Area motorists. Also, shining on a light on the problem may help build pressure to do something about it. Read the rest of this entry »

AC Transit made it a complete sweep of pain for Bay Area public transit riders Wednesday night by becoming the last major bus or train agency in the region to approve cutting service.  It could have been worse and it could have happened sooner. 

Bus service hours will be pared back 8.4 percent in March by trimming and consolidating routes and reducing bus frequency on some lines, the AC  Transit board decided. Read the rest of this entry »

AC Transit will  reward public transit commuters in downtown Oakland Thursday morning by giving away 200 free Translink cards loaded with $5 worth of transit fares.

 The giveaway on Commuter Appreciation Day will occur from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway. So get their early if you want the freebies sponsored by AC Transit and radio station KMEL 106.1.  Bags of freebies, Translink pens and t-shirts also will be given away.

A contract to build BART’s people-mover tram to the Oakland International Airport is scheduled to be awarded Thursday over objections of critics who want an express bus system instead.

It’s a political showdown years in the making.

BART top managers recommend the transit board award a $492 million contract to a joint venture of Flatiron West Inc. and the Parsons Transportation Group.  For the BART report on the recommendation, click here.

 The meeting begins  10 a.m. at the Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall, third floor, 344 - 20th St,Oakland,

  Read the rest of this entry »