The Bay Bridge has had nearly an accident a day on the new S-curve that opened after Labor Day modifications of the span. There was another crash there Friday even though Caltrans added new safety measures on the curve during the recent six-day closure of the bridge.

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Running a public transit system is dependent on the labor of many workers, but what happens when one of those workers goes rogue.

 Read about a San Francisco Muni worker allegedly punching a teenage girl in San Francisco, and misdemeanor charges being filed against a BART train operator for allegedly making lewd advances to a female passenger he invited into his cab on a moving train. Read the rest of this entry »

As we in the Bay struggle with conflicts between cars and bicyclists sharing the same road, so does the public in Los Angeles County. Check out this story about a doctor on trial for four felony accounts related to a collision with some bicyclists who allege the physician tried to harm them.

“Though data suggest that cycling fatalities have actually fallen nationwide,” reads the LA Times story, “one new study suggests that the injuries cyclists suffer in traffic accidents are becoming more severe.” Read the rest of this entry »

Caltrans will close two of the four lanes on southbound Interstate 680 in Alamo for three or four hours today – starting at 10 a.m - to repair a hole in the pavement. A major rehabilitation of the entire freeway in the San Ramon Valley is being planned for summer of 2010.

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We invite our readers to post comments below about how the Bay Bridge closure affected them during the five and a half days the span was out of service. 

Did the closure change your travel plans? Did the closure try your patience? Was it understandable Caltrans took so long to fix a Labor Day repair that failed Tuesday? Do you feel comfortable traveling on the bridge after the repairs are finished?

Let us know below, and if you leave your name and city of residence, we may use excerpts of comments in a news story.

It was a deja vu experience for news reporters and motorists last night as the Bay Bridge was closed indefinitely to shore up a cracked bridge piece called an eyebar. It turns out that parts of the the Labor Day weekend fix – a giant metal splint - failed and crashed onto the bridge.

Caltrans said this morning it doesn’t know when the fix can be fixed, but officials expect it to be “days at the worst.” Read the rest of this entry »

In the saga of BART’s response to the police shooting of unarmed train rider Oscar Grant III, a few things seemed destined to happen.

First, the transit board members said publicy they were sorry about the shooting. This was in early January during the board’s first meeting after passenger-shot videos showed a transit officer shooting Grant in the back as he lay prone on a station platform. The office has since resigned and been charged with murder.

Then yesterday the board promised to fix the transit police department. Read the rest of this entry »

The evidence keeps piling up  – along with dead and mangled bodies – that use of electronic communications devices while driving is taking a heavy toll. But it’s not like Americans are going to go back to the days of pulling off the road to make calls from a phone booth.

So what are the best actions for drivers and lawmakers to take to minimize the carnage from use of cell phone calls, texts and tweets on the highways?  Read the rest of this entry »

A deadly train collision Monday has put the spotlight on the Washington, D.C. Metro transit system. In happier days, though, many tourists over the years are likely to have fonder memories of riding the BART-like train system in the nation’s Capitol.

If you have traveled on the Metro system, share your experiences below on what it was like.

For my part, I rode the Metro during a visit to Washington D.C. about nine years ago, and found it a clean and comfortable way to get around town and the neighboring suburbs.

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When a family buys a new car, the mom, the dad, and each of the kids typically wants a say on the model, sound system, upholstery and other features.

When BART buys new cars, it’s got some 360,000 daily riders to think about – a mobile village of varying tastes, needs and politics. 

Are you tired of conservative blue seat colors? Are there too few seats for long rides? Not enough space to get in trains in rush hour? Is more space needed for bicycles and wheelchairs? How about televisions on trains? Do the floors and seats smell like overused sleeping bags because they soak up grime and odors? 

The rapid transit system is trying to find out what BART riders really want in the design of the train car of the future. BART is preparing to order up to 700 cars to replace its aging fleet of cars. 

The BART Board gave and got samples of the design concerns Thursday in a special workshop to unveil some alternative conceptual models for the $3.4 billion car order.

Under some options, BART cars would have a third door, fewer seats and more standing room to carry more passengers and unload them faster. This is a big plus for increasing BART’s people-carrying capacity in a growing region, but a potential bummer for travelers who get stuck standing on a long ride from the suburbs.

“We can’t make them stand that long,” said Gail Murray, a BART board member from Walnut Creek. “That’s my bottom line.”

The long distance riders, she said, supply most of BART’s fare revenue money under a fare structure that charges more for longer trips. 

Despite the recession that has cut into BART’s passenger growth this year, some trains still are very crowded during rush hour. The crowding will only worsen in the decades to come as the region’s population increases, BART planners say.

Positioning of seats is another design concern. Most BART seats face forward or back, but positioning more seats to face sideways would open up more standing room to handle more passengers.

To improve comfort for standing passengers, BART proposes to look at installing poles in the center of cars with cushioned pads for people to lean against. This concept is borrowed from London’s subway.

In other thoughts from board members, Murray said she wants to do replace the “staid” blue seat colors for ”21st century” colors. Lynette Sweet of San Francisco wants stain resistant, easily cleaned seat and floor material to preserve her dream that BART cars some day may permit drinking beverages from leak-resistant containers.

BART has posted drawings of alternative models at www.bart.gov.cars/, as well as offering viewers a chance to submit comments.

One BART rider from San Ramon who read my story about the train design called me up to express his priorities.

Quieter cars, clearer public address announcements, and easier to clean seats and floors are on Moises  

Ostrovsky’s list.

“You can hear the public address announcements, but you can’t understand them,” Ostrovsky told me earlier today.

His ideas reflect what many BART riders say in surveys.  In the new trains, train arrival announcements will be automated for the most part, BART officials say, and there may be lighted maps on walls to show train locations and stops. 

So what are your ideas for the train car design? Let us know below, and visit  www.bart.gov.cars/ to submit your ideas to the transit agency.