The J-Mack, which provides service on Highway 220 between Ryer Island in Solano County and Grand Island in Sacramento County, returns to service about 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon after upgrades to the ferry’s electrical and mechanical systems. A Sacramento Bee story tells us that the 41-year-old ferry also got a fresh coat of paint.

The ferry, also known as the Steamboat Slough ferry, can carry up to six cars during it’s three minutes trip.

Guess where Caltrans’ other ferry operates? Hint. Where else does time move so slowly? The Delta. The Real McCoy, as the ferry is called,  is in service on the west side of Ryer Island on Highway 84.

Traffic on the Antioch Bridge will be limited to one way at a time at night for two or three nights  – starting at 9 p.m. tonight - so Caltrans’ contractors can install  bird-exclusion nets over bridge supports. The nets are part of preparations for seismic upgrades on the span later this year. To keep wild birds out of harm’s way during the construction work, contractors will install the nets, forcing any birds looking for nesting sites to to go somewhere else during the upcoming nesting season.

The environmental protection work is required under rules to protect migratory birds. 

Meanwhile, expect significant traffic delays when Caltrans alternates between northbound only and southbound only traffic after 9 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, and maybe Wednesday night as well if a third night is needed. Normal traffic resumes at 5 a.m. the following morning.

Motorists will get a little bonus  for their trouble. No bridge tolls will be collected on the Antioch Bridge during the night hours when the traffic is restricted to one way.

AC Transit is providing relief: a new type of bike rack with room to fit three bicycles. It took a change in state law to make the new rack possible.

Outside its Oakland headquarters Friday, AC Transit demonstrated the new rack, which will be added to 50 buses initially at a cost of $2,400 per rack. Grants will cover the cost, said AC transit spokesman Clarence Johnson.

The California Vehicle Code had limited bus racks on buses  to 36 inches long, providing room for just two bikes. State Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, stepped into the help the transit district by getting AB 652 passed to add four more inches to the maximum rack length - enough to add a third bike.

The extra space for a third bike should reduce the number of times bicyclists are “bumped” for lack of room on racks, said Robert Raburn, executive director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

He said the change will help increase bus ridership and reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.

The change also will reduce frustration of riders who have to let a bus pass by and wait for another one. Raburn said that has happened to him several times on the busier AC Transit bus routes.

To be sure, it’s a sad case about a scary accident that underscores the danger of bicyclists and cars using the same roads where autos travels at high speed.  Read reporter Malaika Fraley’s account of  how the widow of  John Greaves, the killed cyclist, is pushing for tough penalties for the auto driver, who was running late to a banquet when the crash occurred June 26.

On a personal note, I  sometimes ride my bicycle on Camino Tassajara and I have felt nervous about the cars whizzing by at 50 mph or more. My fear: one car straying to far to the right means big trouble.  Many motorists use Camino Tassajara – much of which is two lane – as an alternative to freeways to get between the San Ramon Valley and Dublin. Bicyclists also use the route to get between the San Ramon and Livermore-Amador valleys.

The cyclist’s widow, Daneil Greaves, is helping to organize a bike ride on Camino Tassajara in Danville for 7 p.m. May 19 as part of a national “ride of silence” in memory of cyclists who have lost their lives in vehicle collisions.

In a related note, even in auto-obsessed Los Angeles, the police chief is promising to do more to protect cyclists from aggressive motorists. Read the L.A. Times story.

Back here in the East Bay, cycling advocates will the first to say that some bicyclists need to improve their riding practices to avoid conflicts with cars.The East Bay Bicycle Coaltion conducts cycling education classes on how to ride more safely. Robert Raburn, the coalition’s executive director, says many European countries do much more than this nation to train and educate children and adults about how to survive while riding on the road.

Let us know your thoughts below on how cyclists and motorists can share the road.

 Not all transit officials, however, are sure the deal is good for public transit. They know, however, it would be better for them than what the governor proposed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed last month a tax swap to eliminate the state sales tax on gasoline and diesel  – a source of money for bus and train operators – and raise the per-gallon excise tax on gasoline. Transit agencies can’t touch latter source, so the deal is a disaster for transit, officials say.

Furthermore, the Schwarzenegger plan also appears to be a way of circumventing court rulings directing the state to give back billions of dollars in gasoline sales tax money taken from transit the past three years. If there is no sales tax on gas and diesel, there’s no reason to give back what was taken in the past,  so the argument goes. 

 Bus and train operators see the guv’s plan is a prescription for pain, providing less resources to move people by bus and train, fight congestion and contain global warming gases

Meanwhile, Democratic leaders in Assembly and Senate are more sympathetic. They propose measures that embrace the tax swap but go further to pump other money into public transit.

Under ABX8- 6 passed by the Assembly Tuesday night, public transit agencies would get back $400 million of the raided money to help them weather the recession.

The bill also would keep the sales tax on diesel – unlike the governor’s plan – and actually raise it from 4.75 percent to 6.5 percent, beginning in July 2011. That move would bring in more money each year  for public transit.

The Assembly bill also would give the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission the authority to go to voters in the region to seek a local per-gallon based gasoline fee to fund public transit and other measures to reduce greenhouse gases.

Joshua Shaw, executive director of the California Transit Association, told the BART board today that he believes legislators are going to end the sales tax on gasoline despite the hue and cry from the public transit industry.

He doesn’t like it. His group opposes it. But it’s probably going to happen, Shaw said.

Given that unpleasant likelihood, he suggested, it makes sense to encourage legislators to give public transit the best deal they can get.

 BART board member Lynette Sweet said she’s not keen about going along with a deal which provides “$400 million that is owed to us.”

BART staffers estimate BART could get $24 million of that $400 million to help get through another tough year.

BART General Manager Dororthy Dugger said the expected transit deal in Sacramento  - whatever it is - is a wild card that can affect whether the train system has to consider fare increases and service cuts in the next fiscal year. 

The work is expected to take two or three weeks.  Read about it here.

the loss of parking spaces, BART will offer a  free valet parking service for riders who park in the lot north of the station between Knott Avenue and Cutting Boulevard.

The valets can squeeze more cars into the lot. There’s a catch though. The parking lot attendants who take your keys and later fetch your car are on duty between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays. If you try to pick up your car after 10 p.m., you have to call the parking service and pay a $50 fee to retrieve your car.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said transit system managers decided to close the top floor of the garage after inspectors discovered broken steel reinforcement in the floor.

The inspectors were checking out recent seismic improvement work done on the garage.

“This is a repair of the repair,” Johnson said. 

  BART reminds riders they still must pay the $1 fee to park at the station.

Read BART’s press release here.

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.

Sacramento Bee reporter Kevin Yamamura wrote of the plan in Friday’s editions.

He reports that critics worry the advertising could distract drivers and lead to accidents.  I suspect some drivers would complain of being bombarded by ads in yet other place. Advertising appears on the sides of buses and on walls of BART stations

But everyone knows the state is broke so maybe the plan will get some traction.

What do you think of the governor’s proposal? Is it a bad idea that will bother motorists, or is it a good way to make a buck? Share you ideas below.

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.

To access the audio casts, visit the transit system’s Web site at www.actransit.org. Then click on “Public Meetings/Live Audio” and then click again on “Live and Archived Audio.” The meetings will be listed by date.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission for some time has streamed live audio of its meetings. BART  does not stream live audio of is meetings yet despite the BART board repeatedly calling for live streaming of its meetings in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of an unarmed train rider, Oscar Grant III, by a then transit police officer on Jan 1, 2009.

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’s efforts to avert trouble this New Year’s Eve appeared to pay off. 

 BART beefed up police patrols and tinkered with service so trains carrying riders between the East Bay and San Francisco skipped a stop at either the Embarcadero or Montgomery stations to spread out crowds and minimize service delays. The idea was to prevent  too many riders ending up at in one place at the same time, slowing train loading and departures and frazzling riders’ nerves.

 BART spokesman Linton Johnson told television reporters early this morning  it was one of the smoothest New Year’s Eve the transit system has had.

Elsewhere in the transportation world, a few wrinkles emerged on the big night.  A  driver was found passed in his vehicle on the side of the highway on the approach to the Bay Bridge, television station KTVU reported.  A video broadcast by the station shows the man still out when he was hauled out of his vehicle and taken away. On the bright side, at least the vehicle didn’t trigger a serious crash.