The BART Strike that has impacted the travel and commute patterns throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and especially from the East Bay to the West Bay, is over.
BART released the following statement from General Manager Grace Crunican:
“I am happy to announce the BART system will be open and fully operational at 3pm on Friday.
I want to thank Labor Secretary Marty Morgenstern and his fine mediation team for all their help and support in crafting this deal which will allow us to continue bargaining while running the trains.
We look forward to continuing our work with Secretary Morgenstern and his mediators.
Unfortunately, the issues that brought us to this point remain unresolved. Despite lots of hard work, BART and its unions have failed to come to an agreement on contract issues that matter to all of us today and into the future. We still have a wide gap of disagreements to bridge over the next 30 days.What we share in common is a commitment to our passengers and the mission of public transit.
That focus is why we stand together tonight to announce that we will continue working to reach an agreement during the next 30 days while the trains continue to run. It is my resolve to bargain in good faith and to keep the trains running.
The BART bargaining teams on both sides of the table have worked tirelessly to bargain a new contract under difficult circumstances. Their work is appreciated. Most importantly for me, I want to welcome back all the BART employees who have been on strike during the past week.
Now let’s get the trains moving.”
This is great news, because riding the AC Transit NL line to San Francisco on a heat-wave hot day was an awful experience. The crowds of people made the particular bus I was on so unbearable, I got off and waited for the next one. Fortunately, there were two more, and the second of the two had only two passengers and an inactive fare box – we rode for free!
Stay tuned.