Oakland Airport's BART Connector Opens Saturday; AirBART Drivers Feeling Job Insecurity
OAKLAND (KCBS)— BART is planning a grand-opening celebration this Saturday for its long-awaited automated people mover between the Coliseum Station and the Oakland Airport. While passengers are excited, the workers driving the current airport buses are not and are worried about their jobs.
Current AirBART riders who pay $3 cash to get to and from the airport can't wait for the new link to begin. Many people complained about having to stop and get change. While that's a minor inconvenience, some of the bus drivers don't even know if they'll have jobs for the coming holiday season.
Lynette, who declined to give her last name, has been driving for 20 years and said that some drivers have already quit to look for new gigs.
Oakland International Airport, which runs the bus shuttles, said it's been told by their contractor that all drivers will be placed elsewhere, but the drivers said that was news to them.