BART Talks Done For Rest Of Week As Deadline Looms Closer
The region appeared to be headed for another Bay Area Rapid Transit Strike after BART management on Wednesday suddenly called off contract talks for the rest of the week.
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The region appeared to be headed for another Bay Area Rapid Transit Strike after BART management on Wednesday suddenly called off contract talks for the rest of the week.
Bay Area Rapid Transit trains were back on schedule after major delays throughout the system Wednesday morning, according to BART personnel.
For the first time since Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 60-day cooling-off period, Bay Area Rapid Transit management and its unions returned to the bargaining table Monday and resumed negotiations to try and avoid a strike that would result in service shutdown.
With both sides remaining far apart in the BART labor dispute, the transit agency is looking at managers to operate some trains if a strike occurs.
One person has been arrested after a shooting injured an innocent bystander Friday afternoon near the 12th Street Bay Area Rapid Transit station.
BART plans to prepare a draft environmental impact report on a possible extension to Livermore. The proposed 4.8 mile extension would stretch from Dublin to Pleasanton within the I-580 median to the Isabel Ave. interchange in Livermore.
Thursday's meeting between BART management and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 centered on safety proposals and work rules.
The Bay Area could see the start of another BART strike as early as October 11th if negotiations that resumed this week fail to lead to an agreement.
One day after returning to the negotiating table, talks between BART and unions representing its workers were called off on Tuesday because of a scheduling conflict.
BART and its largest union resumed negotiations in an ongoing labor dispute Monday, halfway through a 60-day cooling off period. But both sides remained far apart as the deadline approaches.
While next week marks the midway point in the BART dispute's 60-day cooling-off period and the first time for negotiations since it began, neither side expects any serious movement until the following week when talks will center on the dispute's major economic issues.
Both sides in the Bay Area Rapid Transit labor dispute are talking about the lack of progress in negotiations, since the 60-day cooling off period started nearly a month ago.
A man was shot and killed near the Richmond Bay Area Rapid Transit station on Monday night, a police sergeant said.
The two sides have failed to hold talks since a cooling off period was ordered in early August.
Construction work is proceeding as planned on the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge and BART ridership swelled to its second-highest Saturday ever as the agency increased weekend trains to accommodate the bridge closure.
The closure of the Bay Bridge led BART to have the third-highest daily ridership total in its history on Thursday, agency officials said on Friday.
BART ridership rose noticeably because of the Bay Bridge closure Wednesday night to allow crews to transition traffic onto the bridge's new eastern span, a BART spokesman said Thursday morning.
Bay Area transit agencies said Tuesday that they will beef up service while the Bay Bridge is closed over Labor Day weekend but also said people should be prepared and research all their travel options during the closure.
Influential Bay Area business leaders have asked Gov. Jerry Brown to intervene personally to help to end the labor dispute at Bay Area Rapid Transit.
While BART and its unions remain without a contract agreement, a state committee voted on Wednesday to open the transit agency's books and audit their finance and employment practices. The results, however, won't be known for months.
The long-awaited changeover from the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge to the newly-constructed suspension will force a 5-day closure leading up the anticipated September 3 opening. The Bay Bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. Wednesday evening, August 28, through 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. So what alternatives to commuters have over Labor Day weekend?
BART service was getting back on track after a train lost power in the Transbay Tube earlier Wednesday morning, causing major delays.
BART trains were back on schedule Sunday evening after a man was found walking in the Transbay Tube, a transit agency employee said.
BART employee unions were considering reducing requested wage hikes and agreeing to pay pension premiums and higher medical insurance costs at labor contract talks in Oakland Saturday.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency and two of its largest unions have returned to the bargaining table, as a cooling-off period that would avert a possible train strike on Monday looms.
