Although BART offered limited service this morning after the strike ended Monday night, many commuters anticipated delays and chose to drive or take ferries or buses instead.
BART had initially announced that limited service would resume at 4 a.m., but BART spokesman Jim Allison said that because of staffing issues, service didn’t start until 5:42 a.m.
He said because of the slow start, ridership was down about 40 percent compared to a typical Tuesday morning. That works out to about 68,000 fewer riders between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Some commuters snagged rides on charter buses provided for free by BART at nine East Bay stations. Allison said 90 buses picked up 2,200 people at those stations throughout the morning.
All riders received a return ticket for buses that will be leaving from near the San Francisco Temporary Transbay Terminal in the afternoon, even though trains will be running, Allison said.
The San Francisco Bay Ferry continued to operate on a strike schedule this morning with 12 vessels instead of the usual eight boats in service.
In an online notice to customers this morning, ferry officials said they would be operating the extra vessels all day just as they had during the four-day BART strike, which began Friday.
On the roads, Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin said, “It was a crummy morning commute.”
Although there were some BART trains running, he said, traffic was bad on the Bay Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, and on Interstate Highways 80 and 880 because of various crashes.
Goodwin said he could not predict what the roads will look like during the afternoon commute.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
