Possible BART Strike Looms as Early as Monday

Photo by @superxolo

Two of BART’s unions gave 72-hour notice Thursday night to strike as early as Monday if contract negotiations do not go their way, even though BART management brought new proposals to the table yesterday, as the San Jose Mercury News and NBC Bay Area report. If BART employees do go on strike on Monday, we could be in for a hellish (even more hellish?) commute.

More from the Merc about the proposals:

Facing a Sunday night deadline to reach a deal before the workers’ current contract expires, BART management on Thursday brought to the bargaining table new proposals on pay, health care and pension benefits and safety upgrades. The Service Employees International Union, meanwhile, said it was willing to start paying toward pension plans — a major sticking point thus far — and lengthen the amount of time employees have to work before earning retiree medical benefits.

It was the first publicly disclosed movement from either side since a state mediator was brought in last week. But neither side Thursday saw a deal as imminent.

So what does it mean for your commute if the strike happens on Monday? Sounds pretty terrible. You’re looking at at least double the commute time, according to the San Francisco Examiner:

The last time BART service shut down due to a strike was in 1997, for six days. During that strike, driving times doubled, traffic for the Bay Bridge toll plaza backed up to Livermore and congestion began as early as 4:30 a.m.

But that was when 275,000 riders a day used BART. Now there are 400,000, and almost one-third of the estimated 265,000 people who commute into The City for work take BART, according to census estimates.

The possible strike would coincide with the lifting of BART’s rush hour bike ban on Monday. So, there’s that.

We’ll keep you updated over the weekend.