The BART strike is creating travel complications for Bay Area locals and visitors alike.
Mike Arzola, 44, of Long Beach, was waiting outside the Hotel Whitcomb on San Francisco’s Market Street this morning for a SuperShuttle to take him to San Francisco International Airport.
Arzola had traveled to San Francisco on Saturday morning with two friends for the city’s annual Pride celebration.
He said he has attended Pride for the past five years, and always took BART to and from the airport.
Arzola said he has to pay $17 for the shuttle service—double the price he would pay on BART.
Oakland resident Jane Graf said her commute, which involved taking a ferry from Oakland to San Francisco then a Muni bus to Civic Center, was a “real pain.”
Graf said she is lucky her retired husband was able to drop her off at the docking station in Oakland, but that her commute still took twice as long as normal and cost triple what the BART fare would have been.
On Monday after work, Graf took a ferry back to Oakland that was supposed to leave at 5:15 p.m. but actually departed half an hour late.
Graf joked, “Maybe next week we’ll all be better at this.”
El Cerrito resident Shimi Rahim, 40, said she had an easy commute this morning coming into San Francisco at about 9 a.m. with her husband and two people they picked up in a casual carpool.
Rahim said she is sympathetic to BART’s union, but sees both sides of the situation and wishes they didn’t have to go on strike.
Jamey Padojino, Bay City News
