Bay Area Rapid Transit District

Graphic video of Oscar J. Grant III's death at an Oakland train station has roiled emotions in the Bay Area, leading to a demonstration at Bay Area Rapid Transit district headquarters and calls for more oversight of the agency's police force. The family of the 22-year-old father, who was shot to death by a BART police officer early on New Year's Day, filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the agency Tuesday. John L.

A transit officer said Tuesday that an unarmed man who was fatally shot by another officer at an Oakland train station failed to obey her commands before his death. Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer Marysol Domenici testified during the fourth day of a hearing to determine whether former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle will stand trial for murder in the death of Oscar Grant.

Bay Area Rapid Transit workers and management planned to negotiate right up until Wednesday's strike deadline as the two sides remain at odds over how big a raise workers should get and how much the transit system should pay for retiree medical benefits. After spending 26 hours locked in contract talks over the weekend, negotiators returned to the bargaining table Monday evening for another late-night round of deliberations.

A last-minute agreement in Wednesday's early hours barely avoided a commuter rail strike that had threatened to tie knots around a Bay Area region that relies heavily on public transportation. After days of nonstop negotiations, officials from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or BART, reached a tentative agreement with leaders of two unions, averting a strike that had been set for midnight Wednesday.

On a fast moving subway train in downtown Chicago, passengers stare out the window at an otherwise dark subway wall that briefly glows red with a filmstrip-like advertisement from Target Corp. In New York, companies such as Cingular Wireless and the maker of Captain Morgan's rum pay handsomely for the exclusive right to plaster ads all over sections of Penn Station and other high-profile subway stops.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system hopes cellphone customers will be able to enjoy uninterrupted conversations between various stations by August. Two years ago, AT&T wired various BART stations. Recently Nextel and Cingular finished connecting several of the stations from San Francisco to Oakland. BART spokesman Linton Johnson said that previously, AT&T cellphone users could make and receive calls in various stations. But they could not continue the conversations once they were inside a train.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system has adopted a $475.2-million operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget, approved Thursday, closes a $42-million shortfall, largely through the elimination of 143 employee positions. Most of the jobs were eliminated through attrition, but BART expects to lay off 42 workers unless it can negotiate changes in work rules with its labor unions. The budget avoids raising fares.

Bay Area Rapid Transit system directors voted to put a $980-million bond on the November ballot in Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco counties. The bond, approved by the panel Thursday, would be used to pay for part of an estimated $1.31-billion earthquake retrofitting project. Two years ago voters defeated a similar $1.04-billion bond measure. "What we see before us today is an effort to ... look at ways to spread the cost differently than last time," said BART Director Dan Richard.

BART ridership is continuing to plunge, prompting the transit agency to consider fare increases and cost cuts to make up for lost revenue. Weekday ridership has fallen from a high of 340,000 in spring 2000 to about 299,000 this month, and revenue from half-cent sales taxes in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties also has dropped.

After years of planning and major delays, an opening date has finally been set for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system extension to the San Francisco International Airport. BART officials said Sunday, June 22, will mark the public opening for the 8.7-mile, four-station airport extension. "The opening of the extension means you can go from home to Rome, or any other destination in the world," San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin said Thursday. "BART is our connection to the world."

The family attorney of a man fatally shot by a Northern California transit officer threatened Friday to pull out of a recent wrongful death settlement and alleged the transit agency had breached confidentiality. Oscar Grant's attorney, John Burris, accused the Bay Area Rapid Transit of leaking details about the settlement talks to a San Francisco Bay area TV station. Last week, Sophina Mesa, the mother of Grant's 5-year-old daughter, settled for $1.5 million with BART. Grant, 22, was shot on a BART platform in Oakland last year.

A transit officer said Tuesday that an unarmed man who was fatally shot by another officer at an Oakland train station failed to obey her commands before his death. Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer Marysol Domenici testified during the fourth day of a hearing to determine whether former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle will stand trial for murder in the death of Oscar Grant.

Transit police Monday wrapped up their investigation into the controversial shooting death of an African American man by an officer and, just hours later, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board created a panel to oversee police department activities. BART Police Chief Gary Gee said his department forwarded the investigation results Monday morning to the Alameda County district attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge transit Officer Johannes Mehserle in the death of Oscar J.

Graphic video of Oscar J. Grant III's death at an Oakland train station has roiled emotions in the Bay Area, leading to a demonstration at Bay Area Rapid Transit district headquarters and calls for more oversight of the agency's police force. The family of the 22-year-old father, who was shot to death by a BART police officer early on New Year's Day, filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the agency Tuesday. John L.

On a fast moving subway train in downtown Chicago, passengers stare out the window at an otherwise dark subway wall that briefly glows red with a filmstrip-like advertisement from Target Corp. In New York, companies such as Cingular Wireless and the maker of Captain Morgan's rum pay handsomely for the exclusive right to plaster ads all over sections of Penn Station and other high-profile subway stops.

A last-minute agreement in Wednesday's early hours barely avoided a commuter rail strike that had threatened to tie knots around a Bay Area region that relies heavily on public transportation. After days of nonstop negotiations, officials from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or BART, reached a tentative agreement with leaders of two unions, averting a strike that had been set for midnight Wednesday.

Bay Area Rapid Transit workers and management planned to negotiate right up until Wednesday's strike deadline as the two sides remain at odds over how big a raise workers should get and how much the transit system should pay for retiree medical benefits. After spending 26 hours locked in contract talks over the weekend, negotiators returned to the bargaining table Monday evening for another late-night round of deliberations.

Bay Area Rapid Transit system directors voted to put a $980-million bond on the November ballot in Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco counties. The bond, approved by the panel Thursday, would be used to pay for part of an estimated $1.31-billion earthquake retrofitting project. Two years ago voters defeated a similar $1.04-billion bond measure. "What we see before us today is an effort to ... look at ways to spread the cost differently than last time," said BART Director Dan Richard.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system has adopted a $475.2-million operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget, approved Thursday, closes a $42-million shortfall, largely through the elimination of 143 employee positions. Most of the jobs were eliminated through attrition, but BART expects to lay off 42 workers unless it can negotiate changes in work rules with its labor unions. The budget avoids raising fares.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system hopes cellphone customers will be able to enjoy uninterrupted conversations between various stations by August. Two years ago, AT&T wired various BART stations. Recently Nextel and Cingular finished connecting several of the stations from San Francisco to Oakland. BART spokesman Linton Johnson said that previously, AT&T cellphone users could make and receive calls in various stations. But they could not continue the conversations once they were inside a train.