ok, the last bart strike was ridiculous (which f*cking metro on this planet would allow a state transit monopoly to go on strike in the first place?! even chicago and nyc have laws that make it illegal for transit unions to go on strike), but what is more incredulous is the plethora of gov-run transit monopolies carving up territories and market pies for themselves.
we have caltrains running the only fleet of commuter trains between sj and sf on the peninsula, bart running commuter trains in sf and east bay, muni running buses, trams and light rail within sf as spur and complementary services from sf bart stations to various sf localities, alameda county transit (act) running buses in alameda county on the east bay, contra costa county transit (ccct) running buses in contra costa county on the east bay, north of alameda county, valley transportation authority (vta) running buses and light rail in the south bay namely santa clara county which includes menlo park, palo alto, los altos, mountain view, sunnyvale, cupertino, santa clara, san jose, campbell, saratoga, morgan hill, gilroy, etc.
the management of these various transit authorities are staffed by former career politicians, civil servants, public administrators, union leaders and members, and lazy, incompetent fat cats and retirees and pensioners who have retired and collected pensions several times in their past careers and are now milking the system dry, by rotating and playing musical chairs from one transit authority to the next. it's the world's most corrupt, self-serving and incestuous system besides state and city admins and workers' unions, including but not limited to the police and firemen unions.
they carve up markets and territories, divide the spoils, and conquer the helpless commuters like pedophile fat arses reaming the innocent and nubile. average renumeration per fat cat is in the several hundreds of thousands of $ per year plus benefits and pensions and bonuses and health care for life and spouse. no wonder the only thing that crosses their minds when funds are depleted is to jack up the price of a ride. and this has been going on every year, with the interval for the next price hike getting shorter than less than a year. there's another class of authorities - the bridge toll authorities. :*: the toll across the golden gate bridge is currently at $6 without fastrak (with fastrac it's $5) but will increase to $7 on april 7, 2014.
http://goldengate.org/news/bridge/toll_increase_2014.php
more to cum.... :oIo:
