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Officials from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency are warning riders to expect major delays on Muni Monday morning after a contract dispute prompted a “sickout” by a large portion of Muni workers. […] Muni operators voted on Friday on a proposed labor agreement, but that does not mean that the contract will be ratified. […] Under the proposal, Muni operator’s pay would be raised to about $32 an hour on July 1—making them the second-highest paid transit workers in the country, according to the SFMTA. …

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, who represented northeastern Minnesota for 36 years and brought millions of dollars to the state as chair of the powerful House Transportation Committee, died unexpectedly early Saturday morning. He was 79. A statement released by his family said Oberstar died in his sleep. A cause of death was not provided. His former chief of staff, Bill Richard, said Oberstar died at his home in Potomac, Maryland. […] Oberstar, a Democrat, was elected to Congress in 1974 and served 18 terms—the state’s longest-serving member of Congress. Oberstar became chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee...

Woman dies after hijab, hair get tangled in Montreal escalator MONTREAL — A woman in her 30s is dead after her headscarf and hair became caught in a subway-station escalator. A bystander found the woman lying at the base of the escalator at Fabre metro station in east-end Montreal around 9:15 a.m. He alerted transit workers, who called police. When first responders arrived, the woman was unresponsive. "We tried to perform resuscitation on site, but we weren't able to save her," paramedic Bob Lamle told QMI Agency. The exact circumstances of the woman's death weren't immediately clear, but Montreal police...

The Chicago Transit Authority, one of the largest employers in Chicago, has a dramatic racial imbalance in its workforce, records show. Data obtained by WND through a Freedom of Information Act request reveals that whites and Hispanics are vastly underrepresented in the Chicago Transit Authority workforce.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is preparing borrow up to $4.8 billion over the next three years to finance post-storm rebuilding, with the expectation that most loans will be repaid by insurance and the federal government. But the MTA’s top financial official warned Wednesday that the transit agency might ultimately be on the hook for as much as $950 million of the total cost of reconstruction—potentially adding tens of millions to its annual debt-service load. …

Passengers spent 20 minutes stranded on a bus after its driver refused to board because of a gay rights message on the side. The unnamed driver would not get on the X78 from Rotherham to Sheffield because it bore a billboard for gay lobby group Stonewall, reading: “Some people are gay. Get over it!” Passengers sat and waited while the driver argued loudly with colleagues and customers. …

BOSTON — As Transportation Secretary Richard Davey sees it, commuters faced with sharp increases in the cost of rail, bus and subway rides, as well as the elimination of bus routes, ferry service, weekend commuter rail and weekend E Line subway access, have settled on a theme. “The chorus I’m hearing is, 'I would rather pay more but not cut the service,’” Davey said Thursday at the State House. That message was echoed by lawmakers who said their constituents and colleagues had largely indicated that riders would rather be slapped with the first fare hike in five years than with...

SNIPPET: "CHARLOTTE, N.C.— The FBI is asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was seen near a restricted area along the light rail near uptown Charlotte. A worker monitoring security cameras said the man was spotted in the area in late April, according to investigators. The man was clearly in an area he wasn't supposed to be in and was acting suspiciously, the FBI said."

Commuters are saving an average $9,904 annually and $825 per month, based on current gas prices, by riding public transit systems instead of driving their cars, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Gas prices increased 28 cents per gallon in the 10 days leading up to March 4. The current savings by using public transportation are the highest in the past two years, APTA officials said. "As gas prices rise, using public transportation is the quickest way people can beat high gasoline prices," said APTA President William Millar in a prepared statement. APTA releases a monthly "Transit Savings...

Carrie Nee prefers to stand during her half-hour commute on BART from San Leandro to downtown San Francisco. Although the trains’ blue fabric seats are plush and comfortable, Ms. Nee refuses to sit on them. As Bob Franklin, the BART board president, acknowledged, “People don’t know what’s in there.” Now they do. Fecal and skin-borne bacteria resistant to antibiotics were found in a seat on a train headed from Daly City to Dublin/Pleasanton. Further testing on the skin-borne bacteria showed characteristics of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, the drug-resistant bacterium that causes potentially lethal infections, although Ms. Franklin cautioned that...

WASHINGTON - When you have to go, you have to go, but exactly where some Metro train operators have been going is disturbing. Train operators have routinely been using "pocket tracks" as restrooms, according to a recent employee safety report by Metro's inspector general. Pocket tracks are sections of track just beyond certain stations where trains can be stopped and parked. According to the report, which looked at safety in Metro's office of track and structure systems maintenance: "This safety and health hazard is the result of inadequate time being allowed at the end of the line for train operators...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie killed construction of an $8.7 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River on Thursday, ending what had been the largest transportation project in the U.S. He also urged lawmakers to repurpose the $3 billion in federal money for other transit projects in the state. Mr. Christie had ordered a 30-day halt on construction work until he could get a reliable cost estimate and determine whether New Jersey could afford its share of the project. At a press conference Thursday, Mr. Christie said the project was estimated to cost at least $11 billion and as much...

Metrobus ridership plummeted and the number of rail passengers fell well below staff projections during the first month of the agency's new fiscal year -- and the first month of higher fares. Metrobuses transported 11.66 million passengers in July, nearly 1.3 million fewer than during the same month last year. Metro officials had anticipated a much smaller drop, projecting about 200,000 fewer trips. Rail ridership was also down... Beginning in late June, Metro officials raised the cost of all trips for bus and rail passengers. The fare increases included a 25- to 35-cent increase for bus riders, depending on payment...

MILLIONS of commuters in London endured a grim journey to work today after staff on the Underground train network walked out for the second time in a month, sparking calls for tougher strike laws. People were forced to walk or cycle in heavy rain, squeeze on to packed buses or brave heavy traffic by driving as only 30 per cent of the Tube trains were running in the morning rush hour, according to operator London Underground. The strike follows a walkout in early September as part of a dispute between trade unions and London Underground managers over the planned axing...

Public transit ground to a halt across France and on the London Tube on Tuesday, with tourists and commuters bearing the brunt of a wave of discontent over government austerity measures. French unions challenged unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy with a major nationwide strike over plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, shutting down trains, planes, buses, subways, post offices and schools.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s traffic congestion could double in the next couple of decades, with Charlotte drivers facing the same types of delays Chicago drivers face now. That was the conclusion of a 2007 John Locke Foundation report. It recommended $12 billion of spending to clear North Carolina’s congested urban roads and prepare for future traffic growth. Many traffic problems outlined three years ago continue to cause concerns today. Randal O’Toole, senior fellow with the Cato Institute, recently tackled the issue from a national perspective in the book Gridlock: Why We’re Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It....

To bus riders who trek daily through the dingy, dusty and drafty Transbay Terminal, the place is something to be hurried through or, at best, endured. But it wasn't always that way, and today, a week before demolition of the old terminal begins, the public will get a last chance to peek at the past. They'll see a sampling of the places that have been covered by plywood, hidden behind painted-over windows or walled off over the decades as the terminal declined from a bustling commuter hub to a mostly neglected bus station. The terminal, built as part of the...

Another verbal fight that turned violent was posted on YouTube Tuesday. A man who announces himself as a 67 year old gets into it with a fellow much younger passenger. It started as an argument that seemed to be a simple misunderstanding over a comment made while taking a seat. The two separated with one moving to the front of the bus for a time. But that time out did not last long. More words are exchanged. Then the younger man walks up front for some more yelling followed by fists flying. Note: the older gentlemen is wearing a light...

Drivers have also started a Facebook group called Toronto Transit Operators against public harassment, mainly in response to a video recorded by a passenger last week showing a bus driver taking an unscheduled 7-minute stop outside a doughnut shop to get his nightly coffee. The driver was subsequently suspended. Another member of the group advises operators that if they see someone filming their actions, they should pull over and request police assistance: "You don't know why these people are recording your vehicle, you just know that they are not supposed to do it." The TTC's general manager, Gary Webster, then...

Since the inception of the Las Vegas Monorail, Nevadans have been repeatedly reassured that they will not wind up on the hook for its bills. Nevermind the high salaries monorail executives and board members are getting, that won’t ever wind up coming out of the public’s pockets. The Nevada Business and Industry Department’s issuance of $650 million in tax-exempt bonds to construct the transit system? Not to worry, no liability there. Granting state sales tax and county property tax exemptions to the monorail? Yes, it helped the monorail system avoid putting millions of dollars in the public coffers, but it...