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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_121646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/21/bart-unions-say-theyve-reached-a-deal-in-contract-dispute/northberkeleybart/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-121646\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/northberkeleybart-640x356.jpg\" alt=\"North Berkeley BART station on the eve of October strike (Dan Brekke/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-121646\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">North Berkeley BART station on the eve of October strike (Dan Brekke/KQED). \u003ccite>(Dan Brekke/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART and its two biggest unions, locked for the better part of a year in a contract battle that twice led workers to strike, say they've settled their differences over a disputed family-leave provision in their recently negotiated agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/bart-board-contract-questions\" target=\"_blank\">provision\u003c/a> would have granted union members six weeks of paid family leave, a change from the previous policy, which required workers to use up all their accumulated vacation and sick time before getting paid leave. BART said the clause was included in the contract by mistake and would cost the district between $5.6 million and $44 million over the four years of the new labor agreement, depending on how many workers used the federally mandated leave. The BART board of directors \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/21/bart-board-vote-union-contract/\" target=\"_blank\">refused to approve the provision\u003c/a>, even though it had been signed by senior management officials and ratified by the unions. That prompted the two unions involved, the BART chapter of \u003ca href=\"http://www.seiu1021.org/\" target=\"_blank\">SEIU Local 1021\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.atu1555.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555\u003c/a>, to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/03/bart-unions-taking-agency-to-court-over-contract-dispute/\" target=\"_blank\">sue the district\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the agreement announced today, the disputed provision for six weeks of paid family leave has been removed from the contract. Instead, workers will get more flexibility in how they use vacation, sick days or comp time when they take family leave. The district's bereavement leave policy will also be expanded to include time off in the event of the death of a grandchild or step-parent of a spouse or domestic partner. The deal also includes a district agreement to build new break facilities at Daly City, Millbrae and West Oakland. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART General Manager Grace Crunican will submit the final contract to the BART board. If the board approves the agreement, the unions will vote on the pact. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides issued statements early Saturday that seemed to acknowledge the public discontent with the continuing contract dispute, which shut down the system for four days in July and four more in October. BART carries about 200,000 people on weekdays, and the system's two strikes caused jams on Bay Area freeways, burdened other transit agencies. The contract dispute and its aftermath led to widespread public criticism over relatively high union pay and BART management's handling of the family leave provision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “After eight months of uncertainty for our riders,\" Crunican said in the BART statement, \"this deal will guarantee that every ounce of the Agency’s focus will be directed to providing great service to the Bay Area during the peak holiday period and beyond.\" John Arantes, president of the SEIU 1021 BART chapter, called today's agreement \"a fair resolution that would close months of drawn out contract talks and — in the interest of the riding public — end the uncertainty caused by the board’s removal of a section from our final, complete contract.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all the fallout from this year's labor dispute has settled. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joel Keller, who took over as president of the BART Board of Directors this week, says he wants \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/19/bart-board-considers-ballot-measure-on-strikes\" target=\"_blank\">to hold a referendum\u003c/a> on whether the agency's union employees should be allowed to strike. That vote would be advisory only — the state Legislature would have to enact any changes in the workers' collective-bargaining status — but Keller's suggestion immediately drew angry denunciations from union officials. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are the statements from BART and from SEIU Local 1021, followed by the signed agreements the two sides announced today:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From BART:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>BART General Manager Grace Crunican announced that all contract issues have been settled between BART and its two largest labor Unions. She will recommend the ratification of a final collective bargaining agreement with SEIU Local 1021 and ATU Local 1555 to the BART Board of Directors as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last remaining contract difference was resolved with solutions that are administrative in nature and/or will be covered within BART's existing budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After eight months of uncertainty for our riders, this deal will guarantee that every ounce of the Agency’s focus will be directed to providing great service to the Bay Area during the peak holiday period and beyond,” said Crunican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART and its Unions have spent the last month working to resolve a disputed tentative agreement which would have added weeks of additional paid leave time to BART employees. The issue was resolved with a series of agreements that 1) expands the District’s Bereavement Leave policy to allow workers paid time off in the event of the death of a grandchild or step-parent of a spouse or domestic partner, 2) upgrades employee break rooms at the Daly City, Millbrae and West Oakland BART stations, to be paid for through the District’s already funded station modernization program, 3) allows qualifying employees more flexibility in how they pay for the costs of their family medical leave, plus additional administrative changes to the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today BART’s largest unions, SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555, reached a tentative agreement with BART’s Management’s negotiators on a disputed contract provision on paid family medical leave.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From the SEIU:\u003c/strong> \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“Today we’re proud to announce that we’ve reached a resolution that we can bring back to our members for a vote,” said SEIU 1021 BART Chapter President John Arantes. “It’s a fair resolution that would close months of drawn out contract talks and—in the interest of the riding public—end the uncertainty caused by the Board’s removal of a section from our final, complete contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BART Management has been adamant in their admission of a mistake and how they’ve handled the situation,” Arantes continued, “and, in the past few days, we’ve had the opportunity to have meaningful discussion and resolve some of our differences at the bargaining table. We’d like to thank Greg Lim, from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, who returned to provide valuable assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our ability to address the disputed provision at the bargaining table resulted from BART Management’s negotiators sharing the unions’ commitment to bargain fairly and equitably,” said Des Patten, SEIU 1021 Professional Chapter President. “That’s the way to fix problems, and the way we hope BART Management and the BART Directors would move forward from now on, so that they can restore the lost trust from the riders and from their workers.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the BART Board of Directors ratify the contract, the amended version of the strike-ending agreement will be brought before SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555 members for a vote. Once ratified, the contract terms would go into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On November 21st, the BART Board of Directors voted to approve a contract that did not have a provision on family medical leave, that BART’s chief negotiator Thomas Hock, Assistant General Manager Paul Oversier, and Labor Relations Manager Rudy Medina bargained and signed with its unions.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/192930299/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"doc_69479\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_121646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/21/bart-unions-say-theyve-reached-a-deal-in-contract-dispute/northberkeleybart/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-121646\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/northberkeleybart-640x356.jpg\" alt=\"North Berkeley BART station on the eve of October strike (Dan Brekke/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-121646\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">North Berkeley BART station on the eve of October strike (Dan Brekke/KQED). \u003ccite>(Dan Brekke/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART and its two biggest unions, locked for the better part of a year in a contract battle that twice led workers to strike, say they've settled their differences over a disputed family-leave provision in their recently negotiated agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/bart-board-contract-questions\" target=\"_blank\">provision\u003c/a> would have granted union members six weeks of paid family leave, a change from the previous policy, which required workers to use up all their accumulated vacation and sick time before getting paid leave. BART said the clause was included in the contract by mistake and would cost the district between $5.6 million and $44 million over the four years of the new labor agreement, depending on how many workers used the federally mandated leave. The BART board of directors \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/21/bart-board-vote-union-contract/\" target=\"_blank\">refused to approve the provision\u003c/a>, even though it had been signed by senior management officials and ratified by the unions. That prompted the two unions involved, the BART chapter of \u003ca href=\"http://www.seiu1021.org/\" target=\"_blank\">SEIU Local 1021\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.atu1555.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555\u003c/a>, to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/03/bart-unions-taking-agency-to-court-over-contract-dispute/\" target=\"_blank\">sue the district\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the agreement announced today, the disputed provision for six weeks of paid family leave has been removed from the contract. Instead, workers will get more flexibility in how they use vacation, sick days or comp time when they take family leave. The district's bereavement leave policy will also be expanded to include time off in the event of the death of a grandchild or step-parent of a spouse or domestic partner. The deal also includes a district agreement to build new break facilities at Daly City, Millbrae and West Oakland. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART General Manager Grace Crunican will submit the final contract to the BART board. If the board approves the agreement, the unions will vote on the pact. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides issued statements early Saturday that seemed to acknowledge the public discontent with the continuing contract dispute, which shut down the system for four days in July and four more in October. BART carries about 200,000 people on weekdays, and the system's two strikes caused jams on Bay Area freeways, burdened other transit agencies. The contract dispute and its aftermath led to widespread public criticism over relatively high union pay and BART management's handling of the family leave provision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “After eight months of uncertainty for our riders,\" Crunican said in the BART statement, \"this deal will guarantee that every ounce of the Agency’s focus will be directed to providing great service to the Bay Area during the peak holiday period and beyond.\" John Arantes, president of the SEIU 1021 BART chapter, called today's agreement \"a fair resolution that would close months of drawn out contract talks and — in the interest of the riding public — end the uncertainty caused by the board’s removal of a section from our final, complete contract.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all the fallout from this year's labor dispute has settled. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joel Keller, who took over as president of the BART Board of Directors this week, says he wants \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/19/bart-board-considers-ballot-measure-on-strikes\" target=\"_blank\">to hold a referendum\u003c/a> on whether the agency's union employees should be allowed to strike. That vote would be advisory only — the state Legislature would have to enact any changes in the workers' collective-bargaining status — but Keller's suggestion immediately drew angry denunciations from union officials. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are the statements from BART and from SEIU Local 1021, followed by the signed agreements the two sides announced today:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From BART:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>BART General Manager Grace Crunican announced that all contract issues have been settled between BART and its two largest labor Unions. She will recommend the ratification of a final collective bargaining agreement with SEIU Local 1021 and ATU Local 1555 to the BART Board of Directors as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last remaining contract difference was resolved with solutions that are administrative in nature and/or will be covered within BART's existing budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After eight months of uncertainty for our riders, this deal will guarantee that every ounce of the Agency’s focus will be directed to providing great service to the Bay Area during the peak holiday period and beyond,” said Crunican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART and its Unions have spent the last month working to resolve a disputed tentative agreement which would have added weeks of additional paid leave time to BART employees. The issue was resolved with a series of agreements that 1) expands the District’s Bereavement Leave policy to allow workers paid time off in the event of the death of a grandchild or step-parent of a spouse or domestic partner, 2) upgrades employee break rooms at the Daly City, Millbrae and West Oakland BART stations, to be paid for through the District’s already funded station modernization program, 3) allows qualifying employees more flexibility in how they pay for the costs of their family medical leave, plus additional administrative changes to the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today BART’s largest unions, SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555, reached a tentative agreement with BART’s Management’s negotiators on a disputed contract provision on paid family medical leave.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From the SEIU:\u003c/strong> \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“Today we’re proud to announce that we’ve reached a resolution that we can bring back to our members for a vote,” said SEIU 1021 BART Chapter President John Arantes. “It’s a fair resolution that would close months of drawn out contract talks and—in the interest of the riding public—end the uncertainty caused by the Board’s removal of a section from our final, complete contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BART Management has been adamant in their admission of a mistake and how they’ve handled the situation,” Arantes continued, “and, in the past few days, we’ve had the opportunity to have meaningful discussion and resolve some of our differences at the bargaining table. We’d like to thank Greg Lim, from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, who returned to provide valuable assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our ability to address the disputed provision at the bargaining table resulted from BART Management’s negotiators sharing the unions’ commitment to bargain fairly and equitably,” said Des Patten, SEIU 1021 Professional Chapter President. “That’s the way to fix problems, and the way we hope BART Management and the BART Directors would move forward from now on, so that they can restore the lost trust from the riders and from their workers.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the BART Board of Directors ratify the contract, the amended version of the strike-ending agreement will be brought before SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555 members for a vote. Once ratified, the contract terms would go into effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On November 21st, the BART Board of Directors voted to approve a contract that did not have a provision on family medical leave, that BART’s chief negotiator Thomas Hock, Assistant General Manager Paul Oversier, and Labor Relations Manager Rudy Medina bargained and signed with its unions.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_121589\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS7039_AC_Transit_14oct2013_0217_web.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-121589\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS7039_AC_Transit_14oct2013_0217_web-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"AC Transit. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">AC Transit. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED) \u003ccite>(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>AC Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 have agreed to a tentative labor contract. The ATU leadership, which represents the agency’s 1,625 bus operators and mechanics, will present the tentative agreement to its members on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement was made in a statement from Clarence Johnson, AC Transit's media affairs manager, as well as on the \u003ca href=\"https://mail.kqed.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=f6de72d65ed9408eb796f96e5ae94cea&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fATULocal192\">ATU Facebook page\u003c/a>, which said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Dear Brothers and Sisters,\u003cbr>\nOn day 58, of the 60-day cooling off period, ATU Local 192 and AC Transit District reached a new tentative agreement (TA) today. The ATU Local 192 Executive Board unanimously recommends taking the new TA to the membership for a vote. Details of the new TA will be released to members at tomorrow's (Saturday's) meeting 10am until 12pm. We will work as usual following expiration of cooling off period ending 11:59pm December 22nd. Your ATU 192 Executive Board members discussed in detail the areas of improvement and unanimously agreed that this TA should be recommended to you for your sincere consideration. A 60-day cooling off period was set to end this Sunday.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Union leaders and district management earlier this year reached two contract deals, but both were rejected by a vote of the union rank and file.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AC Transit provides about 181,000 daily trips and 52.6 million trips annually to riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned for details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_121589\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS7039_AC_Transit_14oct2013_0217_web.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-121589\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS7039_AC_Transit_14oct2013_0217_web-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"AC Transit. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">AC Transit. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED) \u003ccite>(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>AC Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 have agreed to a tentative labor contract. The ATU leadership, which represents the agency’s 1,625 bus operators and mechanics, will present the tentative agreement to its members on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement was made in a statement from Clarence Johnson, AC Transit's media affairs manager, as well as on the \u003ca href=\"https://mail.kqed.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=f6de72d65ed9408eb796f96e5ae94cea&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fATULocal192\">ATU Facebook page\u003c/a>, which said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Dear Brothers and Sisters,\u003cbr>\nOn day 58, of the 60-day cooling off period, ATU Local 192 and AC Transit District reached a new tentative agreement (TA) today. The ATU Local 192 Executive Board unanimously recommends taking the new TA to the membership for a vote. Details of the new TA will be released to members at tomorrow's (Saturday's) meeting 10am until 12pm. We will work as usual following expiration of cooling off period ending 11:59pm December 22nd. Your ATU 192 Executive Board members discussed in detail the areas of improvement and unanimously agreed that this TA should be recommended to you for your sincere consideration. A 60-day cooling off period was set to end this Sunday.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Union leaders and district management earlier this year reached two contract deals, but both were rejected by a vote of the union rank and file.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AC Transit provides about 181,000 daily trips and 52.6 million trips annually to riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned for details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_115637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/10/20/ntsb-investigating-bart-train-accident-that-killed-two-workers/barttrain102013/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-115637\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/10/barttrain102013-e1382331865460.png\" alt=\"The BART train involved in an October that killed two workers inspecting the tracks. (Alex Emslie/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115637\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The BART train involved in an October that killed two workers inspecting the tracks. (Alex Emslie/KQED).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The National Transportation Safety Board is urging federal transit officials to take steps to prevent trackside accidents like the one that killed two BART workers during the transit system's strike in October. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2013/R-13-039-040.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a letter\u003c/a> to Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff today (embedded at the end of this post), NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said her agency still has not determined the probable cause of the Oct. 19 incident that killed Christopher Sheppard, 58, of Hayward and Laurence Daniels, 66, of suburban Sacramento. But Hersman says because of the circumstances surrounding the BART incident, the NTSB wants transit officials to immediately require enhanced safety measures for commuter-rail agencies around the country. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those steps could include new warning devices or \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0152\" target=\"_blank\">positive train control\u003c/a>\" systems that allow better monitoring of trains and trackside workers and allow central controllers or workers to stop trains in an emergency. The NTSB also wants a nationwide ban on the practice of granting workers permission to work at trackside while making them solely responsible for protecting themselves from moving trains and equipment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That last recommendation is a direct response to the BART incident. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheppard and Daniels were killed after venturing had ventured into BART's right-of-way between the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill station to look for a reported defect in the tracks there. BART's central controllers granted the two \"simple approval\" to go on to the tracks, a clearance that meant they were responsible for their own safety. Trains were operating in the area, and controllers issued a brief alert to crews that workers were on the tracks. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniels and Sheppard were struck and killed by a train operated by a BART management employee who was being trained as an operator as BART went through its second strike of the year. BART has since eliminated the simple approval procedure, which was also in use when \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-workers-on-tracks-don-t-get-train-warnings-4914319.php#page-2\" target=\"_blank\">another BART employee was killed by a train\u003c/a> in 2008. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sal Cruz, a veteran train controller at BART, said \"it's going to be a long process\" for the transit system to implement the NTSB's recommendations. At the same time, he said both managers and workers at the agency have \"known for quite some time that these recommendations were coming down the pipeline\" and are already studying new safety systems. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz said a committee made up of both management and union representatives are evaluating safety systems. \"We’re hoping in the next few months for BART to adopt one of these technologies,\" he said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The NTSB letter to the Federal Transit Administration: \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/192627145/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"doc_50892\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Emslie of KQED News contributed to this post. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_115637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/10/20/ntsb-investigating-bart-train-accident-that-killed-two-workers/barttrain102013/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-115637\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/10/barttrain102013-e1382331865460.png\" alt=\"The BART train involved in an October that killed two workers inspecting the tracks. (Alex Emslie/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115637\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The BART train involved in an October that killed two workers inspecting the tracks. (Alex Emslie/KQED).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The National Transportation Safety Board is urging federal transit officials to take steps to prevent trackside accidents like the one that killed two BART workers during the transit system's strike in October. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2013/R-13-039-040.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a letter\u003c/a> to Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff today (embedded at the end of this post), NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said her agency still has not determined the probable cause of the Oct. 19 incident that killed Christopher Sheppard, 58, of Hayward and Laurence Daniels, 66, of suburban Sacramento. But Hersman says because of the circumstances surrounding the BART incident, the NTSB wants transit officials to immediately require enhanced safety measures for commuter-rail agencies around the country. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those steps could include new warning devices or \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0152\" target=\"_blank\">positive train control\u003c/a>\" systems that allow better monitoring of trains and trackside workers and allow central controllers or workers to stop trains in an emergency. The NTSB also wants a nationwide ban on the practice of granting workers permission to work at trackside while making them solely responsible for protecting themselves from moving trains and equipment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That last recommendation is a direct response to the BART incident. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheppard and Daniels were killed after venturing had ventured into BART's right-of-way between the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill station to look for a reported defect in the tracks there. BART's central controllers granted the two \"simple approval\" to go on to the tracks, a clearance that meant they were responsible for their own safety. Trains were operating in the area, and controllers issued a brief alert to crews that workers were on the tracks. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniels and Sheppard were struck and killed by a train operated by a BART management employee who was being trained as an operator as BART went through its second strike of the year. BART has since eliminated the simple approval procedure, which was also in use when \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-workers-on-tracks-don-t-get-train-warnings-4914319.php#page-2\" target=\"_blank\">another BART employee was killed by a train\u003c/a> in 2008. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sal Cruz, a veteran train controller at BART, said \"it's going to be a long process\" for the transit system to implement the NTSB's recommendations. At the same time, he said both managers and workers at the agency have \"known for quite some time that these recommendations were coming down the pipeline\" and are already studying new safety systems. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz said a committee made up of both management and union representatives are evaluating safety systems. \"We’re hoping in the next few months for BART to adopt one of these technologies,\" he said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The NTSB letter to the Federal Transit Administration: \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/192627145/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"doc_50892\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Emslie of KQED News contributed to this post. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "BART Board Member Wants Public Vote on Transit Strikes",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_115430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/10/18/bart-strike-update-day-1/rs7074_004/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-115430\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115430\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/10/RS7074_004-e1382115321568.jpg\" alt=\"(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART’s biggest unions walked out out twice earlier this year in the midst of bitter and still-not-completely resolved contract disputes. The two four-day walkouts, in July and October, appear to have had an impact on public opinion, with 52 percent of those surveyed\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/majority-of-bay-area-voters-oppose-transit-workers-right-to-strike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> in a recent Field Poll\u003c/a> saying they oppose transit worker strikes. Widespread frustration with work stoppages at BART, which carries about 200,000 people a day, has triggered \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrat-Steve-Glazer-risks-union-backlash-4899266.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an online campaign\u003c/a> to get the Legislature to ban such strikes in the future. And now the BART board of directors may get into the act, as it weighs a proposal for a ballot referendum asking Bay Area voters whether the system’s workers ought to be allowed to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Joel Keller wants to put an advisory measure on the November 2014 ballot. He says the Legislature would still have to amend the law, reclassifying BART workers as essential and forcing binding arbitration for future labor negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to hear from the riders; I want to hear from the unions,” Keller said before the board met this morning. “I want to hear from the people in the Bay Area. I’ve come to the conclusion that these labor disruptions are very harmful to public transportation. I think we have to find a way to do better in the future for our riders and for the commuting public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keller said during the board’s meeting that his experience in nearly two decades as a BART director led him to change his minds about strikes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nineteen years ago, if somebody had put that before this board, I would have said not “no,” but “hell, no.” But after 19 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that our riders deserve better than what has happened in the last six months. I see no alternative. This is my fifth labor negotiation at BART, and they have progressively been getting worse and worse and worse. And the people who get hurt are the riders and the commuters of the Bay Area. \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Union officials blasted Keller’s referendum proposal, calling it a politically motivated ploy to draw attention away from poor job performances by agency management and the board of directors. SEIU Executive Director Pete Castelli issued a statement saying: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In these past eight months, the Bay Area has witnessed how BART officials and their high-paid consultants like Thomas Hock have actively pursued a scorched earth policy to dismantle workers’ rights and workers’ ability to improve workplace conditions. They’ve seen how the Board and Management have chosen to disregard workers’ concerns, resulting in a less reliable and more dangerous transportation system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riders and the Bay Area have seen how our elected Board has allowed the General Manager to run the system in a reckless manner, without consideration for the riding public or their own employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of taking responsibility or demanding accountability, Director Keller prefers to point fingers and blame workers, just as those very workers are in the process of fixing Management’s alleged mistakes. This is not a way to run a train system.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>BART concluded contracts with its biggest unions last month. But disputes continue over the agreements. One involves \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/21/bart-board-vote-union-contract/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a potentially expensive family-leave provision\u003c/a> included in the final contract language with SEIU Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 that BART — despite its official signatures on the clause — insists it never agreed to. The second issue involves the effective date for new pension and retirement provisions for members of AFSCME Local 3993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the AFSCME contract problem, BART board member Keller \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/BART-labor-talks-snag-on-new-glitch-5073097.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s disappointing. There is no excuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keller, who represents eastern Contra Costa County and who is expected to take over as board president Thursday, said he intends to appoint a committee to look into the district’s labor negotiations process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for solving the latest snafu, Keller said: “Maybe I’ll jump off a building and let someone else figure it out.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Emslie of KQED News contributed to this post. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_115430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/10/18/bart-strike-update-day-1/rs7074_004/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-115430\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115430\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/10/RS7074_004-e1382115321568.jpg\" alt=\"(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART’s biggest unions walked out out twice earlier this year in the midst of bitter and still-not-completely resolved contract disputes. The two four-day walkouts, in July and October, appear to have had an impact on public opinion, with 52 percent of those surveyed\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/majority-of-bay-area-voters-oppose-transit-workers-right-to-strike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> in a recent Field Poll\u003c/a> saying they oppose transit worker strikes. Widespread frustration with work stoppages at BART, which carries about 200,000 people a day, has triggered \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrat-Steve-Glazer-risks-union-backlash-4899266.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an online campaign\u003c/a> to get the Legislature to ban such strikes in the future. And now the BART board of directors may get into the act, as it weighs a proposal for a ballot referendum asking Bay Area voters whether the system’s workers ought to be allowed to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Joel Keller wants to put an advisory measure on the November 2014 ballot. He says the Legislature would still have to amend the law, reclassifying BART workers as essential and forcing binding arbitration for future labor negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to hear from the riders; I want to hear from the unions,” Keller said before the board met this morning. “I want to hear from the people in the Bay Area. I’ve come to the conclusion that these labor disruptions are very harmful to public transportation. I think we have to find a way to do better in the future for our riders and for the commuting public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keller said during the board’s meeting that his experience in nearly two decades as a BART director led him to change his minds about strikes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nineteen years ago, if somebody had put that before this board, I would have said not “no,” but “hell, no.” But after 19 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that our riders deserve better than what has happened in the last six months. I see no alternative. This is my fifth labor negotiation at BART, and they have progressively been getting worse and worse and worse. And the people who get hurt are the riders and the commuters of the Bay Area. \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Union officials blasted Keller’s referendum proposal, calling it a politically motivated ploy to draw attention away from poor job performances by agency management and the board of directors. SEIU Executive Director Pete Castelli issued a statement saying: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In these past eight months, the Bay Area has witnessed how BART officials and their high-paid consultants like Thomas Hock have actively pursued a scorched earth policy to dismantle workers’ rights and workers’ ability to improve workplace conditions. They’ve seen how the Board and Management have chosen to disregard workers’ concerns, resulting in a less reliable and more dangerous transportation system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riders and the Bay Area have seen how our elected Board has allowed the General Manager to run the system in a reckless manner, without consideration for the riding public or their own employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of taking responsibility or demanding accountability, Director Keller prefers to point fingers and blame workers, just as those very workers are in the process of fixing Management’s alleged mistakes. This is not a way to run a train system.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>BART concluded contracts with its biggest unions last month. But disputes continue over the agreements. One involves \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/21/bart-board-vote-union-contract/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a potentially expensive family-leave provision\u003c/a> included in the final contract language with SEIU Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 that BART — despite its official signatures on the clause — insists it never agreed to. The second issue involves the effective date for new pension and retirement provisions for members of AFSCME Local 3993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the AFSCME contract problem, BART board member Keller \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/BART-labor-talks-snag-on-new-glitch-5073097.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s disappointing. There is no excuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keller, who represents eastern Contra Costa County and who is expected to take over as board president Thursday, said he intends to appoint a committee to look into the district’s labor negotiations process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for solving the latest snafu, Keller said: “Maybe I’ll jump off a building and let someone else figure it out.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Emslie of KQED News contributed to this post. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Tip or Bribe? Taxi Drivers Say Illegal Payments to Dispatchers Are Routine",
"title": "Tip or Bribe? Taxi Drivers Say Illegal Payments to Dispatchers Are Routine",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">B\u003c/span>rad Newsham drove a cab in San Francisco for nearly three decades and says he loved nearly everything about the job from the first day he got behind the wheel: the people, the city's beauty, the independence, the sense of experiencing something new every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bradnewsham.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Newsham\u003c/a> quit the business this year because he was down to earning a net income of five bucks an hour. Newsham's experience isn't unique — others in San Francisco's taxicab industry say they know drivers who are only netting $5 to $10 an hour. A big part of the tough economics for drivers has to do with ride-service companies like Sidecar, Uber and Lyft siphoning off business from the traditional cab companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright noborder\">\u003cimg src=\"http://u.s.kqed.net/2013/12/18/tip.jpg\" alt=\"Money\">\n\u003ch3>When drivers pay dispatchers, is it a tip? Or a bribe? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/12/13/the-fine-line-between-a-taxi-drivers-tip-and-a-bribe/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more.\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But part of the money problem for the great majority of taxi drivers, those who rent their vehicles, is the way the business is structured. They start out in the hole every day, needing to make $100 or more just to pay the \"gate,\" or rental fee, for a 10-hour shift. They pay gas on top of that, which could easily come to $20 or $30 a shift or more. You can do the math yourself: To clear San Francisco's minimum wage of $10.55 an hour, they've got to bring in something north of $200, and probably significantly more than that, during their 10 hours on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers get no benefits, and may be held responsible for their gate fees when they're too sick to drive. Sometimes they must pay insurance deductibles and they face fines from city taxi regulators when they violate rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you wonder how they survive, well, lots of them are just scraping by. Richard Hybels, owner of San Francisco's Metro Cab, says, \"Cab drivers can’t even get their teeth fixed. They’re poor people. It’s not an easy way to make a living by any stretch of the imagination.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the financial odds against drivers aren't long enough already, they face another daily cost that industry veterans like Newsham alternatively call \"the tip\" or \"the bribe.\" That’s the unofficial, and illegal, five to ten bucks or more that many drivers say they pay cab company dispatchers and gas attendants every shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whoever bribes the dispatcher the most tends to get the best shifts,\" says Newsham. “I’ve been in situations at companies where if you don’t tip, the dispatcher says, 'Nice to see you ... I don’t have any cabs right now ... why don’t you sit on the bench for awhile until I get one?' I have sat there for three hours waiting for him to find me a cab when I have seen people walk in, give him 20 bucks and walk right out. It’s just a fact of life in the cab world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime San Francisco \u003ca href=\"http://phantomcabdriverphites.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">cab driver Ed Healy\u003c/a> says the practice is standard throughout the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>More in KQED's series\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>This is the third part in our series on the risks and benefits to those who sign up with networked ride services like Lyft, Sidecar and UberX, versus those who work for the traditional taxicab industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/07/taxis-lyft-ride-service-war-on-streets-of-san-francisco\">\u003cstrong>Part One\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> describes the growing tensions between ride services and taxi companies.\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/who-pays-when-ride-share-driver-crashes\">Part Two\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> examines the insurance risks facing drivers for the ride services.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"I once had a dispatcher come out there and I gave him $3 and he threw it back in my face and said, ‘That’s not a tip,'\" says Healy. \"I stopped tipping them completely, and I regularly got cars without any brakes or (that) broke down in various ways. I had one where a huge pipe dropped out of the cab and onto the ground. I had so many breakdowns, and I wondered why I had to wait three hours for somebody to come and tow. So I would say that pretty much enforced tipping is the rule.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Han, who drives for Yellow Cab, breaks down his tipping routine: $1 to the gas guy, $5 to the dispatcher in charge of issuing cabs when he goes out and $1 more when he returns to file his paperwork. That's somewhat lower than a lot of drivers, he says. \"Many drivers say $5 going out and $5 coming in to dispatchers and cashiers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence, a driver since 1996 who wrote the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/NIGHT-CABBIE-A-lesson-in-Chinese-relations-2805327.php\" target=\"_blank\">Night Cabbie\u003c/a> column in the old San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, lays out basically the same scenario in terms of pressure to make these payments:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you don't want to piss off anybody that can cause you problems, you have to pay it,\" he says. \"The system that’s pervasive is tips and payola before you get your taxi.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawrence says radio dispatchers will also sometimes demand money for sending lucrative airport calls a driver's way. He says at one company he used to work for, the radio dispatcher had a black book. \"He came up to me ... and said, 'Emil, I looked at my book, you owe me for two airports.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever you call it, this kind of payment, voluntary or involuntary, is against the law in San Francisco, and each violation carries a $633 fine for firms that allow it. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that when you talk to San Francisco taxi companies, virtually all of them say that they don't allow tipping (six of the biggest companies — Yellow, Luxor, DeSoto, Metro, Royal and Town told me tipping is prohibited in their shops; two other companies, Arrow Checker and NationalVeterans, didn't return my calls).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Gillespie, general manager at Yellow Cab, said any reports of tipping at the company aren't true. \"It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Has it ever happened? \"Not to my knowledge,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'I have sat there for three hours waiting for him to find me a cab when I have seen people walk in, give him 20 bucks and walk right out.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>—Brad Newsham, cab driver\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Charles Rathbone, assistant manager at Luxor, told me, \"Nobody is forced to tip.\" He says the company has signs up saying tipping isn't allowed. \"Nobody has to tip to get a better shift or cab. The cashiers and the dispatchers know we’d come down on them like a ton of bricks. If you know of somebody who says there is (a tipping requirement) please tell them to come in and see me and I promise no retaliation for complaints. Absolutely.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What about voluntary tipping, which is also prohibited?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's the kind of thing that is almost impossible to stop\" he says. \"How do you prevent somebody from passing somebody else a dollar? It’s a very difficult thing to prevent from happening. I’m not going to say categorically that there is no tipping, but it’s certainly not anything the company gets any money from.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/125668303&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tipping is an Expensive Reality\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Hara has little doubt that these payments are a reality in San Francisco cab companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He's an economist whose firm, Hara Associates, compiled \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/Draft%20SF%20DriverSurvey%2037%20Web%20version04042013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a report\u003c/a> last year on the city's taxi industry for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, or SFMTA. The firm's survey of 621 San Francisco cab drivers found that 61 percent said they always pay daily tips to other company employees. More than half of that group, 55 percent, said they pay those tips because they have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the companies for which more than 30 drivers were surveyed, the reported tips ranged from an average of $4.47 for a non-Friday or non-Saturday night shift to $8.95 for a Friday or Saturday night shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?containerId=googft-gviz-canvas&q=select+col0%2C+col1%2C+col2%2C+col3+from+10EWOm6XOitK40qidzUUyuF6ng84o_bUsO5jQnZg+order+by+col2+desc+limit+10&viz=GVIZ&t=COLUMN&uiversion=2&gco_forceIFrame=true&gco_hasLabelsColumn=true&gco_vAxes=%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22Respondents%22%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3Anull%2C+%22min%22%3Anull%7D%2C+%22logScale%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%7B%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3Anull%2C+%22min%22%3Anull%7D%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22logScale%22%3Afalse%7D%5D&gco_useFirstColumnAsDomain=true&gco_isStacked=true&gco_booleanRole=certainty&gco_hAxis=%7B%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3Anull%2C+%22viewWindowMode%22%3Anull%7D&gco_legend=right&gco_title=How+often+do+you+pay+tips+to+dispatchers%2C+gas+attendants+or+other+taxi+companies%3F&gco_fontName=Arial&att=true&width=640&height=300\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tipping can be expensive, the report added, with 21 percent of drivers reporting they gave daily tips of between $10 and $20 and another 8 percent saying the gave more than $20 per shift. The highest tips came from those working lucrative weekend night shifts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone who drives a cab and tips dispatchers and gas attendants see that as a problem. One longtime driver who asked to remain anonymous recalls a variation on the usual practice of tipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We would have to go into a lottery, put our names in a hat, and they’d pull out these numbers, and your number would determine your chances [of getting a cab],\" he says. \"Your chances would be better if you decided to give money to the dispatcher. If you tipped, your chances are much greater to get out.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this driver says he thinks that kind of tipping is OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think most people realize they should tip at least 10 to 15 percent if they like the service,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> 'It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Jim Gillespie, Yellow Cab general manager\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Barry Korengold, the president of the San Francisco Cab Drivers Association, says there are worse things happening in the industry right now than pressure to give dispatcher and gas attendants a tip. \"It’s not one of my big issues,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Korengold and one other driver told me that because drivers live in part on tips, it would be hypocritical not to do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence, for one, says he currently tips because he wants to, but that's only because he owns a cab medallion (which is essentially a license to drive a cab in the city) and has greater leverage. He also said he doesn't blame all cab company employees for taking tips, as they make very little money. \"They have no benefits whatsoever, so this is the way they get their income up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Law and How It's Enforced\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I asked Christiane Hayashi, director of taxis and accessible services for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, whether drivers tipping taxi company employees was legal, she read from the \u003ca href=\"http://transportation.sanfranciscocode.org/downloads/code-text/II._1105.txt\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Transportation Code, Section 1105, sub-section A10,\u003c/a> in effect since 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“No Permit Holder or agent of a Permit Holder may accept or solicit gifts and/or gratuities or anything of value from any Driver, other than Gate Fees, Lease Fees, payments for goods actually received, or other payments authorized by this Article. A Permit Holder or agent of a Permit Holder shall issue a receipt for any payment received from a Driver.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The ordinance covers voluntary payments, too. That means all tipping is illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That absolute ban notwithstanding, Hayashi says she's aware tipping is happening and thinks the practice varies widely from company to company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, she adds, \"The salary structure set up by the companies relies on tipping — it is my understanding that many taxi company employees receive San Francisco's minimum wage and are required to rely on tips to make an adequate salary. ... So it is a deeply ingrained institutional issue that has proven difficult to root out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some companies, drivers tip because they genuinely have a relationship with the dispatcher and it’s no big deal,\" Hayashi notes. \"In other companies, it’s definitely more of a culture where you’ve got to do this or else. And the driver who doesn’t tip might find himself having consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120383\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/12/San+Francisco-taxi-bribes-tips/rs7183_taxis_22oct2013_0125_web-hpf/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120383\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120383\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/10/RS7183_Taxis_22oct2013_0125_web-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Taxis in downtown San Francisco. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taxis in downtown San Francisco. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But to do something about those \"consequences,\" Hayashi says, a driver would have to file a formal report with the SFMTA. To date, she says, no one has ever been cited for violating Section 1105, sub-section A10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drivers may complain to us, but it’s quite another matter to ask them to sign a declaration and go to an administrative hearing,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran driver Brad Newsham says that kind of reasoning is akin to expecting victims of the system to enforce the law. \"You’re going to blame the cab driver who makes a paltry wage for not taking down the system that has been winked at by every regulator that’s ever been,\" he asks, \"and who has thrown up their hands and says, 'There’s nothing we can do'?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other drivers say blowing the whistle would be risky. “A driver would be afraid because they’d get fired,\" says Ed Healey, who drives for DeSoto Cab. \"Nobody could survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Han, a Yellow Cab driver, agrees. “I wouldn’t want to go through that process,\" he says. \"I basically would be going on the record with something that does not look very good for the people who I depend upon to issue me a cab every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>Does Tipping Happen? What the Taxi Companies Say\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Under \u003ca href=\"http://transportation.sanfranciscocode.org/downloads/code-text/II._1105.txt\" target=\"_blank\">a San Francisco ordinance\u003c/a>, the taxi industry practice of requiring or allowing drivers to tip dispatchers or other employees is illegal. We asked major San Francisco cab companies whether tipping takes place in their shops. Here's what they told us:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://yellowcabsf.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Yellow Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Jim Gillespie, general manager: \"It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.luxorcab.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Luxor Cabs\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Charles Rathbone, assistant manager: \"Nobody is forced to tip.\" What about voluntary tipping? \"It's the kind of thing that it's almost impossible to stop. ... but it’s certainly not anything the company gets any money from.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.desotosf.com/\" target=\"_blank\">DeSoto Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Hansu Kim, owner: Says compulsory tipping is “almost nonexistent now,” though he acknowledges voluntary tipping continues. \"We have a lot of drivers who don’t tip, so I have to make sure there’s no consequence whether you tip or not. But how do I stop a guy who says, ‘Hey thanks for giving me the orders, here’s five bucks’?\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/metro-cab\" target=\"_blank\">Metro Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Richard Hybels, owner: \"I want it on my headstone: I’ve never taken a penny from a cabdriver as a tip.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/royal-taxi\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Taxi\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Christopher Sweis, CEO: He says the company's preset schedule for drivers makes tipping unnecessary in terms of being assigned a cab. As for voluntary tipping, he says: \"It's a practice that we can try our best to enforce and ask our dispatchers not to take tips or ask our drivers not to tip the dispatchers. We can't control every single driver. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://sftowntaxi.com/\" target=\"_blank\">SF Town Taxi\u003c/a>:\u003c/strong> Jacob Mayzel, manager: \"It doesn't happen with Town Taxi.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/vi/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/arrow-checker-cab\" target=\"_blank\">Arrow Checker\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> Did not respond.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://sfnationalcab.sftaxischool.com/\">\u003cstrong>National Veterans Cab\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> Did not respond.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Luxor driver Jeremiah Cushing says filing a formal complaint would be like asking, \"Who will step forward so [they] can be shot first? Why don’t I just emboss a scarlet T on my chest? I would just be a total outcast.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bucking the System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing's got another solution to the tipping problem, though: Just refuse to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most people do five dollars in, five dollars out,\" he says, citing what a company cashier told him, i.e., tipping $5 both at the beginning and end of their shifts. \"I started doing the math on it. ... At the end of the year, it was a lot of money in my pocket going to the unknown ... I said, 'Screw this, I'm not paying any of these guys. ... Other drivers have told me, 'You’re going to need these cashiers, they’re going to provide you a car.' I said, 'No — I do not need them, they need me.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing said he hasn't been tipping anyone but the gas guys for more than a year. \"If you ask me why I tip the gas guys, I can't give you a logical answer,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him if there had been any consequences to his one-man rebellion. He said there had been some minor incidents, including one in which he was assigned a spare cab, typically the vehicle in the worst condition on the lot. He refused to drive it and went home, he said, but there were no other repercussions. \"They have such a shortage of drivers now, I don’t get messed with.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ray of Hope for Drivers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Metro Cab and Green Cab are two taxi outfits drivers routinely mention as prohibiting tipping. When I asked Metro owner Richard Hybels what's behind his policy, he said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most of the people who work for me are supporting families, or supporting families in another country. It’s a tough business as it is. I make enough money in the normal parts of the business; I don’t need to squeeze any more out of them. ... I want it on my headstone: I’ve never taken a penny from a cabdriver as a tip.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former \"Night Cabbie\" columnist Emil Lawrence says many gas-and-gate cab drivers are on the economic margins and that he knows drivers who are living in \u003ca href=\"http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_choice_voucher_program_section_8\" target=\"_blank\">Section 8 housing\u003c/a> and receiving food stamps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They pay the cab company nonstop, they pay everybody tips nonstop,\" Lawrence says. \"They don't even make minimum wage on some nights, and if they don't pay, they don't have gas, they don't have a job the next day. ... What they make after paying the SFMTA and cab companies, you couldn't make a decent living in downtown Baghdad today.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I've been in that situation,\" he says. \"It's like quicksand.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the balance of power between cab drivers and cab companies may be starting to tilt in the drivers' favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA consultant Dan Hara says a downturn in the cab business brought about by the rise of ride-service companies has at least temporarily reduced the pressure to tip, because cab companies are having problems filling shifts, a reality confirmed by others in the industry. (Though I recently asked three different drivers during cab rides if they currently tipped taxi company employees, and they all said they did.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many cab drivers are irate about Sidecar, Lyft and Uber \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/07/taxis-lyft-ride-service-war-on-streets-of-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\">cutting into their business\u003c/a>, many others are quitting the cab business to drive with what regulators call \"transportation network companies (TNCs)\" — the very ride-service companies that compete with their cabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Before TNCs, some drivers tipped extensively to get out faster in nicer cars,\" says John Han. \"Now, I'm guessing some of those drivers have gone to TNCs.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, one of my recent cab drivers cited the requirement to tip as a major reason he was quitting to go work for Uber. (\"If you get an airport call, the guys ask you for money after and if you don't give you won't get another airport call,\" he said.)\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> 'The drivers may complain to us but it’s quite another matter to ask them to sign a declaration...'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Christiane Hayashi, Director of Taxis at SFMTA\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>I kept asking the drivers if the Lyfts and Sidecars of the world could actually end up \u003cem>helping\u003c/em> them, as they potentially give drivers more leverage in dealing with the cab companies. John Han, for instance, says Yellow recently lowered its Saturday night gate fee for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some scoffed at the notion that anything good could result from the competition or that they would ever switch to a TNC, citing the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/who-pays-when-ride-share-driver-crashes\" target=\"_blank\">insurance risk\u003c/a>, among other reasons. But not everyone felt that way. Brad Newsham said if he were giving advice to a young would-be driver today, he'd tell them to skip traditional taxis and go to work for a ride-service company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence told me there might be something for the average driver to gain from going to work for a ride-service firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I know drivers right now who work for cab companies at the same time they work for Uber,\" he says. \"Radio calls are down probably 70 percent now. They’re down on Friday even more. You’re talking about 10-15 minutes sometimes with no call at all. It’s all on the apps. If you’re a cab driver with a taxi, at the same time you have an Uber setup, that may be the new industry. But you can (also) do that same business in your own car at your own hours without paying the taxi company one dime.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View SF Taxi Driver Survey on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/192372483/SF-Taxi-Driver-Survey\">SF Taxi Driver Survey\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe id=\"doc_39345\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/192372483/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED's Lisa Pickoff-White, Bryan Goebel and Katrina Schwartz contributed reporting to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">B\u003c/span>rad Newsham drove a cab in San Francisco for nearly three decades and says he loved nearly everything about the job from the first day he got behind the wheel: the people, the city's beauty, the independence, the sense of experiencing something new every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bradnewsham.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Newsham\u003c/a> quit the business this year because he was down to earning a net income of five bucks an hour. Newsham's experience isn't unique — others in San Francisco's taxicab industry say they know drivers who are only netting $5 to $10 an hour. A big part of the tough economics for drivers has to do with ride-service companies like Sidecar, Uber and Lyft siphoning off business from the traditional cab companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright noborder\">\u003cimg src=\"http://u.s.kqed.net/2013/12/18/tip.jpg\" alt=\"Money\">\n\u003ch3>When drivers pay dispatchers, is it a tip? Or a bribe? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/12/13/the-fine-line-between-a-taxi-drivers-tip-and-a-bribe/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more.\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But part of the money problem for the great majority of taxi drivers, those who rent their vehicles, is the way the business is structured. They start out in the hole every day, needing to make $100 or more just to pay the \"gate,\" or rental fee, for a 10-hour shift. They pay gas on top of that, which could easily come to $20 or $30 a shift or more. You can do the math yourself: To clear San Francisco's minimum wage of $10.55 an hour, they've got to bring in something north of $200, and probably significantly more than that, during their 10 hours on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drivers get no benefits, and may be held responsible for their gate fees when they're too sick to drive. Sometimes they must pay insurance deductibles and they face fines from city taxi regulators when they violate rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you wonder how they survive, well, lots of them are just scraping by. Richard Hybels, owner of San Francisco's Metro Cab, says, \"Cab drivers can’t even get their teeth fixed. They’re poor people. It’s not an easy way to make a living by any stretch of the imagination.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the financial odds against drivers aren't long enough already, they face another daily cost that industry veterans like Newsham alternatively call \"the tip\" or \"the bribe.\" That’s the unofficial, and illegal, five to ten bucks or more that many drivers say they pay cab company dispatchers and gas attendants every shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whoever bribes the dispatcher the most tends to get the best shifts,\" says Newsham. “I’ve been in situations at companies where if you don’t tip, the dispatcher says, 'Nice to see you ... I don’t have any cabs right now ... why don’t you sit on the bench for awhile until I get one?' I have sat there for three hours waiting for him to find me a cab when I have seen people walk in, give him 20 bucks and walk right out. It’s just a fact of life in the cab world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime San Francisco \u003ca href=\"http://phantomcabdriverphites.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">cab driver Ed Healy\u003c/a> says the practice is standard throughout the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>More in KQED's series\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>This is the third part in our series on the risks and benefits to those who sign up with networked ride services like Lyft, Sidecar and UberX, versus those who work for the traditional taxicab industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/07/taxis-lyft-ride-service-war-on-streets-of-san-francisco\">\u003cstrong>Part One\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> describes the growing tensions between ride services and taxi companies.\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/who-pays-when-ride-share-driver-crashes\">Part Two\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> examines the insurance risks facing drivers for the ride services.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"I once had a dispatcher come out there and I gave him $3 and he threw it back in my face and said, ‘That’s not a tip,'\" says Healy. \"I stopped tipping them completely, and I regularly got cars without any brakes or (that) broke down in various ways. I had one where a huge pipe dropped out of the cab and onto the ground. I had so many breakdowns, and I wondered why I had to wait three hours for somebody to come and tow. So I would say that pretty much enforced tipping is the rule.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Han, who drives for Yellow Cab, breaks down his tipping routine: $1 to the gas guy, $5 to the dispatcher in charge of issuing cabs when he goes out and $1 more when he returns to file his paperwork. That's somewhat lower than a lot of drivers, he says. \"Many drivers say $5 going out and $5 coming in to dispatchers and cashiers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence, a driver since 1996 who wrote the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/NIGHT-CABBIE-A-lesson-in-Chinese-relations-2805327.php\" target=\"_blank\">Night Cabbie\u003c/a> column in the old San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, lays out basically the same scenario in terms of pressure to make these payments:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you don't want to piss off anybody that can cause you problems, you have to pay it,\" he says. \"The system that’s pervasive is tips and payola before you get your taxi.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawrence says radio dispatchers will also sometimes demand money for sending lucrative airport calls a driver's way. He says at one company he used to work for, the radio dispatcher had a black book. \"He came up to me ... and said, 'Emil, I looked at my book, you owe me for two airports.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever you call it, this kind of payment, voluntary or involuntary, is against the law in San Francisco, and each violation carries a $633 fine for firms that allow it. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that when you talk to San Francisco taxi companies, virtually all of them say that they don't allow tipping (six of the biggest companies — Yellow, Luxor, DeSoto, Metro, Royal and Town told me tipping is prohibited in their shops; two other companies, Arrow Checker and NationalVeterans, didn't return my calls).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Gillespie, general manager at Yellow Cab, said any reports of tipping at the company aren't true. \"It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Has it ever happened? \"Not to my knowledge,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'I have sat there for three hours waiting for him to find me a cab when I have seen people walk in, give him 20 bucks and walk right out.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>—Brad Newsham, cab driver\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Charles Rathbone, assistant manager at Luxor, told me, \"Nobody is forced to tip.\" He says the company has signs up saying tipping isn't allowed. \"Nobody has to tip to get a better shift or cab. The cashiers and the dispatchers know we’d come down on them like a ton of bricks. If you know of somebody who says there is (a tipping requirement) please tell them to come in and see me and I promise no retaliation for complaints. Absolutely.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What about voluntary tipping, which is also prohibited?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's the kind of thing that is almost impossible to stop\" he says. \"How do you prevent somebody from passing somebody else a dollar? It’s a very difficult thing to prevent from happening. I’m not going to say categorically that there is no tipping, but it’s certainly not anything the company gets any money from.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/125668303&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tipping is an Expensive Reality\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Hara has little doubt that these payments are a reality in San Francisco cab companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He's an economist whose firm, Hara Associates, compiled \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/Draft%20SF%20DriverSurvey%2037%20Web%20version04042013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a report\u003c/a> last year on the city's taxi industry for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, or SFMTA. The firm's survey of 621 San Francisco cab drivers found that 61 percent said they always pay daily tips to other company employees. More than half of that group, 55 percent, said they pay those tips because they have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the companies for which more than 30 drivers were surveyed, the reported tips ranged from an average of $4.47 for a non-Friday or non-Saturday night shift to $8.95 for a Friday or Saturday night shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?containerId=googft-gviz-canvas&q=select+col0%2C+col1%2C+col2%2C+col3+from+10EWOm6XOitK40qidzUUyuF6ng84o_bUsO5jQnZg+order+by+col2+desc+limit+10&viz=GVIZ&t=COLUMN&uiversion=2&gco_forceIFrame=true&gco_hasLabelsColumn=true&gco_vAxes=%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22Respondents%22%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3Anull%2C+%22min%22%3Anull%7D%2C+%22logScale%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%7B%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3Anull%2C+%22min%22%3Anull%7D%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22logScale%22%3Afalse%7D%5D&gco_useFirstColumnAsDomain=true&gco_isStacked=true&gco_booleanRole=certainty&gco_hAxis=%7B%22useFormatFromData%22%3Atrue%2C+%22minValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22maxValue%22%3Anull%2C+%22viewWindow%22%3Anull%2C+%22viewWindowMode%22%3Anull%7D&gco_legend=right&gco_title=How+often+do+you+pay+tips+to+dispatchers%2C+gas+attendants+or+other+taxi+companies%3F&gco_fontName=Arial&att=true&width=640&height=300\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tipping can be expensive, the report added, with 21 percent of drivers reporting they gave daily tips of between $10 and $20 and another 8 percent saying the gave more than $20 per shift. The highest tips came from those working lucrative weekend night shifts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone who drives a cab and tips dispatchers and gas attendants see that as a problem. One longtime driver who asked to remain anonymous recalls a variation on the usual practice of tipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We would have to go into a lottery, put our names in a hat, and they’d pull out these numbers, and your number would determine your chances [of getting a cab],\" he says. \"Your chances would be better if you decided to give money to the dispatcher. If you tipped, your chances are much greater to get out.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this driver says he thinks that kind of tipping is OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think most people realize they should tip at least 10 to 15 percent if they like the service,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> 'It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Jim Gillespie, Yellow Cab general manager\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Barry Korengold, the president of the San Francisco Cab Drivers Association, says there are worse things happening in the industry right now than pressure to give dispatcher and gas attendants a tip. \"It’s not one of my big issues,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Korengold and one other driver told me that because drivers live in part on tips, it would be hypocritical not to do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence, for one, says he currently tips because he wants to, but that's only because he owns a cab medallion (which is essentially a license to drive a cab in the city) and has greater leverage. He also said he doesn't blame all cab company employees for taking tips, as they make very little money. \"They have no benefits whatsoever, so this is the way they get their income up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Law and How It's Enforced\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I asked Christiane Hayashi, director of taxis and accessible services for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, whether drivers tipping taxi company employees was legal, she read from the \u003ca href=\"http://transportation.sanfranciscocode.org/downloads/code-text/II._1105.txt\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Transportation Code, Section 1105, sub-section A10,\u003c/a> in effect since 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“No Permit Holder or agent of a Permit Holder may accept or solicit gifts and/or gratuities or anything of value from any Driver, other than Gate Fees, Lease Fees, payments for goods actually received, or other payments authorized by this Article. A Permit Holder or agent of a Permit Holder shall issue a receipt for any payment received from a Driver.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The ordinance covers voluntary payments, too. That means all tipping is illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That absolute ban notwithstanding, Hayashi says she's aware tipping is happening and thinks the practice varies widely from company to company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, she adds, \"The salary structure set up by the companies relies on tipping — it is my understanding that many taxi company employees receive San Francisco's minimum wage and are required to rely on tips to make an adequate salary. ... So it is a deeply ingrained institutional issue that has proven difficult to root out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some companies, drivers tip because they genuinely have a relationship with the dispatcher and it’s no big deal,\" Hayashi notes. \"In other companies, it’s definitely more of a culture where you’ve got to do this or else. And the driver who doesn’t tip might find himself having consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120383\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/12/San+Francisco-taxi-bribes-tips/rs7183_taxis_22oct2013_0125_web-hpf/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120383\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120383\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/10/RS7183_Taxis_22oct2013_0125_web-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Taxis in downtown San Francisco. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taxis in downtown San Francisco. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But to do something about those \"consequences,\" Hayashi says, a driver would have to file a formal report with the SFMTA. To date, she says, no one has ever been cited for violating Section 1105, sub-section A10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drivers may complain to us, but it’s quite another matter to ask them to sign a declaration and go to an administrative hearing,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran driver Brad Newsham says that kind of reasoning is akin to expecting victims of the system to enforce the law. \"You’re going to blame the cab driver who makes a paltry wage for not taking down the system that has been winked at by every regulator that’s ever been,\" he asks, \"and who has thrown up their hands and says, 'There’s nothing we can do'?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other drivers say blowing the whistle would be risky. “A driver would be afraid because they’d get fired,\" says Ed Healey, who drives for DeSoto Cab. \"Nobody could survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Han, a Yellow Cab driver, agrees. “I wouldn’t want to go through that process,\" he says. \"I basically would be going on the record with something that does not look very good for the people who I depend upon to issue me a cab every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>Does Tipping Happen? What the Taxi Companies Say\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Under \u003ca href=\"http://transportation.sanfranciscocode.org/downloads/code-text/II._1105.txt\" target=\"_blank\">a San Francisco ordinance\u003c/a>, the taxi industry practice of requiring or allowing drivers to tip dispatchers or other employees is illegal. We asked major San Francisco cab companies whether tipping takes place in their shops. Here's what they told us:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://yellowcabsf.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Yellow Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Jim Gillespie, general manager: \"It's not happening at Yellow Cab. If that happens I would fire the employees.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.luxorcab.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Luxor Cabs\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Charles Rathbone, assistant manager: \"Nobody is forced to tip.\" What about voluntary tipping? \"It's the kind of thing that it's almost impossible to stop. ... but it’s certainly not anything the company gets any money from.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.desotosf.com/\" target=\"_blank\">DeSoto Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Hansu Kim, owner: Says compulsory tipping is “almost nonexistent now,” though he acknowledges voluntary tipping continues. \"We have a lot of drivers who don’t tip, so I have to make sure there’s no consequence whether you tip or not. But how do I stop a guy who says, ‘Hey thanks for giving me the orders, here’s five bucks’?\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/metro-cab\" target=\"_blank\">Metro Cab\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Richard Hybels, owner: \"I want it on my headstone: I’ve never taken a penny from a cabdriver as a tip.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/royal-taxi\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Taxi\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>: Christopher Sweis, CEO: He says the company's preset schedule for drivers makes tipping unnecessary in terms of being assigned a cab. As for voluntary tipping, he says: \"It's a practice that we can try our best to enforce and ask our dispatchers not to take tips or ask our drivers not to tip the dispatchers. We can't control every single driver. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://sftowntaxi.com/\" target=\"_blank\">SF Town Taxi\u003c/a>:\u003c/strong> Jacob Mayzel, manager: \"It doesn't happen with Town Taxi.\"\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/vi/getting-around/take-taxi/taxi-companies/arrow-checker-cab\" target=\"_blank\">Arrow Checker\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> Did not respond.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://sfnationalcab.sftaxischool.com/\">\u003cstrong>National Veterans Cab\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> Did not respond.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Luxor driver Jeremiah Cushing says filing a formal complaint would be like asking, \"Who will step forward so [they] can be shot first? Why don’t I just emboss a scarlet T on my chest? I would just be a total outcast.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bucking the System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing's got another solution to the tipping problem, though: Just refuse to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most people do five dollars in, five dollars out,\" he says, citing what a company cashier told him, i.e., tipping $5 both at the beginning and end of their shifts. \"I started doing the math on it. ... At the end of the year, it was a lot of money in my pocket going to the unknown ... I said, 'Screw this, I'm not paying any of these guys. ... Other drivers have told me, 'You’re going to need these cashiers, they’re going to provide you a car.' I said, 'No — I do not need them, they need me.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing said he hasn't been tipping anyone but the gas guys for more than a year. \"If you ask me why I tip the gas guys, I can't give you a logical answer,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him if there had been any consequences to his one-man rebellion. He said there had been some minor incidents, including one in which he was assigned a spare cab, typically the vehicle in the worst condition on the lot. He refused to drive it and went home, he said, but there were no other repercussions. \"They have such a shortage of drivers now, I don’t get messed with.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ray of Hope for Drivers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Metro Cab and Green Cab are two taxi outfits drivers routinely mention as prohibiting tipping. When I asked Metro owner Richard Hybels what's behind his policy, he said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Most of the people who work for me are supporting families, or supporting families in another country. It’s a tough business as it is. I make enough money in the normal parts of the business; I don’t need to squeeze any more out of them. ... I want it on my headstone: I’ve never taken a penny from a cabdriver as a tip.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former \"Night Cabbie\" columnist Emil Lawrence says many gas-and-gate cab drivers are on the economic margins and that he knows drivers who are living in \u003ca href=\"http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_choice_voucher_program_section_8\" target=\"_blank\">Section 8 housing\u003c/a> and receiving food stamps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They pay the cab company nonstop, they pay everybody tips nonstop,\" Lawrence says. \"They don't even make minimum wage on some nights, and if they don't pay, they don't have gas, they don't have a job the next day. ... What they make after paying the SFMTA and cab companies, you couldn't make a decent living in downtown Baghdad today.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I've been in that situation,\" he says. \"It's like quicksand.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the balance of power between cab drivers and cab companies may be starting to tilt in the drivers' favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA consultant Dan Hara says a downturn in the cab business brought about by the rise of ride-service companies has at least temporarily reduced the pressure to tip, because cab companies are having problems filling shifts, a reality confirmed by others in the industry. (Though I recently asked three different drivers during cab rides if they currently tipped taxi company employees, and they all said they did.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many cab drivers are irate about Sidecar, Lyft and Uber \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/07/taxis-lyft-ride-service-war-on-streets-of-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\">cutting into their business\u003c/a>, many others are quitting the cab business to drive with what regulators call \"transportation network companies (TNCs)\" — the very ride-service companies that compete with their cabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Before TNCs, some drivers tipped extensively to get out faster in nicer cars,\" says John Han. \"Now, I'm guessing some of those drivers have gone to TNCs.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, one of my recent cab drivers cited the requirement to tip as a major reason he was quitting to go work for Uber. (\"If you get an airport call, the guys ask you for money after and if you don't give you won't get another airport call,\" he said.)\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> 'The drivers may complain to us but it’s quite another matter to ask them to sign a declaration...'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Christiane Hayashi, Director of Taxis at SFMTA\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>I kept asking the drivers if the Lyfts and Sidecars of the world could actually end up \u003cem>helping\u003c/em> them, as they potentially give drivers more leverage in dealing with the cab companies. John Han, for instance, says Yellow recently lowered its Saturday night gate fee for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some scoffed at the notion that anything good could result from the competition or that they would ever switch to a TNC, citing the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/14/who-pays-when-ride-share-driver-crashes\" target=\"_blank\">insurance risk\u003c/a>, among other reasons. But not everyone felt that way. Brad Newsham said if he were giving advice to a young would-be driver today, he'd tell them to skip traditional taxis and go to work for a ride-service company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emil Lawrence told me there might be something for the average driver to gain from going to work for a ride-service firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I know drivers right now who work for cab companies at the same time they work for Uber,\" he says. \"Radio calls are down probably 70 percent now. They’re down on Friday even more. You’re talking about 10-15 minutes sometimes with no call at all. It’s all on the apps. If you’re a cab driver with a taxi, at the same time you have an Uber setup, that may be the new industry. But you can (also) do that same business in your own car at your own hours without paying the taxi company one dime.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View SF Taxi Driver Survey on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/192372483/SF-Taxi-Driver-Survey\">SF Taxi Driver Survey\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe id=\"doc_39345\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/192372483/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED's Lisa Pickoff-White, Bryan Goebel and Katrina Schwartz contributed reporting to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "The Fine Line Between a Tip and a Bribe for Those Who Drive S.F. Taxis ",
"title": "The Fine Line Between a Tip and a Bribe for Those Who Drive S.F. Taxis ",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120900\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/12/13/draft-the-fine-line-between-a-taxi-drivers-tip-and-a-bribe/rs7181_taxis_22oct2013_0065_web-hpf/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120900\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120900\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/12/RS7181_Taxis_22oct2013_0065_web-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Sara Bloomberg/KQED) \u003ccite>(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A taxi driver gives five or 10 bucks to a dispatcher at the beginning of a shift — to get the right cab at the right time, to get lucrative calls during the day, or just because that's the way the business works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is that a tip? Or a bribe?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.scu.edu/ethics/about/people/directors/business/balassone/\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Balassone\u003c/a> directs the business ethics programs at Santa Clara University's\u003ca href=\"http://www.scu.edu/ethics/\" target=\"_blank\"> Markkula Center for Applied Ethics\u003c/a>. I asked him whether the money changing hands is properly classified as a \"bribe\" as opposed to a \"tip.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says one person's tip can be another person's bribe. But given the way the system works — with many drivers reporting they feel they must pay gratuities to other cab company employees and that there's a quid pro quo involved, Balassone's got an opinion about what we're looking at here.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Either get rid of the law or enforce it. You have laws and don’t enforce them, then people get cynical.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>—Jim Balassone, Santa Clara University ethicist\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“It sure appears like a bribe to me, given the views of the cab drivers,” he says. \"A tip comes after the service. There’s no implied reciprocity. I don’t give this to you so [you don't give me] a clunker and I don’t spend half my shift waiting for a repair.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balassone says he thinks the amount of cash changing hands also matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If it was a couple of dollars, it’s an acknowledgment that you exist and you help me earn my money and I appreciate it,\" he says. \"If you told me it was $20, given the amount of money involved, that sounds like it’s a pay-to-play.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's the ethicist's view. How do things look from inside the industry?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a combination,\" says Emil Lawrence, a veteran driver who once had a newspaper column called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/A-farewell-to-fares-column-deadlines-and-2627147.php\" target=\"_blank\">The Night Cabbie\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"25192029105fd5d85975922bb7206259\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you feel that you’re not going to get any business from the cab company unless you have to pay them, it’s a bribe,\" he says. \"If you feel that, hey you’re getting business already and you’re tipping them for extra business, then it’s a tip. The problem is in the majority of cases you don’t get anything unless you give them money. I’ve worked for eight or nine cab companies, and every cab company has their own unique situation, but every one of them, I never got my taxi unless I paid an implied tip, which was actually a bribe.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One driver who said he wanted to remain anonymous because he is afraid of repercussions at work, sums up the fine line on this issue: He says he tips the guys in charge of the cabs \"essentially so they'll like me. In principle, it's similar to tipping a waiter/waitress for good service, but the consequences for not tipping may be greater. If I am sick one day and have to ask if they can find another driver to cover my shift, they'll be more likely to do it because they know I'm a regular tipper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Yes, I'd prefer not to tip,\" he says. \"But the dispatchers don't earn much salary so they deserve tips. But at the same time, they also have enormous power over cab drivers since the cab companies give them the power to issue the cabs. It should be plain to see then where the abuse can occur. Cab companies will show good PR manners about this in any interview with the press. They've downplayed it before by saying tipping is simply etiquette and cab culture. But I honestly don't think they really care as long as drivers pay their gates.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tip versus bribe discussion glosses over one central point: Whatever you call these payments, they're illegal under a city ordinance, and cab companies are liable for violations. But officials at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency responsible for enforcing the law say they can't prosecute anyone without driver complaints. And drivers, in turn, are reluctant to blow the whistle on the companies because it could threaten their livelihood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balassone says whether the gratuities are tips or bribes, the real question is what's going to be done about the practice. \"If you rationalize it, it doesn’t go away, it doesn’t reach a level of import so that someone thinks they have to do something,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is wrong from an ethical standpoint. One of my thoughts is, 'Enforce the law.' Either get rid of the law or enforce it. You have laws and don’t enforce [them], then people get cynical. I would figure out a way that the cab company would have a huge fine if there was money being taken from the cab drivers. You fine two people 10 grand, you will fix the problem. There has to be a will to do that, follow-up, and some courage.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120900\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/12/13/draft-the-fine-line-between-a-taxi-drivers-tip-and-a-bribe/rs7181_taxis_22oct2013_0065_web-hpf/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120900\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120900\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/12/RS7181_Taxis_22oct2013_0065_web-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Sara Bloomberg/KQED) \u003ccite>(Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A taxi driver gives five or 10 bucks to a dispatcher at the beginning of a shift — to get the right cab at the right time, to get lucrative calls during the day, or just because that's the way the business works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is that a tip? Or a bribe?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.scu.edu/ethics/about/people/directors/business/balassone/\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Balassone\u003c/a> directs the business ethics programs at Santa Clara University's\u003ca href=\"http://www.scu.edu/ethics/\" target=\"_blank\"> Markkula Center for Applied Ethics\u003c/a>. I asked him whether the money changing hands is properly classified as a \"bribe\" as opposed to a \"tip.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says one person's tip can be another person's bribe. But given the way the system works — with many drivers reporting they feel they must pay gratuities to other cab company employees and that there's a quid pro quo involved, Balassone's got an opinion about what we're looking at here.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Either get rid of the law or enforce it. You have laws and don’t enforce them, then people get cynical.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>—Jim Balassone, Santa Clara University ethicist\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“It sure appears like a bribe to me, given the views of the cab drivers,” he says. \"A tip comes after the service. There’s no implied reciprocity. I don’t give this to you so [you don't give me] a clunker and I don’t spend half my shift waiting for a repair.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balassone says he thinks the amount of cash changing hands also matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If it was a couple of dollars, it’s an acknowledgment that you exist and you help me earn my money and I appreciate it,\" he says. \"If you told me it was $20, given the amount of money involved, that sounds like it’s a pay-to-play.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's the ethicist's view. How do things look from inside the industry?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a combination,\" says Emil Lawrence, a veteran driver who once had a newspaper column called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/A-farewell-to-fares-column-deadlines-and-2627147.php\" target=\"_blank\">The Night Cabbie\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you feel that you’re not going to get any business from the cab company unless you have to pay them, it’s a bribe,\" he says. \"If you feel that, hey you’re getting business already and you’re tipping them for extra business, then it’s a tip. The problem is in the majority of cases you don’t get anything unless you give them money. I’ve worked for eight or nine cab companies, and every cab company has their own unique situation, but every one of them, I never got my taxi unless I paid an implied tip, which was actually a bribe.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One driver who said he wanted to remain anonymous because he is afraid of repercussions at work, sums up the fine line on this issue: He says he tips the guys in charge of the cabs \"essentially so they'll like me. In principle, it's similar to tipping a waiter/waitress for good service, but the consequences for not tipping may be greater. If I am sick one day and have to ask if they can find another driver to cover my shift, they'll be more likely to do it because they know I'm a regular tipper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Yes, I'd prefer not to tip,\" he says. \"But the dispatchers don't earn much salary so they deserve tips. But at the same time, they also have enormous power over cab drivers since the cab companies give them the power to issue the cabs. It should be plain to see then where the abuse can occur. Cab companies will show good PR manners about this in any interview with the press. They've downplayed it before by saying tipping is simply etiquette and cab culture. But I honestly don't think they really care as long as drivers pay their gates.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tip versus bribe discussion glosses over one central point: Whatever you call these payments, they're illegal under a city ordinance, and cab companies are liable for violations. But officials at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency responsible for enforcing the law say they can't prosecute anyone without driver complaints. And drivers, in turn, are reluctant to blow the whistle on the companies because it could threaten their livelihood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balassone says whether the gratuities are tips or bribes, the real question is what's going to be done about the practice. \"If you rationalize it, it doesn’t go away, it doesn’t reach a level of import so that someone thinks they have to do something,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is wrong from an ethical standpoint. One of my thoughts is, 'Enforce the law.' Either get rid of the law or enforce it. You have laws and don’t enforce [them], then people get cynical. I would figure out a way that the cab company would have a huge fine if there was money being taken from the cab drivers. You fine two people 10 grand, you will fix the problem. There has to be a will to do that, follow-up, and some courage.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "'BART Strike' Muscles its Way to Top Bay Area Search Term in 2013",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_106038\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/07/bart-board-of-inquiry/rs6027_bart-strike20130804-scr-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-106038\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-106038 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/08/RS6027_bart-strike20130804-scr1-e1375906758834-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"A BART train sits idle at Millbrae station on July 3, 2013 during a worker walkout. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A BART train sits idle at Millbrae station on July 3 during a worker walkout. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's that time again — when all kinds of end-of-year lists start appearing in media (sigh). But here's one we actually found interesting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In three Bay Area cities (Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco) that rely heavily on the public transit service, searches on the phrase \u003cstrong>BART strike\u003c/strong> spiked as the top-trending search term of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While such search magnets as celebrity deaths (Paul Walker and Cory Monteith, RIP) and Powerball ranked high, the fact that the uber-newsy BART strike aced out those and the other usual suspects confirmed what we experienced here at KQED News.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our own coverage of the two transit strikes and a narrowly averted third one generated the heaviest interest among those who follow our regional online news coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four topics appeared across Google's top 10 lists for all five cities we requested data for -- San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They included Walker and Monteith's deaths, the Boston Marathon explosion, and the iPhone 5s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/16/120921/bart-strike-top-google-trendiung-search-term-bay-area/northern-california/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120922\">\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-120922\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Northern-California-640x175.png\" alt=\"Northern California\" width=\"640\" height=\"175\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n-- Top Trending Search Terms in 2013 for Five Northern California Cities (Google)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_106038\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/07/bart-board-of-inquiry/rs6027_bart-strike20130804-scr-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-106038\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-106038 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/08/RS6027_bart-strike20130804-scr1-e1375906758834-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"A BART train sits idle at Millbrae station on July 3, 2013 during a worker walkout. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A BART train sits idle at Millbrae station on July 3 during a worker walkout. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's that time again — when all kinds of end-of-year lists start appearing in media (sigh). But here's one we actually found interesting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In three Bay Area cities (Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco) that rely heavily on the public transit service, searches on the phrase \u003cstrong>BART strike\u003c/strong> spiked as the top-trending search term of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While such search magnets as celebrity deaths (Paul Walker and Cory Monteith, RIP) and Powerball ranked high, the fact that the uber-newsy BART strike aced out those and the other usual suspects confirmed what we experienced here at KQED News.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our own coverage of the two transit strikes and a narrowly averted third one generated the heaviest interest among those who follow our regional online news coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four topics appeared across Google's top 10 lists for all five cities we requested data for -- San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/07/02/bart-strike-update-day-two-live-blog/bartstrike070213-web/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-102179\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-102179\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/07/bartstrike070213-web-e1375400637116.jpg\" alt=\"(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The latest \u003ca href=\"http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2458.pdf\">Field Poll\u003c/a> has found a striking shift in the views of California and Bay Area voters toward unions, including public-employee unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings indicate 45 percent of Californians now say that unions do more harm than good, compared to 40 percent who say they do more good than harm. As recently as March 2011, according to the Field Poll, 46 percent believed that unions did more good than harm, with only 35 percent believing they did more harm than good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings are notable in a state that generally has had a pro-union history and is currently dominated politically by the Democratic party, which is closely affiliated with the unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area voters, who endured two disruptive \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/10/13/bart-strike-deadline-update-sunday\">BART strikes\u003c/a> in 2013 and narrowly averted a third, are now more opposed to public-employee unions having the right to strike than voters in the rest of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, a narrow majority (47 to 44 percent) continues to support the right of public union workers, like those employed by BART, to strike. But in the wake of the BART strikes, by a 52 to 41 percent margin, Bay Area voters say they oppose allowing public transit workers the right to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From the AP:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp> California Labor Federation spokesman Steve Smith said the figures show the results of a well-funded, coordinated attack on unions by corporate interests that want to abolish organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He agreed that the San Francisco transit strikes and ongoing disputes over the cost and size of pensions had some impact in shifting public views, but added that the public often overlooks the positive work union members do, including helping low-wage workers and pushing for a higher minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Year to year, poll to poll, these numbers fluctuate,\" he said. \"We've got to continue to fight those fights, and fight those fights in a very visible way.\" \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Without a labor movement, the middle class will disappear,\" Smith added. \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide Field Poll was conducted by telephone with a random sample of 1,002 California registered voters in English and Spanish from November 14 through December 5.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From the AP:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp> California Labor Federation spokesman Steve Smith said the figures show the results of a well-funded, coordinated attack on unions by corporate interests that want to abolish organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He agreed that the San Francisco transit strikes and ongoing disputes over the cost and size of pensions had some impact in shifting public views, but added that the public often overlooks the positive work union members do, including helping low-wage workers and pushing for a higher minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Year to year, poll to poll, these numbers fluctuate,\" he said. \"We've got to continue to fight those fights, and fight those fights in a very visible way.\" \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Without a labor movement, the middle class will disappear,\" Smith added. \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide Field Poll was conducted by telephone with a random sample of 1,002 California registered voters in English and Spanish from November 14 through December 5.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120626\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/otter.jpg\" alt=\"otter\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003cbr>\nCalifornians should feel good about the new \u003ca href=\"http://issuu.com/endangeredspeciescoalition/docs/2013_top_10_final\">report\u003c/a> by an advocacy group, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.endangered.org/\">Endangered Species Coalition\u003c/a>, which looks at “Ten Success Stories Celebrating the Endangered Species Act.” Despite healthy numbers, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/06/120199/endangered-species-California\">the southern sea otter\u003c/a>, found in California’s coastal areas, remains a threatened species because it gets caught in fishing nets and oil spills, and its food sources have declined due to climate change. (Endangered Species Coalition)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/09/activists/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120627\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/google-bus-protest.jpg\" alt=\"google-bus-protest\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAnti-eviction activists drew a crowd Monday morning, December 9, by \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/09/activists/\">blocking a bus headed for Google\u003c/a>'s Mountain View campus. Adding to the drama, the Bay Guardian caught what appeared to be a Google employee on camera confronting protesters. Later, the paper learned from anonymous tips that the \"Google employee\" was actually a labor activist from Oakland. (Steve Rhodes)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120628\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/AntiEviction.jpg\" alt=\"AntiEviction\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\">\u003cbr>\nAbout 50 people rallied outside Urban Investments on Tuesday, saying the firm is abusing the Ellis Act, the state law that allows property owners to evict tenants to change a building's use. The group, Eviction Free SF, says they're working with elected officials to put Ellis Act reform on the ballot next year. (Peter Lollo/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/10/as-the-cold-continues-shelters-work-to-bring-warmth/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120629\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/homeless-cold.jpg\" alt=\"homeless-cold\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nColder than usual temperatures have put the Bay Area's homeless population \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/10/as-the-cold-continues-shelters-work-to-bring-warmth/\">at risk for exposure\u003c/a>. Four homeless people have died in San Jose since Thanksgiving, and Bay Area cities are scrambling to convince people living on the streets to come inside. It can be a tough sell. Qat Astrophic says she’s been in San Francisco for five years and homeless off and on for 20 years. She says she feels safer sleeping in her tent on the sidewalk than staying in a shelter. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120630\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/ICE-mallardlake.jpg\" alt=\"ICE-mallardlake\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003cbr>\nA fragile skin of ice on the surface of Mallard Lake in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Tuesday morning. Freezing overnight temperatures frosted the park and surrounding neighborhoods. (Tom Prete/\u003ca href=\"http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/\">Ocean Beach Bulletin\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120631\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/ICE-path.jpg\" alt=\"ICE-path\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003cbr>\nFrost in Golden Gate Park, on a trail near Mallard Lake. (Tom Prete/\u003ca href=\"http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/\">Ocean Beach Bulletin\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201312061630/e\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-120632\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/shark-viewing.jpg\" alt=\"shark-viewing\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nWhile most people steer clear of shark-infested waters, some folks pay big bucks to take a dip in the ocean near \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201312061630/e\">some of the most feared sharks in the world: the great white\u003c/a>. The Farallon Islands, off the coast of San Francisco, are one of the few places on the planet where the brave can test their mettle. Here, Bruce Watkins of Great White Adventures makes sure it's safe for a diver to get out of the great white shark viewing cage. 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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107955\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/22/news-pix/bay-bridge-640/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-107955\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-107955\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/08/Bay-bridge-640.jpg\" alt=\"Bay Bridge's new eastern span, left, with older span, right. (Andrew Stelzer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Bridge’s new eastern span, left, with older span, right. (Andrew Stelzer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge has been open for three months. It’s still shiny and novel enough that we don’t quite take it for granted. Just this morning, the driver in my carpool was praising the nice wide shoulders on the roadway. But all the disquieting news that came spilling out last March when a crucial set of metal rods started to snap? When’s the last time you thought about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if most of us have put the broken rods out of our minds (along with later disclosures about problems with the specs for those components, the problems with their manufacture, and lack of testing), the Sacramento Bee’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=Charles%20Piller&link_location=top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Charles Piller\u003c/a> has not. He’s documented a series of potentially major problems in the building of the $6.4 billion bridge, including questions about inspection of concrete in the span and carelessness in installation of the steel tendons that are supposed to lend strength to its long skyway section.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller’s latest story, published Saturday, focuses on \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/08/5981376/experts-raise-new-doubts-about.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">continuing questions\u003c/a> about whether the bridge officials’ review of the broken rods was sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(As a basic refresher: The issue arose when 32 massive threaded steel rods designed to anchor a seismic stability structure to the new span cracked soon after they were tightened. The rods’ failure led to disclosures that the rods may have been manufactured out of steel that was too hard for the intended purpose, that the rods had been improperly galvanized, and that steel fasteners in other parts of the bridge might also be vulnerable. In response, bridge officials started a new testing program and inspection of rods and bolts throughout the bridge, and generally gave them a clean bill of health).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller’s new story basically says “not so fast.” He relates the work of two veteran materials scientists, Yun Chung and Lisa K. Thomas, who have analyzed and critiqued official reports on the broken rods and suggest that Caltrans might have a much bigger problem on its hands than a few dozen broken pieces of steel. Chung, 81, is retired, but once worked for engineering firm Bechtel; Thomas works for Berkeley Research Co.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Their unsolicited peer-reviewed report, which the two engineers completed in October, has gained traction among eminent engineers and a key elected official, and has begun to garner attention from bridge authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The often-scathing critique disputes official assurances about the reliability of hundreds of high-strength steel rods that support the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two engineers challenged basic assumptions about why 32 rods that secured seismic gear on the eastern pier of the new suspension span broke in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung and Thomas wrote that hundreds of rods that attach the main suspension cable to its eastern anchorage and affix the tower to its foundation appear vulnerable – not just the ones that broke. They called those rods “fracture critical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means that their failures can bring down the entire (suspension) bridge,” they said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller hastens to add that the engineers aren’t saying the bridge is going to collapse. What they are saying, though, is that Caltrans needs to take the possibility that steel rods in parts of the bridge need more testing and better protection. Piller says that other engineers agree with key parts of the critique and that the independent document will be part of a legislative review of problems with the bridge construction led by state \u003ca href=\"http://sd07.senate.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sen. Mark DeSaulnier\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107955\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/22/news-pix/bay-bridge-640/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-107955\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-107955\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/08/Bay-bridge-640.jpg\" alt=\"Bay Bridge's new eastern span, left, with older span, right. (Andrew Stelzer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Bridge’s new eastern span, left, with older span, right. (Andrew Stelzer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge has been open for three months. It’s still shiny and novel enough that we don’t quite take it for granted. Just this morning, the driver in my carpool was praising the nice wide shoulders on the roadway. But all the disquieting news that came spilling out last March when a crucial set of metal rods started to snap? When’s the last time you thought about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if most of us have put the broken rods out of our minds (along with later disclosures about problems with the specs for those components, the problems with their manufacture, and lack of testing), the Sacramento Bee’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=Charles%20Piller&link_location=top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Charles Piller\u003c/a> has not. He’s documented a series of potentially major problems in the building of the $6.4 billion bridge, including questions about inspection of concrete in the span and carelessness in installation of the steel tendons that are supposed to lend strength to its long skyway section.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller’s latest story, published Saturday, focuses on \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/08/5981376/experts-raise-new-doubts-about.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">continuing questions\u003c/a> about whether the bridge officials’ review of the broken rods was sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(As a basic refresher: The issue arose when 32 massive threaded steel rods designed to anchor a seismic stability structure to the new span cracked soon after they were tightened. The rods’ failure led to disclosures that the rods may have been manufactured out of steel that was too hard for the intended purpose, that the rods had been improperly galvanized, and that steel fasteners in other parts of the bridge might also be vulnerable. In response, bridge officials started a new testing program and inspection of rods and bolts throughout the bridge, and generally gave them a clean bill of health).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller’s new story basically says “not so fast.” He relates the work of two veteran materials scientists, Yun Chung and Lisa K. Thomas, who have analyzed and critiqued official reports on the broken rods and suggest that Caltrans might have a much bigger problem on its hands than a few dozen broken pieces of steel. Chung, 81, is retired, but once worked for engineering firm Bechtel; Thomas works for Berkeley Research Co.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Their unsolicited peer-reviewed report, which the two engineers completed in October, has gained traction among eminent engineers and a key elected official, and has begun to garner attention from bridge authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The often-scathing critique disputes official assurances about the reliability of hundreds of high-strength steel rods that support the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two engineers challenged basic assumptions about why 32 rods that secured seismic gear on the eastern pier of the new suspension span broke in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chung and Thomas wrote that hundreds of rods that attach the main suspension cable to its eastern anchorage and affix the tower to its foundation appear vulnerable – not just the ones that broke. They called those rods “fracture critical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means that their failures can bring down the entire (suspension) bridge,” they said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piller hastens to add that the engineers aren’t saying the bridge is going to collapse. What they are saying, though, is that Caltrans needs to take the possibility that steel rods in parts of the bridge need more testing and better protection. Piller says that other engineers agree with key parts of the critique and that the independent document will be part of a legislative review of problems with the bridge construction led by state \u003ca href=\"http://sd07.senate.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sen. Mark DeSaulnier\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120098\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/05/120081/rs3938_high-speed-rail20111118-scr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120098\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120098\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS3938_high-speed-rail20111118-scr-e1386293242600.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of the proposed train. (California High-Speed Rail Authority)\" width=\"640\" height=\"367\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist's rendering of the proposed train. (California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.hsr.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">High-Speed Rail Authority\u003c/a> certainly frames things optimistically. Agency leaders insist the first phase of the San Francisco-Los Angeles rail line is in its construction phase, even though the actual physical construction won’t begin until early next year. And Dan Richard, chair of the agency's board, characterizes \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/25/3631393/high-speed-rail-suffers-two-setbacks.html\" target=\"_blank\">a recent court ruling\u003c/a> temporarily blocking the project access to $8 billion as “a bump in the road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday, at the board’s first public meeting since last week’s court decision, Richard announced staff will begin the process of re-applying for the bond authorization. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Easiest thing in the world to do is go back and put ample information on the record that we have.'\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right !important;font-size: 12pt\">— Dan Richard, rail board chair\u003c/div>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Even though California voters approved bond-funding for $10 billion of the estimated $68 billion rail project cost in 2008, the authority needs to seek approval from a finance committee before any bonds are sold. That’s what Judge Michael Kenny \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/25/3631393/high-speed-rail-suffers-two-setbacks.html\" target=\"_blank\">refused to validate\u003c/a> last week. Richard framed that as a paperwork problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The judge said, ‘You guys didn’t put enough information on the record.’ Period. That’s what he said,” he told reporters during a break in the board’s Sacramento meeting. “He didn’t say, ‘I’m not going to let you get to the bonds.’ He didn’t say, ‘What you’re trying to do is inappropriate.’ He said, ‘You just didn’t put information on the record.’ Easiest thing in the world to do is go back and put ample information on the record that we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling also required the authority to rework its financial plan. And on Wednesday, a federal board dealt the project \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/12/04/3647522/feds-deny-request-for-early-ok.html\">another setback\u003c/a> by declining a request to speed up environmental permitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard characterized all those rulings as minor obstacles. But critic Mike Brady, the lead lawyer in the suit challenging the high speed rail project, argued the hurdles are much higher: The project needs to find tens of billions of dollars in additional financing, and it’s \u003ca href=\"http://timelines.latimes.com/california-high-speed-rail-project/\" target=\"_blank\">more than a decade away\u003c/a> from its real goal — a fast route between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. \"What reasonable person is going to get on a high-speed train from Madera to Fresno, or Madera to Bakersfield? What’s the big deal? You want to get to L.A. County. And you want to get there from San Francisco or San Jose.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brady’s lawsuit argues the current rail plan’s cost and scope has ballooned far beyond what voters approved in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rail project doesn’t immediately need state bond money to begin construction in the Central Valley, because it’s already secured more than $3 billion dollars in federal funding. Richard says that money will last through next spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/123564954&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120098\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/05/120081/rs3938_high-speed-rail20111118-scr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-120098\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-120098\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS3938_high-speed-rail20111118-scr-e1386293242600.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of the proposed train. (California High-Speed Rail Authority)\" width=\"640\" height=\"367\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist's rendering of the proposed train. (California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.hsr.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">High-Speed Rail Authority\u003c/a> certainly frames things optimistically. Agency leaders insist the first phase of the San Francisco-Los Angeles rail line is in its construction phase, even though the actual physical construction won’t begin until early next year. And Dan Richard, chair of the agency's board, characterizes \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/25/3631393/high-speed-rail-suffers-two-setbacks.html\" target=\"_blank\">a recent court ruling\u003c/a> temporarily blocking the project access to $8 billion as “a bump in the road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday, at the board’s first public meeting since last week’s court decision, Richard announced staff will begin the process of re-applying for the bond authorization. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Easiest thing in the world to do is go back and put ample information on the record that we have.'\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right !important;font-size: 12pt\">— Dan Richard, rail board chair\u003c/div>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Even though California voters approved bond-funding for $10 billion of the estimated $68 billion rail project cost in 2008, the authority needs to seek approval from a finance committee before any bonds are sold. That’s what Judge Michael Kenny \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/25/3631393/high-speed-rail-suffers-two-setbacks.html\" target=\"_blank\">refused to validate\u003c/a> last week. Richard framed that as a paperwork problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The judge said, ‘You guys didn’t put enough information on the record.’ Period. That’s what he said,” he told reporters during a break in the board’s Sacramento meeting. “He didn’t say, ‘I’m not going to let you get to the bonds.’ He didn’t say, ‘What you’re trying to do is inappropriate.’ He said, ‘You just didn’t put information on the record.’ Easiest thing in the world to do is go back and put ample information on the record that we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling also required the authority to rework its financial plan. And on Wednesday, a federal board dealt the project \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/12/04/3647522/feds-deny-request-for-early-ok.html\">another setback\u003c/a> by declining a request to speed up environmental permitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard characterized all those rulings as minor obstacles. But critic Mike Brady, the lead lawyer in the suit challenging the high speed rail project, argued the hurdles are much higher: The project needs to find tens of billions of dollars in additional financing, and it’s \u003ca href=\"http://timelines.latimes.com/california-high-speed-rail-project/\" target=\"_blank\">more than a decade away\u003c/a> from its real goal — a fast route between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. \"What reasonable person is going to get on a high-speed train from Madera to Fresno, or Madera to Bakersfield? What’s the big deal? You want to get to L.A. County. And you want to get there from San Francisco or San Jose.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brady’s lawsuit argues the current rail plan’s cost and scope has ballooned far beyond what voters approved in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rail project doesn’t immediately need state bond money to begin construction in the Central Valley, because it’s already secured more than $3 billion dollars in federal funding. Richard says that money will last through next spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/123564954&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/04/smoking-bart-train-halted-in-berkeley-hills-tunnel/rockridge/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-119898\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-119898\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/rockridge-640x478.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland firefighters and passengers from stricken BART train mingle on platform at Rockridge Station. (Scott Bloom). \" width=\"640\" height=\"478\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland firefighters and passengers from stricken BART train mingle on platform at Rockridge Station. (Scott Bloom)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:30 a.m. Thursday:\u003c/strong> BART's offering more details of the Wednesday incident in which a train stopped abruptly in the Berkeley Hills Tunnel when a brake malfunctioned. Transit agency spokeswoman Alicia Trost says a short-circuit in an emergency brake on one train car caused the brake to deploy while the San Francisco-bound train was traveling 70 mph between the Orinda and Rockridge stations. An apparent cloud of brake dust in the tunnel immediately afterward led 11 people to be treated for breathing problems and other issues when the train reached Rockridge, in North Oakland. Nine of the 11 were hospitalized; none had life-threatening injuries. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/electrical-short-caused-bart-incident-berkeley-hil/ncB6Y/\" target=\"_blank\">Trost told KTVU\u003c/a> the car involved in the incident is 40 years old and had undergone comprehensive maintenance in late October and in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also told KTVU the brake problem isn't a new issue: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Trost said BART had problems in the past with their train cars' experiencing shorts in the brake systems. This year, there have been three similar incidents.\u003cbr>\n“It used to be a huge problem about a decade ago, but they did some fixes to the brake box and now it happens only very rarely, unfortunately today,\" Trost said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Cabanatuan offers this context for Wednesday's episode:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>But the system's aging trains - with an average tenure of more than 33 years, with many older than 40 years - are the most common reason for delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Chronicle analysis in 2012 of delays lasting 15 minutes or more found that troubles with trains were responsible for 25 percent of delays. Brake failures were a leading cause, along with problems with propulsion systems, automated train controls, doors and electrical systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's part of our investment needs,\" Trost said. And while the transit system has ordered a new fleet of rail cars and has plans for a new train-control system and rail-maintenance facility, it will need billions of dollars more for upkeep and modernization of the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transit agency will probably ask voters, many of whom are growing increasingly frustrated by BART's plethora of problems, to approve new taxes or bonds to pay for those improvements.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 1:10 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The latest tally on passengers hospitalized in this morning's brake dust (not smoke) incident: 11. That comes by way of the Bay Area News Group, \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24652792/bart-systemwide-delays-after-reports-smoke-from-train\" target=\"_blank\">which cites\u003c/a> Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton. None of those hospitalized in the incident suffered life-threatening injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's the most recent Bay City News summary of the incident:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The incident started around 8:20 a.m. when a parking brake deployed in error on a train bound for San Francisco International Airport on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line, according to BART spokesman Jim Allison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The train became disabled, blocking the tracks, and a \"brake dust\" filled some of the cars, BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There was absolutely no fire on the train,\" Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were 600 to 700 passengers on the train at the time, and they were in the Berkeley Hills tunnel until the mechanical issues were resolved and the train began moving again about an hour later, Allison said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11 a.m.: \u003c/strong>BART now says that service is resuming through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel after a closure of more than two hours. The transit agency says passengers should expect delays of 15 minutes or so as service on the line from Bay Point to San Francisco International Airport gets back to normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART says the apparent smoke in the incident was not smoke at all, but brake dust. The dust was apparently emitted after a parking brake malfunctioned and deployed while the affected train was headed west through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:45 a.m.: \u003c/strong>Rick Hurd and Harry Harris with the Bay Area News Group \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24652792/bart-systemwide-delays-after-reports-smoke-from-train\" target=\"_blank\">report\u003c/a> at least five train passengers have been hospitalized after this morning's BART incident:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Several BART passengers reported a stressful wait and poor communications after the train, which was running on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line, stalled around 8:30 a.m. A parking brake had deployed and kept it from moving while it was in the Berkeley Hills tunnel between the two stations, according to BART spokesman Jim Allison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woman being treated with oxygen at Rockridge BART station. (Jane Tyska)\u003cbr>\n\"Everybody was trying to stay calm,\" said Kaylee Adams of Walnut Creek, who was on her way to work in San Francisco. \"We were trying to help each other out. It was scary. I was in the first car, and it was really stinky.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A BART technician was able to correct the problem, and the train eventually was moved on its own power into the Rockridge Station, where waiting passengers already had been evacuated from the platform, Allison said. The train's passengers were evacuated at 9:34 a.m.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10 a.m.:\u003c/strong> BART has reopened the Orinda and Rockridge stations for what the district describes as \"very limited\" service. From Orinda, that means trains are only running on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line east of the tunnel, with no service to San Francisco. From Rockridge, no service is yet available through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel to Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 9:50 a.m.:\u003c/strong> KTVU and other sources report that paramedics are treating at least 10 passengers from the disabled train for smoke inhalation, and more are being triaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 9:40 a.m.:\u003c/strong> BART's reporting major delays on its Pittsburg-Bay Point line due to a crowded San Francisco-bound train that was halted in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lotsberg.net/data/USA/bart.html\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeley Hills Tunnel\u003c/a> because of smoking brakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART crews managed to move the train out of the tunnel to Oakland's Rockridge station just after 9:30 a.m. Firefighters and paramedics were awaiting the train amid reports that some passengers had complained about smoke inhalation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The source of the smoke was unknown, but reports from various sources say it came from brakes on one of the train's cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This morning's incident is the latest in a string of mishaps for the transit system, including a partial shutdown of the Transbay Tube last week because of debris on a track. On Nov. 22, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/22/no-bart-service-this-morning-due-to-computer-glitch/\" target=\"_blank\">all service was shut down\u003c/a> during the early morning commute because of a systemwide computer malfunction. And in late October, an eastbound Pittsburg/Bay Point train \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24374902/bart-trains-not-stopping-at-orinda-station-due\" target=\"_blank\">caught fire\u003c/a> at the Orinda station, forcing a commute-hour evacuation and slowing service for hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those incidents, along with a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/03/bart-unions-taking-agency-to-court-over-contract-dispute/\" target=\"_blank\">continuing contract dispute\u003c/a> between the agency and its unions that triggered two strikes earlier this year, has prompted \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/BART-riders-grumble-over-lingering-uncertainty-5018166.php\" target=\"_blank\">widespread criticism\u003c/a> of the system among riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"storify\">\u003ciframe src=\"//storify.com/KQED/smoke-causes-evacuation-of-bart-station/embed?header=false\" frameborder=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"750\">\u003c/iframe>[\u003ca href=\"//storify.com/KQED/smoke-causes-evacuation-of-bart-station\" target=\"_blank\">View the story \"Smoke causes evacuation of BART station\" on Storify\u003c/a>]\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Earlier post: \u003c/strong>The agency announced it was evacuating the Orinda station, east of the stranded train. Media reports say the Rockridge station, the first stop west of the tunnel, has also been evacuated. The San Francisco Chronicle's \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/trapperbyrne\" target=\"_blank\">Trapper Byrne\u003c/a> reported via Twitter that some passengers on the train were complaining of smoke inhalation and that firefighters were boarding a rescue train in Orinda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chronicle's Henry K. Lee \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Smoke-on-BART-train-Oakland-firefighters-5034506.php\" target=\"_blank\">reported\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The incident was reported on a westbound Pittsburg/Bay Point BART train about 8:45 a.m. The transit agency reported that there was an equipment problem on a train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Oakland Fire Department fire trucks and engines were meeting the train at the Rockridge BART Station. The cause of the smoke is under investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commuters on the line should expect delays of about 20 minutes in both directions.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/04/smoking-bart-train-halted-in-berkeley-hills-tunnel/rockridge/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-119898\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-119898\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/rockridge-640x478.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland firefighters and passengers from stricken BART train mingle on platform at Rockridge Station. (Scott Bloom). \" width=\"640\" height=\"478\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland firefighters and passengers from stricken BART train mingle on platform at Rockridge Station. (Scott Bloom)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:30 a.m. Thursday:\u003c/strong> BART's offering more details of the Wednesday incident in which a train stopped abruptly in the Berkeley Hills Tunnel when a brake malfunctioned. Transit agency spokeswoman Alicia Trost says a short-circuit in an emergency brake on one train car caused the brake to deploy while the San Francisco-bound train was traveling 70 mph between the Orinda and Rockridge stations. An apparent cloud of brake dust in the tunnel immediately afterward led 11 people to be treated for breathing problems and other issues when the train reached Rockridge, in North Oakland. Nine of the 11 were hospitalized; none had life-threatening injuries. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/electrical-short-caused-bart-incident-berkeley-hil/ncB6Y/\" target=\"_blank\">Trost told KTVU\u003c/a> the car involved in the incident is 40 years old and had undergone comprehensive maintenance in late October and in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also told KTVU the brake problem isn't a new issue: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Trost said BART had problems in the past with their train cars' experiencing shorts in the brake systems. This year, there have been three similar incidents.\u003cbr>\n“It used to be a huge problem about a decade ago, but they did some fixes to the brake box and now it happens only very rarely, unfortunately today,\" Trost said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Cabanatuan offers this context for Wednesday's episode:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>But the system's aging trains - with an average tenure of more than 33 years, with many older than 40 years - are the most common reason for delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Chronicle analysis in 2012 of delays lasting 15 minutes or more found that troubles with trains were responsible for 25 percent of delays. Brake failures were a leading cause, along with problems with propulsion systems, automated train controls, doors and electrical systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's part of our investment needs,\" Trost said. And while the transit system has ordered a new fleet of rail cars and has plans for a new train-control system and rail-maintenance facility, it will need billions of dollars more for upkeep and modernization of the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transit agency will probably ask voters, many of whom are growing increasingly frustrated by BART's plethora of problems, to approve new taxes or bonds to pay for those improvements.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 1:10 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The latest tally on passengers hospitalized in this morning's brake dust (not smoke) incident: 11. That comes by way of the Bay Area News Group, \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24652792/bart-systemwide-delays-after-reports-smoke-from-train\" target=\"_blank\">which cites\u003c/a> Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton. None of those hospitalized in the incident suffered life-threatening injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's the most recent Bay City News summary of the incident:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The incident started around 8:20 a.m. when a parking brake deployed in error on a train bound for San Francisco International Airport on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line, according to BART spokesman Jim Allison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The train became disabled, blocking the tracks, and a \"brake dust\" filled some of the cars, BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There was absolutely no fire on the train,\" Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were 600 to 700 passengers on the train at the time, and they were in the Berkeley Hills tunnel until the mechanical issues were resolved and the train began moving again about an hour later, Allison said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11 a.m.: \u003c/strong>BART now says that service is resuming through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel after a closure of more than two hours. The transit agency says passengers should expect delays of 15 minutes or so as service on the line from Bay Point to San Francisco International Airport gets back to normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART says the apparent smoke in the incident was not smoke at all, but brake dust. The dust was apparently emitted after a parking brake malfunctioned and deployed while the affected train was headed west through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:45 a.m.: \u003c/strong>Rick Hurd and Harry Harris with the Bay Area News Group \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24652792/bart-systemwide-delays-after-reports-smoke-from-train\" target=\"_blank\">report\u003c/a> at least five train passengers have been hospitalized after this morning's BART incident:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Several BART passengers reported a stressful wait and poor communications after the train, which was running on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line, stalled around 8:30 a.m. A parking brake had deployed and kept it from moving while it was in the Berkeley Hills tunnel between the two stations, according to BART spokesman Jim Allison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woman being treated with oxygen at Rockridge BART station. (Jane Tyska)\u003cbr>\n\"Everybody was trying to stay calm,\" said Kaylee Adams of Walnut Creek, who was on her way to work in San Francisco. \"We were trying to help each other out. It was scary. I was in the first car, and it was really stinky.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A BART technician was able to correct the problem, and the train eventually was moved on its own power into the Rockridge Station, where waiting passengers already had been evacuated from the platform, Allison said. The train's passengers were evacuated at 9:34 a.m.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10 a.m.:\u003c/strong> BART has reopened the Orinda and Rockridge stations for what the district describes as \"very limited\" service. From Orinda, that means trains are only running on the Pittsburg-Bay Point line east of the tunnel, with no service to San Francisco. From Rockridge, no service is yet available through the Berkeley Hills Tunnel to Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 9:50 a.m.:\u003c/strong> KTVU and other sources report that paramedics are treating at least 10 passengers from the disabled train for smoke inhalation, and more are being triaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 9:40 a.m.:\u003c/strong> BART's reporting major delays on its Pittsburg-Bay Point line due to a crowded San Francisco-bound train that was halted in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lotsberg.net/data/USA/bart.html\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeley Hills Tunnel\u003c/a> because of smoking brakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART crews managed to move the train out of the tunnel to Oakland's Rockridge station just after 9:30 a.m. Firefighters and paramedics were awaiting the train amid reports that some passengers had complained about smoke inhalation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The source of the smoke was unknown, but reports from various sources say it came from brakes on one of the train's cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This morning's incident is the latest in a string of mishaps for the transit system, including a partial shutdown of the Transbay Tube last week because of debris on a track. On Nov. 22, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/22/no-bart-service-this-morning-due-to-computer-glitch/\" target=\"_blank\">all service was shut down\u003c/a> during the early morning commute because of a systemwide computer malfunction. And in late October, an eastbound Pittsburg/Bay Point train \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24374902/bart-trains-not-stopping-at-orinda-station-due\" target=\"_blank\">caught fire\u003c/a> at the Orinda station, forcing a commute-hour evacuation and slowing service for hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those incidents, along with a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/12/03/bart-unions-taking-agency-to-court-over-contract-dispute/\" target=\"_blank\">continuing contract dispute\u003c/a> between the agency and its unions that triggered two strikes earlier this year, has prompted \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/BART-riders-grumble-over-lingering-uncertainty-5018166.php\" target=\"_blank\">widespread criticism\u003c/a> of the system among riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"storify\">\u003ciframe src=\"//storify.com/KQED/smoke-causes-evacuation-of-bart-station/embed?header=false\" frameborder=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"750\">\u003c/iframe>[\u003ca href=\"//storify.com/KQED/smoke-causes-evacuation-of-bart-station\" target=\"_blank\">View the story \"Smoke causes evacuation of BART station\" on Storify\u003c/a>]\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Earlier post: \u003c/strong>The agency announced it was evacuating the Orinda station, east of the stranded train. Media reports say the Rockridge station, the first stop west of the tunnel, has also been evacuated. The San Francisco Chronicle's \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/trapperbyrne\" target=\"_blank\">Trapper Byrne\u003c/a> reported via Twitter that some passengers on the train were complaining of smoke inhalation and that firefighters were boarding a rescue train in Orinda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chronicle's Henry K. Lee \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Smoke-on-BART-train-Oakland-firefighters-5034506.php\" target=\"_blank\">reported\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The incident was reported on a westbound Pittsburg/Bay Point BART train about 8:45 a.m. The transit agency reported that there was an equipment problem on a train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Oakland Fire Department fire trucks and engines were meeting the train at the Rockridge BART Station. The cause of the smoke is under investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commuters on the line should expect delays of about 20 minutes in both directions.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
},
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
},
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},
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
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