Carpool Emergency Plans Activated for Bay Area BART Strike

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- After a number of close shaves, BART trains finally came to a standstill last night, adding 200,000 additional commuters to Bay Area highways. Today's traffic will be unbearable, and rush-hour commutes are predicted to take up to 2.5 hours.

"The closest thing there is (to BART's capacity) is the unused seats in people's cars," John Goodwin, MTC spokesman recently advised. "We have three recommendations: carpool, carpool, carpool."

Emergency plans have been activated across the Bay Area to help people carpool more effectively including additional carpool lanes, additional carpool-only entrance ramps as well as parking facilities at all BART stations being turned into carpool park & rides.

"We've got 3,592 people in the Bay Area this morning that are looking to share a ride across the Bay Bridge," said Sean O'Sullivan, Carma CEO. "Please, if you are looking to drive, register at http://car.ma to find riders; and likewise, if you are looking to ride, there are thousands of drivers available."

Carma will also be keeping commuters updated through the BART Strike section of its website http://car.ma/bartstrike and through its dedicated Twitter feed @BARTStrike. Additional information on carpool options is available on http://alert.511.org.

The two most effective options for today's commute are:

1. Ride or drive from your nearest casual carpooling location (see http://car.ma/bartstrike)
2. Download the Carma iPhone or Android app and find and message nearby carmapoolers.

SOURCE Carma