17 July, 2006
Whew!
When the radio alarm went off this morning, the first thing I heard was that today was another "Spare the Air" day. I seriously considered phoning in sick, but I didn't.
I got to the ferry terminal in Alameda and commiserated with my fellow commuters about the nightmare that was sure to come. Then, one of the regulars said he had heard that the ferries weren't taking part. He checked 511.org to confirm. There was much rejoicing.
When the Peralta docked, the deckhand opened the gates and had us wait because he had an announcement: "Today is a Spare the Air day, but the Alameda/Oakland ferry is NOT participating!" A cheer went up in the passenger line and the deckhand laughed and said, "I've never seen so many people who were so happy to pay for a ticket in my life!"
Thank goodness someone in charge saw that "Spare the Air" was a bit too "successful" for the ferries. So successful it brought the system to its knees (or whatever the maritime equivalent of knees is) and made just getting home from work a nightmare for commuters.
For the regulars riding BART, I just hope the air conditioning in the cars keeps working today.
~~ victoria on 9:12 AM ~~ 0 comments
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