Bay Area commuters recall chaos during windy storm
SAN FRANCISCO – It was a nightmare commute Tuesday afternoon as high winds ripped through the Bay Area.
The Bay Ferry was forced to cancel their trips during peak commute hours. The winds also caused hours-long backups on the Bay Bridge leaving commuters with few options to make it home.
Like many ferry commuters Tuesday, Gabe Weiss had one thought when he left his San Francisco office.
"I'm not going to get on a boat right now," Weiss told CBS News Bay Area.
He documented large waves with white peaks splashing onto The Embarcadero when he left work around 4 p.m.
Weiss has been commuting on the ferry into San Francisco for six years. He said he has never seen conditions like he did Tuesday, which prompted the ferry to stop service for hours.
"I can count on one hand the number of times that I've felt even slightly queasy on a ferry ride. Even when it's raining hard, it's not like that," Weiss explained. "When I looked at the bay, it felt like I was looking at the ocean."
Commuters quickly became stranded amid high winds Tuesday, the gusts strong enough to overturn a large semi-truck on the Bay Bridge, halting traffic for up to six hours.
Emily Loper of the Bay Area Council says severe traffic congestion is only going to get worse as the number of commuters driving to and from the city is surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
"This is really affecting worker productivity and happiness they're having to leave earlier and getting home later," Loper told CBS News Bay Area. "They're spending more time working and less time with their families."
One system that remained in operation was BART, but it wasn't without its flaws. Riders reported significant delays and experiences of trains dropping riders off before their destination to turn around and pick up more riders from San Francisco.
But Loper says the teamwork among the transit authorities is a bright light in a windy day.
"I was really happy to see the transit operators working together to get people home during the storm, when the ferries were cancelled because of these really treacherous waves. That BART and bus operators were working together to get people back," said Loper.
Weiss had a similar takeaway. After hopping out of his rideshare that was at a standstill, he said he went to BART to make it home.
"As chaotic as it was, I ended up getting home maybe like 20 minutes later than I normally would," Weiss explained. "If that's not a highlight for San Francisco public transit, I don't know what is."
