we start things off with breaking news. bart workers on strike this morning. and that means the gates are locked and about some 400,000 riders who depend on bart each and every day have to find another way to get to work this morning. >> a live look outside right now across the bay area, things looking like they are moving smoothly at this hour, but that's all expected to change in just a couple of hours as more and more people head out the door. >> the conditions are expected to be simply a mess. back in july, look at that, that lasted four days when they had that strike. of course, it caused all sorts of chaos and headaches for commuters. conditions this time around could be worse because it is not summertime and more people are going to work and then dropping

their kids off at school as wells. despite the headaches, i'm jon kelley. >> i'm marla tellez. let's go live to kristy who is out there with more. >> reporter: good morning. when i got to the bart station at 2:00 a.m., the workers were already on the picket line. this station here is closed because of the strike. here's what's happening here as the director here is speaking to the media right now. i'm going to step aside so you can listen in to what he's saying. >> we agreed to lower our request for a wage increase. progress is being mad and we are substantially close to reaching an agreement, but in the last part of the bargaining, bart

sort of hit a switch. they came up with a poison pill to say, yes, we have reached a concept on economics, which was a main reason earlier, but now we have to change contracts and work rules and need substantive changes to affect the daily workers before we can get and agreement with them. at that point the bargaining broke down. these work rules protect workers. if you work any job and you work a shift, there's usually language about what shifts you work and how the work is done. there's language to protect you in situations, to protect people around health and safety, around prevented sexual harassment, favoritism and practices to make sure that happens. any discussion about pay stubs or electronic devices or anything were never mentioned at

the table, they are not obstacles in this bargaining. quite frankly, we have no idea what the general manager is talking about. so basically what management did is essence use a poison pill to say, great, we have made amazing progress after six months. we have an economic framework agreement, but wait, there's more. the workers must take this now. and at that point they forced everyone out the door from negotiations. so the blame for this process lies squarely at the feet of the bart district, and the hired union consultant, thomas hawk, who many looked at his background and saw he specializes transportation unions to go out on strike. we are open at any time to talk to the district. word had gone around they were trying to contact us.

other than sleeping when we can, no one's phone has rang, no one has received a call from the district from anyone involved in the process. this is an absolute failure of the bart district in dealing with us on these issues. the directors have been absent other than tom coming out to make a statement occasionally. and the general manager who was president of negotiations allowed this process to fall. we are very sorry. we understand that this strike would have an impact on bay area riders and understand it is a hardship. our union represents thousands of folks, a lot of them are riders, and we know this process is difficult and hard. and we apologize and urge the public to contact the bart district and tell them to finish negotiating a fair deal with r ourdowndown because we want to sign a contract, workers want to go back to work and we want to get on with our lives. understand, this was a last-minute effort by the

district to reach and get more than was ever discussed at the bargaining table. >> reporter: can you explain the work rules a little bit more? >> well, depending on what your job is at bart, and really for workers not just at bart but everywhere, what is your shift? health and safety issues. what is your assignment? what is your job for that day? maybe you have a specialization in one area and you're asked to move to an area that you don't. the rules in the contract help decide how that's done and do people have adequate training, and fairness issue, one thing they put on the table is they wanted people to work ten-hour shifts at their own desire at any point and any time, which affects normal people's lives. the contract offers a framework and how is that done, do you sign up for it, is it seniority? so the thing that's amazing, they put the issues on the table, but for six months we

were never told these are primary issues. we reach an economic framework and move to their direction on pension, we move to their direction on health care, we lowered our wage proposal and then all of a sudden the issues not discussed at the table are deal breakers by the district. we see it essentially as an effort to jam the unions and do exactly what they have done, which is force us out on strike. >> reporter: now the board has offered to take both proposals to an arbitrator, why have you said no to that? >> that's a good question. because we have spent six months working on the economic framework so we have an agreement. so if other words if the district and the union have an economic agreement, we don't need to renegotiate that. >> reporter: but you don't have a full agreement and that's what we need. >> i'm going to finish. a full agreement, so what we proposed was on the work rule issues, which is a modification of the contract they wanted. we would agree to interest-based arbitration on those limited

issues. we thought that's logical, because if you just said, the district says, let's arbitrate everything, we are back to square one. there's no deal either. so why not have the economic framework done, which it is, finish the outline issues to interest-based arbitration. they make their case, we make our case. let's not stop the trains and let's get a full agreement. but the bart management has turned that upside-down, refused to go on with what we thought was a logical process, we didn't want to stop the trains, we wanted to get interest-based arbitration on outlying issues, but once again they are muddying the picture and saying let's throw everything in arbitration. let's throw six months of negotiation out the window and start again, which doesn't give safety a chance as well. i tups manipulations you're doing at the advice of thomas hawk who has caused strikes previously and understands the game that is afoot by the bart

district, not the unions. >> reporter: did you contact any state legislators to -- [ inaudible ] >> we have. you saw yourselves during the bargaining process, the intense bargaining process the last few days, we have enlisted lieutenant governors level asis the answer in helping to facilitate a process to get the deal and urge bart to do this. quite honestly, we are on the verge of with the problems we have now, i've been doing this 25 years as a labor organizer, as a leader of a union, and i have never seen a process like this in my life, and i question the ability of grace carnagie, i question their intention and skill. >> reporter: what is it going to take to solve this right now? >> i will take a couple more questions. we want them to immediately agree on the framework of the

agreement and realize economics is done. we sat here and listened, the union needs to move on pension, the union needs to move on health care, the union needs to lower wage proposals and we did it. and now at the last minute they are changing it up and giving us a poison pill going, wait a minute, we appreciate it but now you have to take this. if they will immediately agree into interest-based arbitration on the remaining language issues we broke off in the end, we would be willing to take that package back to vote to our membership, stop the strike and go back to work. thank you. >> reporter: bart was saying the union would take it but won't bend on the work rules. they want to put this to a vote before member os of the union, but that didn't work out. they wanted them to work on the 12% pay increase over four

years, but that would also mean that the union members would have to pay a little bit more on pension and health care, that taking it to a vote, that didn't work out. earlier we heard from bart's grace carnegan, and here's what she said. >> they decided to take the money on the table but not the work rules on the table and they forced us to a situation where we needed to put an offer on the table that was black and white that included the rights that we had set forward. >> reporter: so again, at this point, the marathon session we were all standing by yesterday, that broke apart. work rules seem to be the big issue here. at this point, we can hear them talking about, what do you want, a contract? when do you want it now? those trains are not running this morning. reporting live in oakland, kristy smith, "today in the bay." >> based on the tone going on out there, it doesn't expect to

see movement any time soon. >> yep. right now we'll turn things over to "today in the bay's" chase cain. >> he is joining us where riders are already lining up to catch a bus this morning. what's the activity out there, chase? >> reporter: they are already lining up. they have almost an hour to wait because the buses don't start rolling until 5:00 a.m. it's a little chilly, so the commuters are not going to be too thrilled about waiting in line. but there outside the sidewalk of the walnut creek station, there's probably around 15 to 20 people that have lined up here. the buses will start rolling at 5:00 a.m. and will run until 8:00 a.m. from nine different stations. you probably remember this drill from just a few months ago, from the most recent or from the last bart strike, i should say. the buses picking people up starting this morning at nine different stations. el soredo, concord, walnut creek, lafayette, dublin,

pleasanton, hayward and fremont stations. those buses will take them into san francisco and drop them near the transbay tunnel and start returning to the same station at 3:00 and run until 7:00. but, of course, there's not going to be enough buses. everyone has admitted that from the beginning, there won't be enough buses, so that's probably why so many people are back out here at the walnut creek station and have lined up early around 4:10 this morning. the buses start rolling at 5:00 a.m. they expect between 5 to 15 buses at each of these nine different stations. the walnut creek station is expected to be one of the busier ones, so they may have closer to 15 buses rather than the less busy stations. we'll stay out here and talk to some of the commuters in a few minutes to get their response for you, but obviously everyone is concerned what impacted the strike and how that will affect the roads.

for that we'll go to our friend mike, i have to admit that i did not want to mess up your name on live television. so i'm just going to call you mike. >> mike inouye, good to have you on the team, chase. we are looking out near oakland, this is one of the areas we'll be talking about. we'll look at the maps with the traffic flow right now. overall bay area-wide, we'll look at the green throughout the morning. watch for the hot spots, but we'll start with this area. the east shore freeway which was jam-packed last time there was a bart strike all morning and into the evening. it was packed up solid down through richmond bridge across the bay bridge. we have 580 and 24, 24 being the worst of it backed up to 680. heading to walnut creek where chase is this morning at one of the bart bus stations, keep that in mind. 880 coming up near that area as

well, it will be backed all morning through downtown. 238 and coming out of hayward at times for the first bart strike we had earlier. we may have a same situation. it is a friday so we may have a little lighter flow, but 680 will be an issue out of concord as well off the 24 interchange. right now as you see, things are calm right now, but chase showed you people lining up at the bus stations, so people are getting prepared for the morning commute and the carpooling. we'll watch for that. a smooth flow of traffic near 880, but this could be one of the earlier first signs of slowing as we may see the disruption into the coliseum area with the live camera as well. we talk at the change in the service and the change in flow. i'm handing it off to you guys as you talk about the different rules with carpools. >> we expect a lot of those arrows to turn yellow and red very soon. for a lot of those in the bay area that can't work from home,

carpooling is the best bet. the hours for hov lanes are being extended on several bay area freeways from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. nonstop. that means the carpool lanes will not expire at 9:00 a.m. per usual. they are in effect for the entire day. and that includes portions of i-80, 880, 680 and all toll bridges, except the golden gate bridge. along with more buses and extended carpool areas, a.t. transit will have additional seating on its buses to san francisco and the peninsula. the transit agency plans to add extra service depending on bus and operator availability. remember, this situation could have been much worse. this week governor brown issued a seven-day cooling off period this week preventing a.c. transit workers from carrying on a strike of their up. well, bart hurts the bottom line, as we mentioned the trains were idle back in july, and even with a relatively low summertime

ridership, that july strike was an economic blow. the business group known as the bay area council estimates our region lost $73 million a day in lost productivity and commerce. the impact is expected to be even bigger this time around. now, at any time of day you can get the latest information on the bart strike on our website, nbcbayarea.com. at the top of the page there's the tab called bart strike resources. it will take you to a map of real-time traffic updates and real-time tweets from across the bay area. it will be updated all morning long to help you get around the intense gridlock. >> so bart is on strike. that means a lot more people driving to work. that means the roads will be jammed up and a lot of people have to be outside waiting for buses. >> and chase pointed out, it is cold outside. christina loren, how should people be dressed at the bus stops? you want to bundle up and keep in ride the later home when

temperatures climb from the low 40s into the 80s. so it's going to be one of those days where we see near record cold to start and temperatures ending up warmer than seasonal averages. as we head throughout the average, temperatures are crisp out there. it will be a chilly wait this morning in san francisco. 52 degrees. pittsburgh is at 59 degrees. meanwhile, we have the low 40s this morning in richmond. and temperatures will continue to drop as we head throughout the next couple of hours. you want to keep in mind, it's going to be a very cold start making way to a warm afternoon. 84 in livermore. 82 for concord. 70 on the way to fremont. 76 in san francisco. now, we can take a little bit of a break when you consider the fact that it is friday, guys. we made it, the weekend looking good and hopefully they can get this worked out over the course of the weekend. news never stops and we'll keep you updated on nbcbayarea.com. back to you for now. we'll be tracking the tumbling temperatures. thank you, christina. 4:17 right now. we have new details this morning about a gruesome crash pinning

down 6-year-old twin boys leaving one in critical condition. police say a 90-year-old man hit the gas instead of the brakes striking the young twin boys. this all happened yesterday afternoon on a busy santa cruz avenue in downtown menlo park. one of the boys was taken to stanford hospital. he remains in critical condition. right now he is fighting for his life. just a tragic scene there. doctors performed surgery for several hours. as for his twin brother, he managed to escape with only minor injuries. horrified bystanders who saw that crash, well, they did everything they could to try to help out. >> everybody kind of jumped in, we all started pushing the car, and i'm just trying to get a little bit of window and space to get his arms out from the wall and the car. >> it hurts to see that. you hate to walk down the street with a child, i have a daughter that's 2 years old, and i would hate to be walking down the street and something like this to be happening to my child. >> just sad all the way around

here. menlo park police say the 90-year-old driver was trying to back out of a parking spot but instead of reversing he had the gear in drive and stepped on the gas. investigators say he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and is not at this point being charged. 4:19 this morning, dozens of people were left homeless from a massive fire in redwood city. this fire broke out early yesterday morning about 5:15 at this apartment complex on woodside road near kent field avenue. we brought this to you all morning yesterday as breaking news. now some people living inside climbed over their own balcony to escape the flames. four people, believe it or not, four people in all were hurt and they are all expected to be okay. the fire marshall says the fire started in an apartment on the fourth floor and then spread quickly because the building does not have any sprinklers. >> that's mind-blowing.

>> the cause is under investigation. yes, the redwood city fire marshall was out on the scene and said, yes, they need sprinklers and is not just speaking professionally but personally. yes, 4:20 right now. still ahead, we'll tell you more about the salmonella square spreading this morning. we'll tell you about the local store recalling more chicken. and good morning. i'm bob redell live in the east bay with what commuters who normally would take bart need to know if they plan to take the ferry. that's coming up.

at 4:22 we have breaking news. bart is on strike, so we'll give

you a look at the older span of the bay bridge. >> the retro look. >> the old school look. traffic is making its way into san francisco and this bridge will be just packed all day long, all morning long anyway, and on the commute home. mike has a look at the roads. bart is on strike. this affects more than 400,000 people who depend on bart every single day. now they have to find a new way into work. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live in oakland where many are choosing the ferry as their alternative. bob, are you seeing people out there already? >> reporter: not yet. it's still too early. the first ferry doesn't leave until 5:30 this morning. good morning to you, marla. but if this strike and the commuters behavior is anything like it was in july during the last strike, i can tell you to expect a long line. and the san francisco bay ferry is also anticipating that. you can see the line of ropes that extends from the right of the screen down to the left.

and last time there was a long line of people waiting to get on the ferry. that being said, last time and it seems like this time they are doing a good job of shuttling people to oakland and to san francisco. to accommodate the extra load the ferry is adding four boats to their fleet this morning. so we'll have 12 boats in service instead of the normal 8. and they are starting service earlier than usual and adding departure times, more departure times over the last july strike. once you arrive at a ferry building in s.f., they will access to another landing dock to ease the congestion, the food traffic. with all the added boats and service, s.f. ferry will be able to handle triple the passenger load they see on a normal weekday. instead of 6,000 pass up jers, they can now carry 19,000 to 20,000 passengers.

one thing to keep in mind, it is friday and a lot of people are thinking they will work at home and convey it into a three-day weekend, if you will, telecommuting. so it is not clear what kind of crowd we'll see this morning just given that fact, but if it were a normal weekday like it was last time, i can tell you, you do want to get here earlier because that line will be getting long. reporting live here in oakland, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> bob, you're out there, thank you very much. we are talking about the ferry service because that's one of the factors this morning as bart trains are out of service. i have to be honest, last time there was a bart stoppage we didn't have the big burst toward the ferry system that we thought. so we are just preparing that they are adding service, but we'll watch as things develop. right now the bay bridge is light, it is friday and we'll look at the berkeley curve. this is the area with the red lights on the right. that's the berkeley curve where we expect things to stack up today, even on a friday in backups, and it will be holding there for a good portion of the morning into the afternoon

hours. then we'll switch to the friday evening commute that has a big backup heading to the bay bridge as well. here are the maps of what we expect to see over here, this is the south bay. traffic is flowing nicely here with no major issues. we had an earlier crash near the 101, and this is largely unaffected by this whole strike. let me see if i can get back to the maps. i can't. so we'll talk about the issues on the east shore freeway as well as down through 680 and 880. the adjustment with the hov lane, i'll talk about that once i reboot the machine. your maps are working fine, christina. how are things in the weather center? they are working better that what we have for commuter this is morning. good morning to you. not only do you have to wait for the bus or take your bike, it is cold out there, but it's friday. i like to put a positive spin on things, and we've got a full moon for you to check out as you wait. 52 degrees in san francisco. pittsburgh at 59 degrees. temperatures are really chilly out in the east bay. we'll see a very warm afternoon, though, so i want to make sure you're ready for two different

parts of the day. heading throughout the afternoon, unseasonably warm conditions persist getting into saturday. we'll see another cold and clear start, warm finish, and then on sunday those temperatures tumble. if you want to hit the beach this weekend, we're looking much better to do so on saturday than sunday. holding on the the mid-70s in san francisco, 77. the seven-day outlook tells the story. you see the dip between saturday and sunday. then monday through tuesday temperatures level off and it will be very comfortable around here next week getting into a beautiful time of year. two weeks away from halloween, guys. getting closer to the holiday. back to you for now. thank you, 4:27 right now. a local costco store is recalling more of its chicken. the recall is the second in less than a week. both sparked by a possible salmonella contamination. the recall focuses on kirkland signature foster farms rotisserie chicken sold at the south san francisco costco. here's what you need to know,

more than 13,000 whole chickens have been recalled. more than 600 packages of chick up soup, chicken leg quarters and chicken salad were also part of this recall. the wrote 'tis rear chickens were sold between september 24th and october 15th. if you think you purchased any of these products you see here on your screen, it is best to throw them out or return them for a refund. if you're a giants fan, it is not a guarantee but this could be bad news for you and your team. the giants insider andrew bagley reporting tim lincecum is going to test the free agent market. the giants presented a two-year structure to tim, but it doesn't sound like talks are going well with him right now. lincecum can officially become a free agent five days after the world series is over. once again, that's just a player's right to test the market. don't worry just yet. we continue to follow breaking news, bart trains are not working as workers walked off the job.

we'll have live team coverage after the break.

we have breaking news if you are just joining us. bart workers are on strike this morning. this means 400,000 riders who depend on bart every day will have to find another way to get to work this morning. >> it is a rough reality out there. we'll take a live look outside right now, but don't let that smooth taste fool you as that's expected to change over the next hours as more and more people head out the door where they need to go. it is 4:30 right now. i'm jon kelley. >> good morning, i'm marla tellez. laura is off this morning. mike inouye is tracking the conditions on the roadways, but first we want to check in with "todn