The State of California new laws affecting drivers are in effect during New Years Day within San Francisco Bay Area and statewide. The California Governor Jerry Brown signed into laws new rules for drivers including SB-65 (Senate Bill-65) prohibiting drivers to smoke and/or ingest cannabis marijuana while driving a car. The passengers on buses equipped with seat belts will be required to use them while onboard otherwise an infraction penalty ticket will be issued.

The Caltrain improvement project on 25th Avenue in San Mateo is happening for the grade separation project to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians. The Caltrain improvement project is costing $180 million from local and state funding allocations - businesses on 25th Avenue will remain open during construction. The project construction will continue including some nights and weekends for therein project to finish during 2020 as anticipated. Some local neighborhood areas will be temporarily impacted by daily construction noise and activities.

The Caltrain transit agency in San Francisco Bay Area is taking action to have PTC (Positive Train Control) devices installed on railway trains for safety. The Caltrain operational system is planning to have PTC devices for all operating trains during next year to fully protect passengers. The SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) agency in the Bay Area is the only one with PTC devices onboard trains for safety reasoning. The federal requires railway trains to have PTC safety systems installed, and it could have prevented the recent deadly train derailment in Washington.

The vehicular paid express lanes in San Francisco is another option for consideration as presented by SFCTA (San Francisco County Transportation Authority) staffing to help with traffic congestion. The approach includes turning current carpool lanes into paid express lanes in San Francisco on Highway-101 and Highway-280. It appears some local people support therein express lanes and some people oppose it because may not make a difference. The local vehicle traffic continues to get worse in the Bay Area and therein proposal project consideration will hopefully.

The SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) agency railway train services between Sonoma and Marin counties are finally in operation thereafter technical developmental delays. The North Bay SMART transit services average overall fare is $7.50 and/or $5.25 with discounts, and passengers can use clipper cards for payment processing. Another option for passengers to pay is by using the SMART mobile app for fare payments processing for convenience. The SMART transit agency will be monitoring progressive data over time for statistical information and ongoing improvement elements.

The WETA (Water Emergency Transportation Authority) is expanding ferry services within San Francisco Bay Area because of increase ridership. The WETA improvement ferry services project will cost $74 million to expand ferry terminals and phase one should be completed during next year. It will provide more ferry services streaming in and out of San Francisco Port for passengers commuting from East Bay and Peninsula locations. Including new infrastructure ferry routes for services within the Bay Area regional areas and providing passengers more commuting options.

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge parking lots will be closed daily from 11 AM to 5 PM during the holiday week effective Saturday, December 23, 2017 through Monday, January 1, 2018. The Highway and Transportation District announced therein parking restriction for personal vehicles on the north and south ends of Golden Gate Bridge. It's an effort to avoid local vehicular traffic backups and congestion, and public transit vehicles can dropoff/pickup passengers at the Welcome Center only. The tour buses will be allowed to park at Welcome Center parking and Point Vista viewing locations.

The San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies are teaming up to provide passengers a seasonal package of holiday services for families and children. The SamTrans and Caltrain services are preparing to operate during Christmas Day under a holiday schedule. The SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) muni buses will transport passengers for free during New Year's Eve from 8 PM to 5 AM on New Year's Day. The VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) employees are giving back to communities with warm coats and blankets as the weather is getting colder.

All San Francisco Bay Area commercial airports are showing more busier during this holiday season versus last year in 2016. The SFO (San Francisco International Airport) identifies today on Thursday as their busiest day for air travelers and encouraging passengers to arrive at the airport earlier for check-in points of contact. The SJC (San Jose International Airport) and OAK (Oakland International Airport) will be expected to become really busy tomorrow on Friday.

The Nio electric vehicle startup in China launched its first production within their home market in competition with Tesla autonomous vehicles. The Nio electric cars are opening more local offices in San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys the advantage of China's local subsidies for electric vehicles. The Nio autonomous vehicles bring more competition in the Bay Area along with Tesla competing for electric vehicular markets. The Tesla Motors company is planning to start production in China because of the market and Nio is planning to build approximately 1100 power swap charging stations.