The holiday toys collection in San Francisco Bay Area continues to make a difference for families and children during the holiday season! The Caltrain Holiday Train and SamTrans transit agency collected more than 3,100 toys along with $15,000 donation for U.S. Marine Corps Toys-For-Tots holiday toy drive - 24% increase from 2016. The VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) transit collected almost 2 full 40 feet transit buses with holiday toys and AC (Alameda-Contra Costa) transit provided free rides for passengers.

The ATL (Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport) power outage over the weekend caused some Bay Area flights to cancel and left many travelers stuck at local airports. The United, Southwest, and Delta airlines cancelled their flights to ATL airport due to ground power shortage. It's reported a fire may have caused extensive damage to therein power unit creating power outage with electrical lines.

The TLC (Transportation Learning Center) agency contracting with FTA (Federal Transit Administration) is developing technical partnership training and partly using VTA's training expertise. The VTA training expertise will help create a standardized training curriculum and mentoring approach for bus operators. The curriculum standard elements will be shared with transportation agencies across the country nationwide. The VTA effort is to help employees advance within the transportation industry through apprenticeship training programs.

The MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) officials and Bay Area leaders are mourning the loss of Mayor Ed Lee along with his transit advocacy. His honorable body was delivered to San Francisco City Hall during this morning on Friday and arrived around 7 AM. The casket is laying at City Hall covered with an American Flag and many people formed a line, to visit and pay their respect to Mayor Ed Lee for his honorable human services. The City Hall steps are covered with flowers, candles, notes, etc.

The SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) is testing muni bus routes within new Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco. The SFMTA first muni bus service from Transbay Transit Center is proposing to begin thereafter Christmas and turning into a milestone for the development project. The muni bus 5-Fulton route will be the first to roll out from therein transit center terminal for testing services. The new Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco will connect Bay Area transit service agencies including 11 transportation systems statewide.

The UA (United Airlines) will be launching flights to the South Pacific regional area in Tahiti using Boeing 787 aircraft. Therein approach is to build service for premium leisure customers and selected the South Pacific as that new destination from SFO (San Francisco International Airport). It will have three flights a week during Winter time in 2018 and Tahiti is known as the symbolic exotic location in South Pacific. The UA flights have been well overdue because it will be the first U.S. flight carrier since Pan Am flights.

The latest explosion in New York City is raising awareness for local transit agencies within San Francisco Bay Area for precautionary initiatives. The local transit agencies are monitoring daily activities to strengthen safety elements to ensure commuting passengers are well protected. There is no threats from any Bay Area transit agency and some passengers are saying "it's always better to be safe than sorry after it happens." The SFPD (San Francisco Police Department) is working closely with SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) for preparation and prevention.

The AC (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit) services agency provides transportation for Alameda and Contra Costa Counties including transbay services across San Francisco Bay Area bridge. The AC is launching improvement services for Line-97 to include TSP (Transit Signal Priority) technology systems along therein services line. The TSP systems will help to adjust timing signals for actual traffic conditions to ease traffic congestion. This improvement project will also help to expedite services for passengers during traffic conditions in real time.

The improvement project construction for Third Street Bridge in San Francisco and also known as "Lefty O'Doul Bridge" will limit access to cross during rehabilitation construction. The bridge will be closed during Monday, December 11, 2017 to Friday, January 26, 2018 for counterweight repairs. The main bridge construction repairs will begin thereafter counterweight rehabilitation repairs along with limitation to access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. The main bridge construction repairs may take up to 18 months within variable phases to fully complete the project.

The state Caltrans transportation agency is considering to widen Highway-101 lanes between San Francisco and Palo Alto within the Bay Area to help with traffic congestion. The Caltrans highway project is proposing to install express lanes along the Bay Area Peninsula and new express lanes will become toll paying lanes. It will start from SFO (San Francisco International Airport) along the Peninsula highway and solo car drivers will have an option to pay toll express lanes.