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.

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.