Commuters Ride Free After Road Collapse

Transit systems in the San Francisco Bay area offered free rides Monday to ease congestion following the collapse of a major section of a freeway.

A tanker truck carrying gasoline crashed and exploded Sunday on the MacArthur Maze, in Oakland, near the entrance to the Bay Bridge linking Oakland and San Francisco. The driver was hospitalized with burns.

Commuters were urged to leave their cars at home and ride free Monday as transit officials tried to gauge the severity of the traffic snarls, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

I think (Monday) is really the acid test, said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Monday’s free rides were expected to mean about $2.5 million in revenue loss. The damaged portion of the MacArthur Maze, one of the busiest roads in the Bay area, is expected to take weeks, if not months, to rebuild, said transportation officials.