into characterizing how the negotiations are going. the mediators asked us not to publicly talk about what s going on. we re going to leave the bargaining at the bargaining table. reporter: b.a.r.t. s spoke person says they re working very hard to find a negotiated settlement and willing to continue talks well past the deadline at midnight thursday. any given work day, some 400,000 passengers rely on b.a.r.t. to get where they need to go. earlier today the municipal transit agency issued a warning to commuters to review their contingency plans. they say if b.a.r.t. strikes and if that happens this month, it willikely have a bigger impact than the four-day strike back in july because more people are headed to work and taking their kids to school. the governor has already used his one-time-on the legal privilege to call for a 60 day cooling off period. he says it is now up to the two sides to work it out. live in oakland, kimberly terry, nbc bay area news. could be some pro
anthony joins us live from oakland. they have eight hours to respond? reporter: that is it, larry. that is for bay area commuters as well. this is a stunning announcement. the a lot of half hour, it appears by the length of the negotiations, 30 hours since yesterday, that they were somehow close to a deal. but roxanne sanchez walked out of this building and made this announcement that they were going to go on strike if the management did not back down from hard line rules. as of midnight tonight we will be on strike. no one will be left stranded. it is now in the hands of the general manager. my name is george cohen. reporter: this is the federal mediator george cohen. on my left commissioner greg limb. i thought i d give you an update and a report of what has been taking place. as you probably know we have been here approximately four days and three hours during which time there has been ongoing, intense collective bargaining. these parties began this relationshi
settlement is shortly. jana katsuyama has been talking it to her sources. what can you tell us? reporter: frank, just in the past minute, you can see behind me, the mayor is here. members of the seiu and atu have come down from the 3rd floor where they have been meeting tonight, and it has been a waiting game. about 7:00, the mayor came out, and as you mentioned, she put out the tweet. at 7:00 she said there was going to be an announcement shortly. i m hearing from some of my sources upstairs there was some sort of agreement that the unions signed. you can see here the crowd, there is the mayor in the middle, and then we have members of the union, and behind in the lobby, just behind this group, i m seeing more people coming in. members of b.a.r. t. management team and negotiation team have been here since early in the evening. all of this has been happening with the go between, shuttling between the groups at three separate locations, trying to bring these sides together.
work rules and safety so we will see what happened and we have new news to report we will bring it to you. catherine: thank you dan. catherine: the word of new bart talks is good news.. but for commuters - the bad news is right here, right now. thousands of workers are back in the afternoon traffic trying to get home. kron 4 s justine waldman is in san francisco at one of the most congested intersections. catherine: she has been at fifth and bryant which is a really bad spot we would check and adjusting all little later. charles clifford is life charles are you there? yes i am. long live of people waiting to catch the bus. long live the cecil all round the corner is waiting to get into the terminal cancer catch a over at the casual car pooling that is where people are sharing cars to get back and forth. i went in to get on that a.c. transit buses which is the only record, best bus service. bart shuttle buses rented by bart and a lot of angry people for commuters and st
what can you tell us? reporter: frank, just in the past minute, you can see behind me, the mayor is here. members of the seiu and atu have come down from the 3rd floor where they have been meeting tonight, and it has been a waiting game. about 7:00, the mayor came out, and as you mentioned, she put out the tweet. at 7:00 she said there was going to be an announcement shortly. i m hearing from some of my sources upstairs there was some sort of agreement that the unions signed. you can see here the crowd, there is the mayor in the middle, and then we have members of the union, and behind in the lobby, just behind this group, i m seeing more people coming in. members of b.a.r. t. management team and negotiation team have been here since early in the evening. all of this has been happening with the go between, shuttling between the groups at three separate locations, trying to bring these sides together. it has been a very emotional day. i ve been talking with some of the peopl