Angry public asks city why it lets chaos rule the night

A public transit meltdown. Severe traffic gridlock. A near-total absence of civic management. Public fury. A punch in the face, bloodshed and a concussion.

Those are the memories Liang, a Fremont, California resident, is left with from the July 4 fireworks show in the US city of San Francisco.

Like tens of thousands of other attendees, Liang and his family were drawn in by the promise of an "unprecedented" Independence Day celebration in San Francisco. The city had heavily promoted the fireworks display this year, billing it as a once-in-a-generation spectacle with pyrotechnics launched directly from the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, an iconic landmark.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said that the event would "mark only the third time pyrotechnics have launched from the Golden Gate Bridge" as the US commemorated its 250th anniversary.

"It might only happen once in a lifetime," Liang said, "so I felt I couldn't miss this jubilant gathering". Lighthearted, they boarded public transit in the afternoon heading to San Francisco, exactly as the city had advised. What they didn't know was that a nightmare awaited them, one that would not end until 3 am the following morning.

According to Lurie's office, approximately 100,000 spectators flooded into the city for the fireworks show, 41,000 more riders than the public transit system's usual capacity could accommodate.

As a result, attendees reported being stranded in long lines for hours waiting to board connecting shuttle buses after the fireworks show ended at 10 pm. "Trying to leave the city's waterfront areas, traffic is very congested," one user posted on X. "Lines stretched for more than half a mile for people waiting to board buses."

'Complete chaos'

"Our line didn't move for an hour. When I went up front to check, it was complete chaos: there was no representative from the traffic authority or police in sight to oversee the situation," said Liang. "I took it upon myself to help maintain order, urging people to queue up. Most cooperated until a mother and her two sons cut in line."

"One of the teenagers, a head taller and much stronger than me, punched me in the face without warning. My face was instantly covered in blood. He then pushed me to the ground and kicked me several times," Liang recalled.

It took Liang and his family until 11:30 pm to finally board a shuttle bus. "Passengers were packed like sardines. There was no police directing traffic. It took another two and a half hours for our bus to travel three miles before we were dropped off at the BART station," said Liang. "By then it was 2 am, and BART had long stopped running."

Although BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit, had publicly assured riders that it would extend operating hours, the agency only prolonged service by 25 minutes, shutting down at 12:25 am.

"This is outrageous," said April Lee, who had taken her two boys on BART into San Francisco for the celebration. "Did the government deceive the public? How could they manage this so poorly? Who should be held accountable for all of this?"

Like Lee, many frustrated attendees were demanding answers from the government. On July 8, Mayor Lurie addressed the media, calling the city's transportation failures on July 4 "unacceptable" and pledging that the problems must be resolved before the city's next large-scale event.

But Lee remains unconvinced. "The fireworks show had been in the works for a long time. This did not happen overnight. How did the government plan, prepare contingencies, and anticipate worst-case scenarios? Are they telling us this was all just a ragtag operation?"

As for Liang, he finally made it home at 3 am on July 5, after a friend drove nearly 100 kilometers from the suburbs of the Bay Area to pick up his stranded family.