Local briefs

Mountain View has been best known as the home of the Googleplex and Shoreline Amphitheater, but from now until the end of July it has a far more prominent role as the home of the Bay Area’s only Kwik-E-Mart.

Convenience store giant 7-Eleven, in a promotional tie-in with "The Simpsons Movie” being released July 27, has transformed 11 of the company’s stores, including the Pear Avenue store in Mountain View, into replicas of Homer Simpson’s favorite retailer complete with cans of Buzz Cola, boxes of KrustyO’s cereal, copies of the "Radioactive Man” comic book and, of course, Squishees on sale.

"The KrustyO’s and Buzz Cola have just been flying out of the stores,” 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said.

The transformed stores have no vestige of the 7-Eleven brand with the exterior walls, roof, signage, uniforms and name tags, products and packaging, bakery cases and grills, in-store signage, cash registers and ATM machines and even the donation canisters on the counter undergoing a Simpson-esque makeover. The transformed Kwik-E-Marts also feature life-sized cardboard cutouts of major Simpsons characters, according to Chabris.

Fans of the television show should look for details such as Jasper in the bagged ice freezer, the First Bank of Springfield automated teller machine, and a Krusty’s Kids donation canister.

While the promotion, which began Sunday, has been extremely popular, there are no plans to transform more Bay Area 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts, according to Chabris.

"We kind of like the number 11,” Chabris said.

Dugger now BART interim general manager

BART has a new general manager for the first time in nearly 11 years.

However, veteran BART official Dorothy Dugger is only the interim general manager for now, as the transit agency is still conducting a nationwide search for a permanent general manager to succeed Thomas Margro.

Last Friday was the last day on the job for Margro, 63, who had headed BART since September of 1996.

Margro announced his resignation in April and next week will begin a new job running Orange County’s toll road system.

Dugger has served as BART’s deputy general manager since April 6, 1994. She started working for BART in September of 1992, when she was appointed to be the agency’s executive director of external affairs.

Dugger applied to become the transit system’s permanent general manager, said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.

However, Johnson said BART’s Board of Directors isn’t expected to name a new permanent general manager any time in the near future.

Highway 101 message signs to add Caltrain information

Highway 101 commuters on one part of the Peninsula will now be able to decide in real time whether a detour to the nearest Caltrain station will get them to their destination faster.

During morning and evening commutes, northbound and southbound message signs at Millbrae Avenue, which already show estimated driving commute times to locations between San Francisco and San Jose, will now also display Caltrain travel and departure times, according to Caltrain spokesman Jonah Weinberg.

In late July, signs on northbound Highway 101 at Whipple Avenue in Redwood City will offer similar information, according to Weinberg.

The Caltrain departure information will apply for trains at the Millbrae and Redwood City stations.

The signs are part of a joint program between Caltrain and Caltrans to alleviate congestion along the busy U.S. Highway 101 corridor.