Bay Area Rapid Transit is riding high after the passage of District Measure RR, entitling the regional system to a $3.5 billion bond after voter approval earlier this month. But BART's July to September ridership numbers are now in — those are here in their raw form — and they're actually down for the first time in six years according to the Chronicle, if marginally. Still, because roughly 78 percent of BART's revenue comes from ticket fares, BART's operating budget will require adjustment, assistant general manager for operations Paul Oversier says. Less crowded trains, a welcome respite from the recent norm, does come with consequences.

The numbers: Weekend passengers fell by 4.3 percent on Saturdays and 6.2 percent on Sundays. Weekday passengers were also down, though just by about 2,100 riders per day. or a half of a percent. Overall that meant ridership was down just 1.3 percent, compared to the same period last year — but BART had been assuming that growth would continue by about 6 percent.

BART spokesperson Alicia Trost tells the Chronicle that cutbacks have yet to be determined and will be presented to the agency's board of directors next month. In the past five years, mirroring the growing region, BART ridership has gone up by more than 100,000 people per weekday. “We’ve reached our capacity,” Oversier told the Chronicle. “If you ride at rush hour, it is not particularly pleasant," he said. "It’s like riding the New York subway.” The horror!

Related: BART Bond Passes, $3.5 Billion To Go Toward Infrastructure

Breaking Muni-related news coming in this morning, so breaking it merits CBS 5's scary red border box of alarm: "There are reports of a fatal accident involving an SF Muni bus and a power pole near the intersection of Mission and Santa Rosa streets."

We'll update as soon as we know more.

Update: Oh oh. CBS 5, it seems was wrong, or so says SF MTA spokesman Judson True. Here are the facts: "At approximately 10:00 a.m., the trolley pole of a 49 Van Ness-Mission bus traveling inbound on Mission at Santa Rosa reportedly became stuck in a support wire for the overhead Muni wires. The trolley pole caused the support wire to vibrate, which reportedly dislodged two streetlights on either side of the street."

But? There was no death. Zero, zip, nothing. True goes on to explain that "[o]ne of the streetlights struck a pedestrian, who was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries (according to the San Francisco Fire Department). Another pedestrian was also reportedly struck by the streetlight but refused aid."

Also, Muni service on Mission Street in the Excelsior was disrupted for about 45 minutes. Things should be back to normal now.

The MTA is proposing cuts to every Muni line in an effort to close a plus-sized $16.9 million budget gap. What's more, and you might want to grab a nearby trashcan to use as a makeshift airsick bag before you read this, they're proposing a jarring fee hike to ride the USEFUL and CONVENIENT historic streetcars that zip along Market Street

Streetsblog reports:

The rest of the $16.9 million gap would be made up with a package of changes that includes a $3 increase to F-Line historic streetcar cash fares, new requirements for express bus and cable car riders to use a premium $70 monthly pass instead of the cheaper $60 pass, increases in discount pass prices to $30, and an increase in the residential parking permit fee from $96 from $76. The agency is also hoping for labor concessions that could save $10 million annually and $700,000 this budget year, which would also include changes to work rules.

Horrifying.

Read more about the MTA's proposed budget cuts. And then, feel free to have a good, long cry.

The NYT is reporting on the "punishing slate" of service cuts by the New York City MTA, which is facing a $400 million budget shortfall. They're eliminating two train lines, reducing service on dozens of bus routes, and phasing out a program that provided free fares to students. The cuts will still need to be approved again before taking effect in the spring, and there's bound to be some public outcry before then. But rest assured that our little Muni system isn't the only one cutting services and suffering at the hands of this Great Recession. But we're pretty sure New York's subways still don't back up and/or break down during rush hour twice a week.

Trouble is stirring in San Francisco's adorable NOPA district. It seems some residents are none too thrilled with the "large electronic traffic information signs" planned for Oak and Fell Streets. The city wants to install these big electronic signs near Divisadero, directing drivers to parking garages ans such, and the neighborhood's residents don't like it because, obviously, they're ugly.

There's also some fuss over said signs being a distraction to drivers, that it might hinder them from avoiding cyclists, but drivers have been maneuvering though city streets laced with flashy signs for decades now. We can't imagine this would be a huge problem. (Nobody in SF ever wants to say that they want something torn down because it's ugly. In SF everyone has to pretend that they're only concerned about The Greater Good, which is unfortunate because aesthetic discomfort is, most of the time, a legitimate reason to oppose anything.) Then again, the signs aren't really that necessary.

According to North Panhandle Neighborhood Association President Kevin Rafter, "We believe that this large, ugly, electronic sign will actually increase safety hazards on Fell Street because it will require drivers to look up and read the signs. In addition, it will encourage more traffic on these streets and degrade from the streetscape improvements the City and our neighborhood are trying to implement in our community."

Residents are urging MTA to relocate the signs to the freeway.

The SF Streets Blog has given us this cool Transit Tree, based on the Bay Area's transit "circulatory system," as well as a map of how far a person can get -- presumably on a good day -- on public transit in 30 minutes from Civic Center. See that map after the jump.

The TA, if you're unfamiliar, was created a couple of years ago by a voter mandate. Muni was in awful shape at that time (unimaginable, we know), and an voters needed an alternative agency that could actually get work done. And it worked -- the SFCTA has reduced congestion, fixed up 19th and Geary and Octavia, spruced up transit in neighborhoods like Little Saigon, and they're working on converting Caltrain from diesel to electric. In contrast, during that time Muni was busy being mean to a lady in a wheelchair.

If Muni took over the TA, it wouldn't make your bus run on time, or put up more NextMuni signs, or train bus drivers to be more friendly, or cut waste, or consolidate redundant lines like the parallel 31, 5, and 21. It would, however, mean that Gavin would have a bigger piggybank to dip into when he feels like strangling transit.

So, why does the TA work so well, and the MTA (that's Muni + some other street-related agencies) move so sluggishly? Well, our guess is that it's because the TA only takes on projects that it can afford; while the MTA is so ambitious, so underfunded, spread so thin, and so chronically strapped for cash and talent that it can barely stay in business. (The T-Third and Central Subway aren't going to help.) If Nat really wants to make Muni run well, he'll need to stop eying other agencies' money, and make the tough decision to cut costs -- and by cutting costs, we mean start eliminating services. That won't make him popular; but it'll make Muni work.

Wha?

Oklahoma's Senator, often seen as one of the loopiest one, sent a letter to the to the U.S. Transportation Department wondering if any of those funds Gavin is using to give big fat raises to his flunkies is Federal. And if so, watch out Gavin 'cause here comes da Feds.

And Gavin's response? According to Nathan Ballard, the amount of federal funds being used is "Zero. Zip. Not a dime." As for why they're using the funds to pay for all the raises and lobbyists, Ballard said that there was nothing to see, just move ahead.

Ballard also pointed out that anything involving Coburn "should be taken with a grain of salt." Which it should. So, for sh-- and giggles, let's take a look at the Greatest Hits of Tom Coburn.

-Once claimed that he favored the death penalty for "abortionists and other people who take life."
-Wanted to block two bills that honored famed Environmentalist Rachel Carson and proclaimed her work "junk science."
-Said so many things about homosexuality that it's impossible to list every one but one of them involved rampant lesbianism in Oklahoma.
-Protested the showing of famed "Schindler's List" for being too Holocaust-y
-Called Global Warming "a lot of crap."

Graint of salt indeed.

An elderly woman was struck by an outbound N-Judah this evening around 5:45 p.m. at 9th Avenue and Irving Street. Over at N-Judah Chronicles, fittingly enough, Greg Dewar was downing a pint at Blackthorn Tavern when the collision occurred.

While having a pint at the Blackthorn Tavern, awaiting the beginning of pub trivia, Bobby, the owner alerted me to a situation just outside the door. It seems that at 5:41 pm (according to sources on the spot) an outbound N-Judah making the potentially hazardous left turn hit and injured a woman who'd had trouble crossing the street. The combination of slick rails owing to the recent rain, combined with the fact that humans, cars and trains have to share a busy intersection have resulted in a needless tragedy.

Safety at 9th Ave and Irving has been an area of concern for some time. Dewar goes on to point out how now that "someone has been hurt, potentially fatally ... we can expect to pay out another big settlement because Mayor Newsom, the Board of Supervisors and the Esteemed MTA would rather talk and talk than do and do."

The unidentified and "severely injured" woman was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. We will update you with her condition as find out more.

Image credit goes to Greg Dewar. (Check out his Flickr account for more shots of the accident scene.)

Let's get it started...

"All MTA employees get to ride for free, provided they have their employee badges with them." Question for the Muni Security Guy, isn't it illegal for the fare inspectors to detain a person? If so, are there any exemptions, for example an assault on the fare inspector or other Muni personnel?

Yes, MTA employees ride for free. This particular gentleman had an large overcoat over his uniform and refused to show his uniform, let alone show a MTA ID. He was apparently late and not all there (mentally) due to the way he went off and started the fiasco.

POP inspectors are trained to be customer service oriented so if he had ID OR otherwise shown he was legit, no big deal, but mr. muni driver did not do that.

This guy has a "reputation" for being against authority.

Blah blah blah soup kitchens blah blah fun-runs blah holiday schedules. All that stuff's fascinating, of course, but here's what we really want to know: Muni, where can we find all the hottest Xmas shopping deals? Aside from Dress Barn, of course. Fear not, shoppers, for Muni's assembled a guide to holiday buying, starting on the day after Thanksgiving and extending to late December. Thanks to the MTA, you are now fully prepared to buy gifts, no matter which Xmas you celebrate: the real one, the Jewish one, or the black one.

Hot tips: take BART! Or Muni. The F-line is "fun for the whole family"! Watch out for pickpockets; park your bike for free in the Union Square Garage; and don't try to park in the special shopping zones around Union Square. (Apparently Muni is under the impression that Union Square is the only place people do any holiday shopping.) More guidance after the jump.

So now, in a semiotically treacherous move, they're saying that the disruptions are due to -Halloween. "No Halloween in the Castro. Possible delays and re-routed lines," says the MTA website. "Due to the cancellation of Halloween in the Castro, Muni service will be affected." Wink wink!

Here's some of the changes brought on by this so-called No-Halloween: the subway closes an hour early for its weeknight repairs, at 8:30pm (which means that Castro station will be closed); the F will run as a bus, not as a streetcar; bus lines will be prepared for re-routing if necessary (so they'll probably be sending out diesels, rather than the usual electric buses); and the BART station at 16th will be closed. Not sure why that last one was included.

So anyway, we're really looking forward to No-Halloween this year! Hey, do you have any No-Halloween plans? Going to any No-Halloween parties? Bet you've got a great No-Halloween costume. And to think: No-Christmas is right around the corner!

Muni inspectors and dispatchers went all French yesterday and called a sickout. Their union, the Transport Workers Union, Local 200, is currently in contract negotiations with the Powers that Be and obviously it's not going as they are hoping. Basically, an arbitrator went in and set the terms of the contract and the Union is not very happy with it. Thus the sickout.

Union officials say it was all just some coincidence that a bunch of people called in sick (there are several bugs going around which we can verify as being somewhat nasty and involving incessant coughing) even though a flyer was circulated a day before from the union saying the negotiations were kinda going sucky. And hey, if you're going to schedule a sickout, why not do it on a Friday instead of Thursday? Three words: three-day weekend.

MTA officials and the Mayor are not amused by all this and threatening "appropriate action" if it is discovered the union had something to do with it. Gavin also added that there's an appropriate way to do something like this that doesn't involve a bunch of people not showing up for work.

Despite the sickout, Muni was able to scramble so service wasn't disrupted yesterday. Of course, it’s not like anyone can really tell anyway.