Results tagged “publictransit”

UPDATE: BART announced at 7 p.m. today that they have come to a temporary agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union, and tomorrow's strike has been canceled. The following terms will remain in effect until a new contract agreement is reached:

SF Appeal reports that Muni will be replacing all existing fare gates at its underground Metro stations with TransLink-only fare gates (PDF) by fall of 2010, and it's possible Fast Passes will only be available electronically as well.

Due to Caltrans closing the Bay Bridge in both directions over the upcoming Labor Day weekend for earthquake retrofitting, BART will be running hourly overnight service to 14 stations during the wee hours of Friday, September 4 through the early morning hours of Labor Day on Monday, September 7. Participating San Francisco stations will be the 24th Street Mission, Embarcadero, and Powell Street stations, as well as the San Francisco International Airport station. We've never experienced a late-night holiday BART ride but can imagine they'd be pretty rowdy, not to mention the tragic Oscar Grant shooting that occurred this past New Year's Eve. Stay safe and keep your wits about you, BART passengers. [Via Eyes on Blogs, SFBART]

It has now been revealed that Saturday's collision at West Portal was the result of train operator Henry Gray switching to manual mode when approaching the platform -- a violation of official Muni protocol that was an informal practice by most operators -- twenty-four seconds before blacking out at the controls. Department of Motor Vehicle records show that Gray has a spotless driving record.

UPDATE: SF Appeal reports that Muni Spokesperson Judson True has confirmed the total amount of injuries is 47 -- 4 critical, 23 serious, and 20 minor. Light rail service is not expected to be restored for several hours.

Speaking of Muni shadiness, the alleged Muni Humper, who is apparently under the age of 18, has been arrested by SFPD, thanks to a friend of Plug1 who had also been a victim. The victim recently identified le Humper in a line-up and agreed to file a detailed report. Referring to her trusty Twitter feed, she reported the exact dates and times of her encounters with the suspect on the N from the past two months. The Humper is currently being processed at 850 Bryant for sexual battery. [Via Muni Diaries, Plug1]

SFPD have opened an investigation on the Muni Humper, now blandly coined "sexual battery suspect" in police speak, who has been plaguing the N Judah line and was originally brought to the public's attention by Muni Diaries. Thanks to one victim named Amanda, whom NBC Bay Area interviewed last night, in addition to several eye witness accounts, police now have a pretty specific description of the perpetrator:

According to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation, transportation secretary Ray LaHood announced a hefty gift for Bay Area public transportation: $48.3 Million. This chunk of change will, hopefully, improve your commute in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties. What will the funds go to? Well, the construction of a walkway at Balboa Park station with an "automatic fare collection equipment, lighting, security cameras and a new entrance plaza connected to ADA-accessible walkway to Ocean Avenue," for starters. The money will also be used to up"date transit vehicles with new carpeting and seat cushions," as well as replacing electrical equipment and "sacrificial anodes and anode cables along the length of the Transbay Tube." That is to say, lots of hammering, clipboards, hard hats, and test tubes with dry ice plumes will most likely be involved. "By reinvesting in our nation’s transit infrastructure, we are making our communities more livable, invigorating the local economy, and putting America back to work," LaHood shilled.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority issued a new report concluding that two dedicated bus lanes running down the center of Geary Boulevard (also known as bus rapid transit or BRT) would be the most efficient and cost-effective solution for decongesting the thoroughfare. The BRT would eliminate bus and auto conflicts by physically separating the BRT lanes from mixed-traffic lanes, pedestrian safety would be improved, and bicycle and pedestrian access would be enhanced.

While some of you might pretend not to notice the occasional elderly person giving you puppy eyes in order to snag your sweet disability seat on Muni or BART, few of us would go so far as to ignore someone on crutches. Here are a few who do.The creator of peoplewhositinthedisabilityseatswhenimstandingonmycrutches.com, explains his site like this: "I don't take pictures of anyone if there's an open seat within sight -- except for a few of those listed under the "Hall of Shame" tag. I also don't take pictures of elderly people, visibly pregnant women, or anyone who looks like they might have a disability. Of course, it's important to keep in mind that there's no way of knowing whether someone has a disability just by looking at them." Be sure to check it out. (Thanks Matty!)

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced yesterday that the feds have given the much-needed Central Subway its final environmental clearance. Praise God.

Next Thursday is Valentine's Day. And the pressure is on, couples of the Bay Area, especially for those of you approaching the seven-year-itch mark. Really, this Valentine's Day could be a make-or-break kind of day. That fragile house of cards that you call a relationship can come crashing down around you like...that. In just one day. Something to think about, folks.

Well, this should be exciting, hateful. This Sunday at 11 a.m. at 701 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, there will be a protest over that religious sect those zany Hollywood types know and love so well. You know, the one where you can't take Prozac, or call you Jewish children, or....whatever. (For a map of the SF branch, go here.) It sounds like it will be a Sunday afternoon well-spent. Instruction are as follows:

Why aren't you hiding under the covers yet? The city doesn't want to so much as hear you breathe come tomorrow. So, start upending those floorboards and crawling into that dank attic, or Gavin and Bevan will be coming to get you, Barbara.

-- Gross, sticky, exhausting, hot weather begins. But! Ride public transit for free tomorrow during a Spare the Air Day. [Examiner, SFMTA]

You know how the Bay Bridge is going to be closed on this Labor Day weekend? And how that means there'll be fewer car-trips into San Francisco? A reasonable person might assume that that'll mean an increased demand for public transit -- but Muni's response to that is, "reasonable people? What on Earth are those?"

-- Tzssss: Golden Gate Bridge gets branded. (They won't really have billboards on the bridge, but who would want to see tasty Pizza Rolls high above, or why Sally Field stays so ramrod straight?) [Chron]

We were skeptical about the plan to open the Panhandle DMV lot for public parking. But Lisa Zahner, the city's Divisadero Corridor Manager, reassured us that the Planning Department doesn't anticipate a rise in traffic levels, since the surrounding streets are already so busy. And in fact, traffic might , since drivers won't have to circle the block to find parking. Not only that, but the city's hope is that people will use the lots to come into SF, and then use public transit to mosey on down to Golden Gate Park for the pedestrian-friendly weekends. (Note to city: shuttle buses might make that hope more likely to materialize.) The lot will only be open for public parking during the DMV's off hours and weekends; the rest of the time, it'll be dedicated for DMV use only. Well, that sounds alright then.

The Governor's annual May budget revision was rolled out yesterday. The document still shows a net operating deficit of $1.4 billion, but represents this as "major progress as compared to the $4.4 billion that was anticipated for 2007-08 at the time the Governor signed the 2006 Budget Act." The revised budget includes plans for early debt payments as well as to avoid tax hikes, and shows Arnold's intent to restrain spending growth and maint adequate reserves, among other things. Democrats are concerned, though, that it's doing so at the expense cuts social services and public transit -- which could have a direct affect on BART and other orgs.

A couple good points came out of a talk by SustainLane's Warren Karlenzig at the Commonwealth club last week. He was talking about Green Economies (sustainable) versus Grey Economies (unsustainable), and pointed out that California responded to the melting freeway by offering a day of free public transit. "What would governor of Arizona do in a similar situation: offer free gas to everyone?"

If you saw a bunch of officials rushing home to check their mailboxes yesterday, it's because yesterday was the day the results of a city survey was released. And the verdict? In most cases, San Francisco is just pretty much average, averaging a C. That's not going to get us into an Ivy League school .

People who ride the bus to work every day have nothing better to do than take a very long lunch -- twice -- and head over to SPUR's office to talk at length about public transit policy. Sounds like fun! There's two Muni-related and parking-related meetings coming up and open to the public (no snacks provided, but "feel free to bring a lunch"), so pencil them into your iCal now. If you're the kind of person who wakes up and then sits around the house in your lacy underthings all day thinking, "oh man, I wish I could be talking about congestion management," you are SO in luck.

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to...

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost.

Hey, the new MUNI T Third line is finally open! That's the new light rail route that goes (.gif) from Castro Station down Third Street, through Dogpatch, down the Bayview, past Monster Park, and all the way to Sunnydale Avenue. We decided to spend our day off today checking it out.

It turns out BART wasn't the only transit system having problems this week, MUNI was too. First up was the M which had problems when a tree was knocked over and onto one of those powerlines at Randolph and Byxbee streets. The trouble started last night and continued on until this morning when the power was finally restored. We remember back when we rode the N Judah and it seemed like everytime it rained, some branch knocked down a powerline, usually right by our stop. We also remember really hating it when that happened.

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-A-Verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve.

The Chron's got the wrapup of the results from this year's problem-solving Chronicle Watch reports -- from October 2005-October 2006. We've got a wrap-up of the wrap-up, right here!

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery.

This just in ... the Glen Park BART station was shut down approximately an hour ago due to police activity, according to SF Gate. Seriously, it was not the "police activity" as described in the link above, it was just another suspicious package. We're always intrigued when we hear the announcements about "police activity on the BART system," because it could mean so many things, though we are so often disappointed because it usually turns out be either the aforementioned suspicious package or an obstreporous drunk person who has lost their BART ticket.