Results tagged “sfmta”

In an effort to fill the large, gaping hole of necessity for more cabbies in San Francisco, it makes sense that imposter taxicabs try to fill that need. According to today's Examiner, "at least 30 illegitimate cab companies are operating in San Francisco." Which means that there are almost as many illegal cab companies in San Francisco as there are legal ones. (SF has 32 licensed companies.) Last year alone, the article goes on to say, there were "nearly 200 illegal cab pickups in San Francisco last year and officers on taxi detail arrested 33 drivers in December alone." The problem, if there is one, is that illegal cab companies don't perform criminal background checks on their employees, and fake cabbies tend to overcharge their passengers.

We put this in yesterday's Day Around the Bay, but since so many of you reacted with pure, unadulterated rage, we feel it necessary to give it its very own post. What we're talking about is this: resurrecting the CultureBus 74x. See, a new site popped up this weekend, RestoreThe74, which bemoans the loss of the little, yellow, different 74x that got you from one richly-textured SF landmark to the next, in record time with record leg room.

SFAppeal breaks today's biggest (local) story: Chief Operating Officer for the SFMTA, Ken McDonald, resigned today. McDonald, who is in charge of Muni operations, gave no specific explanation for the sudden departure. But before you get all hot and bothered over last night's F-Market f-up, Appeal goes on to report that a "Muni insider we spoke to said that he believes that last night's accident was not related to McDonald's departure, but was 'just bad timing.'" McDonald will go into more detail later at today's 2 p.m. SFMTA board meeting. Until then, check out his resignation letter here.

Might want to rev up the Lexus or Prius today, readers. According to Appeal, the J, K/T, L, M and N lines are all "'experiencing rolling delays in the subway because of a problem with the train control system.'" That is to say, trains are currently operating in manual mode. (Oh oh.) So, you know, please check with NextMuni before hopping on a train.

Update: SFAppeal has the embeddable code. Why? Because some people understand the internet and online reporting. Anyway.

by Chris Jones

Photo by Albert Huynh on Flickr

            

Yesterday morning, a new cable care for tourists was unleashed onto the streets of San Francisco. And yes, you will need sunglasses to enjoy these images of the shockingly colored car.

There's a fun editorial in today's Examiner. It involves the "mysterious driver malady" that affects Muni drivers on Mondays and Fridays. According to the article, "On May 1, a Friday, nearly 22 percent of Muni’s 1,632 scheduled operators were “unavailable” -- 132 called in sick, but no less than 112 just failed to report for their shifts. They were marked down as taking 'unplanned leave,' a catchall category that also includes claimed injuries, suspensions or getting sick during a run." But wait, it gets better. The items goes on to say that "t[t]he AWOL rate was even higher the following Monday, May 4, when 113 drivers didn’t arrive to start their routes." And best of all, there's little to no consequences for no-show drivers. Muni spokesperosn Judson True, however, claims that the truancies are "being steadily reduce." In better news, Muni might finally get rid of redundant stops, thus improving your transit times. So, you know, there's that.

Have you heard that BART and Muni fares are increasing? A news story that seems to pop up at least once a month? Or not? Anyway, BART prices will increase on July 1. And Muni will jump to $2 on July 1 as well. We're sure it's way more complicated than we could possibly imagine, rife with locals politicking, Excel spreadsheets, and lots of chin scratching. But feel free to lose your proverbial shit over the increase in the comments, even though both fares are still pretty damn cheap compared to other big cities. (Or not.)

The SFMTA board voted yesterday to approve its list of proposed uses of economic stimulus dollars heading San Francisco's way this year. As SFAppeal reports, Muni plans to use $15 million of its total $67 million gift from the federal government for "vehicle door and step reconditioning" and $11 million on some much needed Muni pass vending machines.

Can you guess what it is?

Around 70 Muni buses serving more than two dozen biodiesel buses were delayed this morning after a union steward with Transport Workers Union Local 250-A blocked the gate and prevented the buses from leaving the Muni facility in the Dogpatch neighborhood. According to Muni officials the upset union steward disrupted service due to a dispute with management "over whether or not a personnel assignment was decided on the basis of seniority." The incident occurred between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.

Because this infamous intersection isn't dangerous enough, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors have "unanimously endorsed its traffic engineer's plan to eliminate the eastbound bike lane on Market Street at Octavia Boulevard" despite protests from cyclists who don't want to die while riding Market Street. Yes, really.

Beth W. from Muni Diaries writes about this latest ad campaign, and she's none to thrilled.

Snapped up by Flickr photog Mike G., this is the new system that replaced the "unreliable" OS/2 system.

A spot.us (a reader-supported news-ish site) pitch person wonders why most express buses stop by 8:30 a.m. (inbound) and 6:15 p.m. (outbound). Also, since most express lines are jam-packed with riders, why won't Muni add a few more of these convenient buses? "Overcrowded buses would seem to indicate that there's more demand than Muni can fill with its existing express service," spot.us goes on to point out. We know we'd love more express buses. The few of them we manage to catch get us to where we're going in record time.

A few things:

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.

As the SFMTA looks deep into the abyss of a budget deficit in the $40 million range, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chief Nathaniel Ford has decided he wants to halt the annual $40K-plus raise and bonus coming his way. Ford's base contract salary, currently set at an envious $315,140/year, would have added a $13,236 raise and a performance bonus of $26,787. Aw. (SFGate)

A little before 6 a.m. this morning a cable car struck a pedestrian on Mason Street near Broadway. the unidentified person was sent to a local hospital. According to the Muni Spokesperson Judson True, the extent of the pedestrian's injuries are not known at this time. Service on the Powell-Mason line has since been restored. (CBS 5)

As incredible as it sounds," says the regally named Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., SFMTA's Executive Director, in this morning's glowing press release, "preliminary ridership reports show that Muni had over 117,000 additional boardings this weekend, which included three Giants games at AT&T Park and the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park on opposite ends of The City."

SATURDAY, SUNDAY: The North Beach Jazz Festival will land in Washington Square Park. Can you dig? And Union Street (from Stockton Street to Columbus Avenue) will be closed from 7:00 a.m., Saturday to 9:00 p.m., Sunday night. The following bus lines will be affected: 9X Bayshore Express, 30 Stockton, 39 Coit,and the 45 Union/Stockton. (Oh! We've never been on the 39 Coit. Is it as adorable as it sounds? Please advise.)

Oh oh. Looks like your commute home might be an exciting one filled with delays and packed trains. According to 511, "at 3:10pm, Muni reports all inbound and outbound lines on the underground Metro system are experiencing delays due to the evacuation of the Van Ness Station and police activity. There are no further details at this time." Will update as we know more.

Did you know that the Taxi Commission is going to be transferring their duties over to the SFMTA (the blob that runs Muni, parking meters, traffic lights, and stuff like that)? By consolidating all of SF's ground transportation under one agency, the MTA can ensure that all trips throughout the city are slow, unreliable, and involve a minimum of 75% surliness. (SF's taxi-surliness index is currently hovering just under 60%.)

KTVU has some choice footage of last Saturday's Muni crash over on King Street near AT&T Park. Since major news networks inexplicably don't believe in the religion of Embedded Code, we are forced to link to it here. (Oh, and then you have to click on "RAW VIDEO: Watch Muni Surveillance Footage Shot On Trains Involved In Collision.") If some kind soul wants to upload or find us the same footage, YouTube- or Flickr Video-style, we'd be most appreciative. Forget KTVU and their pre-commercialed footage. Here it is uninterrupted!

Last Saturday's T-Third meets N-Judah collision might be, according to to investigators, might have been the result of a speeding Muni driver and/or someone chatting on their cell phone. KCBS reports:

An astonishing twelve passengers were sent to the hospital on Saturday after a T-Third train slammed into the back of a two-car N-Judah. The accident happened near AT&T Park on King Street between Third and Fourth streets, and none of the injuries were life-threatening. Allegedly.

Your daily commute just got safer. Well, hopefully. The Office of Homeland Security just awarded the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) a crisp $7 million "to improve security and public safety on San Francisco's transit system," AKA Muni. Stemming from voter-approved state Proposition 1B way back in 2006, the windfall will, theoretically, go to help bettering such things as lighting, camera surveillance, and communication technology.

Early this morning at 8:24 a.m., an "adult female" was struck a 60-foot 71-Haight-Noriega bus on Market and Sixth Streets. She was transported to SF General Hospital, where she later died. According to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's press release: