Results tagged “transit”

Many of BART's 355,000 daily commuters are still unaware that the agency might go on strike next week, which would cause quite a meltdown throughout the Bay Area.

Be sure to check out Muni's Bay to Breakers schedules and routes before the inebriation sets in. The lowdown is after the jump. And remember, the below buses will cost you a special events fare of $7, which is valid until 5 p.m. View a large version of Muni's B2B route map. And here is a zoomable PDF version.

SFist loves cameras. Public, private, wherever, whenever -- we want them up, we want them rolling. So, we were tickled exuberant after hearing that San Francisco transit officials plan to install continuously-running cameras on Muni buses. The cameras would "trigger an alert every time a driver hits the brakes hard, swerves or gets into a collision," according to reports, and be placed inside and outside buses. If all goes according to plan, they will capture electrifying footage like this.

Either you .

A few things:

Although trains are running slowly as of 2:30 p.m., CalTrain is expected to return to normal by this evening's commute. If you recall, all choo-choos came to a halt this morning after a "system-wide signal interruption." As an extended olive branch, CalTrain will offer riders free rides for the rest of the day. Rides will be on the house until 1:30 a.m. Friday. Also, Caltrain tickets can be honored on SamTrans buses and on VTA routes 22 and 522. (Can you imagine if Muni started being this kind to riders? They'd be in financial ruins in less that a week. Well, more than they already are, that is.)

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.

Is it too much to ask that NextBus cope with the daylight savings time-change? Our wristwatch can figure it out, but apparently it's simply too much for NextBus to comprehend. So on Saturday night, there was a complete blackout of arrival predictions; not just for San Francisco, but for all NextBus clients in the US and Canada. Luckily, you could still get scheduled arrival times by calling 311.

Did somebody at 511.org just accidentally their website? According to an alert, you can now real-time Muni train information. Hey, that's!

It's not often we get to say it, so let's relish the feeling: yay Muni! Today, Muni boss Nat Ford joined a bunch of other transit officials in making some nice suggestions for the future of federal transportation planning. And you know what, it actually looks pretty good.

We all had a great time piling on Muni last weekend, foaming and ranting about service to and from the park. But what was going on behind the scenes? We asked Muni how they strategized their service around Outside Lands. Here's what they had to say:

Mystery solved! Probably! Thanks our perceptive readers, we have learned what was maybe on the mind of the lady we posted about yesterday, the one who was gently blocking access to an empty seat. Also, we've learned that SFist readers are violent, flatulent racists.

Four people were hurt after a cable car derailed last night at Washington and Powell streets. (Check out this image of the car off its tracks. So wrong!) A little before midnight last night, a cable car jumped the tracks as it was turning onto Powell Street. Three passengers were sent to the hospital for minor injuries, and "one man appeared to have a broken leg." Egads. Anyway, the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

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%.)

Taken at the Civic Center station, this (bloodied) gentleman came off an inbound train early this morning and collapsed. Anyone know what happened? Is he OK? Poor guy.

What with gas prices soaring, Segways -- those two-wheeled, self-balancing, electric scooter-ish type vehicles -- have seen a boom in sales recently. One Segway sales person in Oakland have seen sales triple over the last three months. This is fantastic news in that people really are trying to live a car-free life.

Gosh, it's a nice day. Wouldn't it be swell to leave work early and head over to the Presidio, San Francisco's beautiful national park? (Tip: yes, it would.) But don't count on Muni getting you there. After all, you don't look forward to having to endure hour-long waits, do you? (Tip: no, you do not.)

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.

We received word this morning that a collision, possibly a motorcycle-meets-Muni accident, is blocking the T and K lines near Bayview. 511 has this to say:

Here at SFist, we are not impressed with percussive instruments. Calling a drum circle "music" is like calling crosswalk stripes "a painting." But there's something sort of impressive about an experienced cable car bell-ringer, so gosh darn it we can't quite manage to fully roll our eyes at today's annual Muni Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest (noon in Union Square), at which Gavin Newsom and several local news personalities (please Jan Wahl, please Jan Wahl, please Jan Wahl) will judge clanking sounds and award prizes.

So, no doubt you've noticed that your Muni buses are a bit more chipper than usual, with a friendly message scrolling across the head signs. Some folks have been grumbling to us about the greeting -- "isn't the destination sign for, you know, DESTINATIONS," that kind of thing. Meh. We guess. Probably.

Since your Editor's cell fell down the toilet while chatting and evacuating a pressing stream of urine at the same time, we cannot try out this allegedly nifty feature. But according to Amit Gupta, who snapped up the above image, "MUNI does a pretty good job of telling you how long you need to wait for the next bus or train."

It's going to be a busy, warm, and wily weekend. First, the Asian Heritage Street Festival, which takes place on Saturday, May 17 from 11:00AM to 6:00AM, around Japantown will result in the following closures from 3:00AM. to 10:00PM:

Loads of delightful events are happening this weekend: street fairs, charity walks, tequila, inline skating appreciation, and more. Here's how SF transit plans on handling the merriment:

Tomorrow's ILWU March for Workers starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. "after assembling at 10:00 a.m. at the ILWU Hall on Beach Street." The march is expected to head east on Beach, south on the Embarcadero and west on Market to Justin Herman Plaza.

There's something new on your Google Map: Muni! We're so happy about this, we don't even want to ask why it took so damn long (BART's been on Google Transit since forever). Now at last you can toggle trips from Driving Directions to Transit Directions, and it's smart enough to understand transfers -- for example, here's a trip from Berkeley to Ocean Beach via BART and Muni.

Shut up about how nice it is outside! Nobody cares. The REAL news is that Bart is conducting a survey. A SURVEY! To see how they should redesign their fare charts. Go take it right now! It's probably the most enjoyable few minutes you'll spend during this whole unpleasant weekend.