Muni miscellany

July 22nd, 2007

Some news this week:

  • From the Examiner Saturday: Apparently a deal has been made by Supervisor Peskin and Muni unions concerning the Muni re-reform measure now before the board. Unfortunately the article isn’t up on the Examiner website yet.
  • 90 percent of riders in a recent SFTEP survey say reliability is the #1 issue facing Muni. 65% of those who don’t ride say reliability is the main reason why not.
  • Muni posts feedback it received on proposed new bus shelter designs. Check to see that your comment is there!
  • A bit old but interesting follow up to our recent Central Subway discussion: A report by Tom Matoff late last year was highly critical of the cost effectiveness of the project, which is important not least because it would require hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. (Matt Smith column of January 3; also a Chronicle report in January.) The report was presented at the MTA Board in March - we can’t find it online, does anyone have it?
  • Newsom forum Saturday; McGoldrick recall fails; Bad parking ballot measure

    June 28th, 2007

    Some miscellaneous Muni related news:

  • Mayor Newsom is holding a forum on transportation Saturday, June 30, at 10:00am at Jean Parker Elementary School, 840 Broadway at Powell. (pdf notice, details below the jump.) Come ask your tough Muni questions!
  • Proponents of a recall of Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, led by anti-Muni activist David Heller, have failed to get enough signatures to put the recall on November’s ballot. This is great news for proponents of the Geary BRT project.
  • Mayor Newsom also restated his support for stop consolidation as part of the Transit Effectiveness Project yesterday.
  • A ballot measure that would require big increases in parking in new buildings (and would be horrible for mass transit) is circulating right now. We’re with SFist: don’t sign it! (More on this at SFist or you can read the whole proposal at SPUR’s site (pdf).
  • Read the rest of this entry »

    Buy Next Month’s Fast Pass Online Now

    June 11th, 2007

    Adult Fast PassMuni offers passes online, but only from the 10th to the 22nd of each month. (As opposed to hundreds of transit systems worldwide, including Caltrain, where you can buy your pass at any ticket machine.) In any case, if you don’t feel like standing in the line at the cable car turnaround, buy now and the pass will be mailed to you. You can also buy prepaid parking cards.

    Muni miscellany

    May 6th, 2007

    Some recent news we’ve been saving for your Sunday Monday update:

  • Opportunity to see Muni’s new shelters at City Hall this week (Thursday and Friday) - thanks to SFist for this link.
  • Recent assaults on Muni operators and DPT parking control offices lead to calls for a renewed crackdown.
  • New look for the SFCTA website including a nice mockup of the proposed Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit project.
  • Committee picked to identify new funding sources for Muni, including former Public Transportation Commission chair Rudy Nothenberg, current chair James McCray, and Controller Ed Harrington.
  • Mass transit miscellany

    April 22nd, 2007

    Here are some recent news headlines relevant to public transit. If we get really clever we’ll find a way to put these in a “Quick Link” sidebar. For now we’ll post these on Sundays.

  • Muni: Cable car fare collections lacking (follow up story); $158K launch party for T-Third
  • Regional: Amtrak assailant arrested
  • National: NYC Mayor Bloomberg to propose congestion charge
  • Worldwide: Mystery UK cat takes bus to the shops