This was a good week for bicycling in San Francisco! We got our first new bike lane in 3 years, our first physically-separated bike lane, and our very first bike box! Streetfilms has a video covering the Bike Celebration Press Conference:

In other transportation news, several Muni routes will be discontinued tomorrow. Mission Local has made a farewell video to to the 26 Valencia, which is ending its 108-year run:

Filed under: cycling, muni, san francisco, transportation · 3 Comments

In a bid to bring the Bay Area up-to-date with last century’s technology, Muni, Bart, and CalTrain will start accepting TransLink in the spring. The TransLink readers have already been installed on Muni lines for testing, and interestingly, they are installed on all doors, not just in the front. This should help loading times for crowded buses. Here is a pic of a TransLink reader in the back of the 9 San Bruno:

I’m glad I don’t have to commute on CalTrain anymore, but CalTrain riders will probably appreciate TransLink the most. CalTrain currently uses ancient technology to timestamp 10-ride tickets, similar to old-school time cards found in 1950′s office buildings. The timestamp machines are frequently broken, and the CalTrain conductors are assholes. Hopefully with TransLink, caltrain riders will never have to talk to a conductor again.

Filed under: bart, bay area, CalTrain, muni, san francisco, TransLink, transportation · 2 Comments

I’ve been spending many hours criss-crossing the city on public transit lately, and I’ve decided I don’t like those MUNI buses shrinkwrapped in gigantic ad banners. They’re like billboards on wheels, except even larger, and somehow even more lame.

We’re doomed to live with both billboard and advertising-wrapped buses, right? Well, maybe not.

What if San Francisco banned billboards, like some other communities do? The cost of putting giant ads on the side of a bus would go up, and MUNI would get more money, and maybe they would use the extra money to make their service suck less. And we would have no billboards, expect the ones on wheels. What do you think?

Note that in real life, I don’t think banning stuff is a good idea, even if the stuff is lame, like billboards. I also don’t think MUNI would actually use the extra money to help me get around the city any faster.

Filed under: all talk, muni, san francisco, transportation · 1 Comment

Isn’t it funny how sometimes people have strangely work-appropriate names? This is from a newsletter by Laura Locker of the UCSF gym. I think it’s a fake name but it’s still funny.

Here’s the latest scoop from MUNI regarding the Third Street Light Rail which will serve the Mission Bay campus. Phase I (introductory service) begins January 12, 2007 with daytime weekend service only (probably 9 am-6 pm) and will run from the Sunnydale Station to the Castro Station. No fares will be collected, and there will be no changes to the surface bus (15-Third).

Phase II (full service) begins April 7, 2007. Service will be 7 days a week, 20 hours a day. Regular fares will be collected and changes to various bus lines will take place at that time, including the discontinuance of the 15-Third bus line, and changes to the 9X San Bruno line to fill in for the 15-Third at the north and south ends of the line.

I also found this in the Third Street Light Rail FAQ on the MUNI website.

What service will be provided on the Third Street Corridor?
The K-Ingleside Line will be extended out the Embarcadero and south along Third Street and Bayshore Boulevard to Sunnydale Avenue. Along Third Street and Bayshore Boulevard it will be called the T-Third. The N-Judah will continue to serve the 4th Street CalTrain Station, as is the case today. In the future, development in the Mission Bay area will require the extension of the N-Judah down Third Street to a loop at 18th Street, to provide additional service in that area. Additional light rail vehicles are being acquired by Muni to serve the new corridor.

Sweetness! This means at some unspecified but nevertheless exciting date, I will be able to walk outside, hop on the train, and get off right in front of Burger Meister at Carl and Cole.

Update! A Declaration …. the official TikiRobot! name for this rail line is “the Thunderbird” ;-)

Filed under: bay area, muni, transportation · 1 Comment

May beat me to the post! Here are some photos of the PARK(ing) spots that I rolled by this morning on my bike

Link to “parking” on Flickr
Link to Rebar

Filed under: bay area, muni, transportation · 1 Comment

According to this SPUR report, the 38 Geary travels an average of 5.3mph through downtown during peak times. Ouch!

I take the 24-Divisadero a lot since it runs by my house, so I decided to calculate its average speed. I used the awesome Gmaps Pedometer and to calculate route length: the 24-Divis travels 6.7 miles from Bayview to Pac Heights. The bus that leaves 3rd and Palou at 12:02 arrives at Jackson and Webster 12:49, which means the 24-Divis goes 8.5mph. Well, it’s faster than walking!

Somewhat related to Gmaps Pedometer, bikely is a site that uses Gmaps for sharing cool bike routes. There aren’t a lot of SF routes posted there. Someone should post the butter lap!

Filed under: muni, transportation · 3 Comments