Year: 2009

Catch more headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill -- including the latest on the Cash for Clunkers debacle

Some of you saw the Examiner piece yesterday about SkyTran's personal rapid transit (PRT) project and were probably looking for a response from us (one of you even asked in comments why we didn't touch it), but I've been very leery of the topic since I saw the "Pod People" post over on New York Streetsblog blow up with 227 polarizing and dogmatic comments for and against PRT (Personal Rabid Transit?), before the editors shut comments down. I'm pretty skeptical of anything taken on faith as good or bad, so why get into the fray, especially with a technology that hasn't been proven at scale?

It doesn't take much for a car illegally driving in Market Street's transit-only lanes to set Muni vehicles back by an entire stoplight cycle. In fact, it happens all the time, and despite the delay and frustration it causes transit riders and operators, motorists face little risk of getting a ticket.

America's oil addiction is readily acknowledged, even by its biggest enablers. But what is the nation actually doing to kick the habit and embrace a safer, healthier, more realistic energy future? 

During the lengthy process of pursuing a "New Starts" funding agreement with the U.S. DOT, local transit officials are often at the mercy of cost-benefit calculations that have failed to keep pace with evolutions in transport planning. But one aspect of that slog could soon change, thanks to Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

Sometimes, and with some people, intuitive arguments just don't cut it. It's good to have some facts and figures at hand. That's the topic of today's featured post from the Streetsblog Network. On member site Worldchanging, Clark Williams-Derry wrote:

BART’s Largest Union Approves Contract But ATU Rejects It (SF Gate, ABC7, CBS5, SF Examiner) Opening of West Dublin BART Station Delayed (ABC7) More on Yesterday’s Muni Safety Hearing from SF Gate, ABC7, KCBS, NBC11, SF Examiner Car Sideswipes an N-Judah Train at Church and Duboce (SF Weekly, Muni Diaries) Girl Arrested in Hit-and-Run of … Continued

Muni's new chief safety officer went before a Board of Supervisors committee today to explain what's being done to prevent crashes like the two major rail collisions that have happened in the last month. Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who chaired the hearing, said the crash at Market and Noe Streets on August 3rd, in which an SUV was crushed between two historic F-line streetcars, "could easily have been a fatal accident."

Despite early fog hugging the coast, the sun finally came out to play around 12:30 pm yesterday and blessed the thousands of cyclists, skaters, bladers and walkers who enjoyed the approximately six miles of the car-free Sunday Streets event in Golden Gate Park and along the Great Highway adjacent to Ocean Beach.