BART Phasing Out EZ Rider Passes in Switch to Clipper
As transit operators across the Bay Area transition to the Clipper card, one of the bigger challenges each faces is communicating the timeline to their most loyal customers, those who buy high value and monthly passes.
November 10, 2010
Clipper Card’s Dirty Little Secret (Hint: It Can “Go Negative”)
Of all the ways you can use your Clipper smart card for payment on transit agencies throughout the Bay Area, you probably didn't realize you could use it like a credit card, spending up to $10 more than the value on the card. And you probably didn't realize it's set up with the perverse economic incentive to game the system, whereby you can scam distance-based fare operators like BART out of most of the cost of your trip.
November 9, 2010
Final Pavement to Parks Plaza Skips Trial, Becomes Semi-Permanent Park
Community groups, city staff and elected officials celebrated the opening of the final Pavement to Parks plaza this weekend, a new 7,500 square foot space that months before was a wide asphalt expanse notorious for speeding traffic and more than a few drivers doing donuts amid smoking tires and revved engines.
November 8, 2010
SFMTA Considers Service Restoration, Counts on Labor Savings
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency continues to work with Mayor Gavin Newsom and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu to identify strategies for restoring the remaining 40 percent of service that was cut in May, part of a political negotiation that is expected to cost the agency $20 million.
November 5, 2010
Bay Area Won’t Likely Get First High Speed Rail Segment
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) Board of Directors won't make a decision on where to start building California's first high-speed rail segment until December, but nearly everyone can see the writing on the wall.
November 5, 2010
BART Smashes Ridership Record During Giants’ Celebration Parade
When the San Francisco Giant's won the World Series, fans took to the streets in uproarious celebration, though some got carried away in a boozy frenzy that led to burning mattresses, commandeering SFFD fire trucks and an ugly brawl at 22nd and Mission. Fortunately, when the city held the official parade and celebration on Wednesday, fans did something far more civil: they took public transportation to the Civic Center, in dramatic numbers.
November 5, 2010
Muni Budget Deficit Predicted as Parking Citations Dip
Unfortunately for San Francisco transit riders, new revenue projections for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which runs Muni, show a decline in parking citations and a resulting budget deficit, just as the agency has been trying to restore service that was cut in May.
November 3, 2010
From Park(ing) Day to Permit: San Francisco’s Parklets Redefine Public Space
In a city with an appetite for experimentation, San Francisco's parklets are particularly fascinating. What began as a guerrilla arts intervention meant to demonstrate the need for more public open space has now become a fully permitted procedure for extending sidewalks into the street and has the small business community, which routinely opposes removing parking or charging more for it, aflutter with interest.
November 2, 2010
Eyes on the Street: Halloween Caption Contest
Help us put a caption to this picture. Here's one from me: "This is what Gavin Newsom worried the west side neighbors would have done to him if he supported extending meters citywide."
October 29, 2010