Michael Rhodes

Are Muni's days on Market Street numbered?

Mary Yonkers, 58, of San Mateo, was killed by a truck driver while riding her bicycle to work on Shoreway Road in Redwood City last week.

The new head of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Jay Walder, is considering a novel approach to attracting more transit riders: lowering fares during off-peak hours. In an interview with the New York Times he outlined his ambition to get more out of a system designed for peak capacity, even late at nights and on weekends.

After two MTA board meetings filled with passionate though civil debate over the alignment of the shortened 2-Clement, the MTA has finally settled on a terminus for the line. Instead of the two options that brought out well-organized opposition at previous meetings, 2-Clement buses will layover at an existing bus stop on the south side of Clement Street, just west of 14th Avenue - but only for six months. After that, the MTA will review the terminus location, and hopes to replace the line with an electric trolley bus that would run on California Street instead, taking advantage of existing overhead wires on Sutter, Presidio, and California Streets.

There are plenty of eye-popping statistics in the MTA's new proof-of-payment study [PDF]: 9.5 percent of Muni riders don't have valid proof-of-payment, costing the agency $19 million in missed revenue annually. The fare-evasion rate is even higher among riders who illegally board buses through the back door: 55 percent don't have valid proof-of-payment. As the MTA looks to address the problem with back door boarding, staff has its eyes on another illuminating statistic in the report: on average, about 70 customers board any given MTA bus each hour - more than any other large transit system in the nation.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty has called for the MTA and the SFPD to provide an update to the public on SFPD's Bus Inspection Program, and the agencies have agreed to do so at a November 9 Board of Supervisors committee meeting. The presentation will include an update on the trial program to track officers' Muni ridership by requiring them to tag their TransLink cards as they enter and exit transit vehicles.

Though it won't help with the problem of cameras on buses failing to record fights and stabbings, the MTA could authorize cameras meant to thwart terror threats on the Muni Metro at its board meeting Tuesday.

This week, stand up for parking reform on Tuesday, sit down for a talk about Time Square’s lawn chairs on Thursday, and stand up again for the Walk SF Peak2Peak Walk on Saturday! Here are the week’s highlights. Monday: SFBC Treehouse Talk: Driven to Excess. Josh Hart, former Program Director of the SFBC, is back … Continued

AC Transit GM Rick Fernandez Retiring After 10 Years at Job (SF Examiner) Study Finds Fare Evaders Cost Muni $19 Million Annually (SF Examiner, SFGate) Second “Operation Safe Muni” Catches More Muni Fare Evaders (SF Examiner) Body Found on Muni Bus Hours After Driver’s Shift Ended (SF Examiner) Pedestrianist Blasts Chronicle Editorial Board for Opposing … Continued