Government Organizations

On the evening of January 10, during the last round of storms, tour guide and active San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) member Lauren Sailor was bicycling down the 800 block of Market Street on her way to get a tune up for her trusty steed, Morgan. It was dark and rainy. That portion of Market Street has no real bike protection or lane--just some sharrow markings. Sailor heard a car coming up on her left. Then she saw a rectangular shaped--and innocent looking--puddle. She had to make a choice: take her chances with the puddle, or swerve and risk a conflict with the car. She made the same instant calculation all cyclists have to make on our streets, almost every day--she decided the puddle was the safer bet.

NextBus simply isn’t tracking more than half the buses on the streets.

This afternoon, at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), a panel of public officials spoke about how San Francisco's different departments are collaborating to create more livable spaces under the new "Places for People" ordinance, passed last year.  "Streets represent 35 percent of the city’s total area," explained Robin Abad Ocubillo, a panelist from SF's Planning Department. That, he added, is why city agencies and lawmakers started looking for faster ways to convert streets and unused lots into public spaces.

Yesterday evening at San Francisco City Hall, the County Transportation Authority Board unanimously approved the Geary Bus Rapid Transit project's design and Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The approval brings the $300 million project, which has been a decade in the making, one step closer to fruition.

Geary Boulevard last had a major upgrade in 1961, as Eisenhower was leaving office. This urban highway through the Richmond neighborhood no longer serves those who rely on it most.

This morning, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Department of Public works did a "ribbon cutting" ceremony (minus an actual ribbon) of San Francisco's first protected intersection, located at 9th and Division in SoMa.

Late last week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation agency announced the results of a survey on its "Raised Bikeway Demonstration Project" on Market Street. SFMTA staffers are recommending a combination of features, plus bollards or some other kind of protection.

The San Francisco Transit Riders, the advocacy group that brought us the 22-day Muni challenge, all-door boarding on buses, “Transit Week,” and too many other transit-improvement campaigns to list here, hit a major milestone this year: they're going pro!

Imagine standing on Market Street and seeing bars of colored lights move over the street, tracking the location of the BART and Muni vehicles below.