SFMTA

San Francisco has made strides in increasing bicycling's mode share, but its bike infrastructure is still bad. That was the conclusion of yesterday's state of cycling talk at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. "I had three or four near misses on Market street just getting over here," said Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. "So from our perspective it’s pretty crappy."

Over the weekend, 40 to 60 teenagers swarmed a BART station and train, robbing seven people. The story grabbed the headlines because it was so out of the ordinary. But several disturbing crimes have also hit Muni over the last few months.

Word came down late Sunday that the vigilante safety group, SF Transformation (SFMTrA), has struck again--this time on Turk Street near Market Street.

San Francisco was hit by a major power outage Friday that impacted Muni bus services and temporarily closed the Montgomery Street BART station. Traffic in downtown was snarled into the evening thanks to traffic lights in various locations that were flashing red.

Katherine Roberts was biking home to the Haight from a Passover Seder in the Dogpatch at 11:30 on April 11. It was raining heavily. She got to Church and Duboce and slowed to let an outbound N-Judah pass. When she started to pedal again, the wheel of her folding bike slipped and got caught by a steel plate that wasn't flush with the pavement. She crashed and smashed her head.

The board of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) gave final approval yesterday for a plan to install parking protected bike lanes on the eastbound side of 13th Street in SoMa. "This fills an important gap in our bike network," said Charles Deffarges, community organizer for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), during the board meeting's public comments period. "The existing stretch of 13th Street has three lanes of fast traffic and is dangerous."

The San Francisco Transit Riders (SFTR) has hired its first Executive Director, Rachel Hyden. “We did a thorough search...and interviewed many good people,” said Thea Selby, SFTR chair, in the official announcement made last week. "Hiring Executive Director Hyden means that we have the capacity to reach out to more diverse riders around the city and be a better rider-based grassroots advocate for world-class transit in San Francisco.”

Tomorrow is Nicole Ferrara's last day at the helm of Walk San Francisco, where she's been since 2013. During her tenure, the group has fought hard for better and safer walking in the city of San Francisco. Ferrara and other advocates with Walk SF have been an ever-present force behind getting boarding islands for the L-Taraval, and adding turning restrictions and other safety measures on Market.

Today marks the end of a week-long closure of Octavia, from Linden to Hayes along Patricia's Green. It was part of an SFMTA sponsored "open streets" event and open house to get feedback on the future of how streets are used in Hayes Valley.