SFMTA

As Streetsblog readers have no doubt seen in Hoodline, the SF Examiner, Curbed,  Bernalwood, or on various social media, the newly opened stretch of protected bike lane on Valencia Street, from Cesar Chavez to Mission, got off to a bad start, with confused motorists parking all over it. Fortunately, the protected bike lane was open for business today, thanks to better signs and some cones, as seen in the above photo.

Last night, at the Mission Police Station on Valencia, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) held an open house on making 17th Street, between Church and Sanchez, safer for cyclists. As many Streetsblog readers are aware, the railway tracks and the width of the street make for particularly hazardous conditions for cyclists traveling between the Mission and Castro neighborhoods.

Yesterday evening, at the San Francisco Transit Rider's new digs on Folsom Street in downtown, Sara Barz of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Arielle Fleisher, with the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), gave presentations about the move to replace the Clipper fare-collection system with a new generation of technology and opportunities to create a more rational fare system for the 27 transit operators across the Bay Area. Some 30 people attended.

Last week, Assemblymember David Chiu, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, representatives from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), traffic injury victims, surviving family members, and others met at Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital trauma center to announce the introduction of Assembly Bill 342, also known as the Safe Streets Act of 2017. If passed, it will allow for an "Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) Pilot Program to Reduce Speeding and Save Lives." More from Chiu's official announcement:

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.