Buses

A Hawaii bus agency helped transport 42,000 people off the island in the wake of the most devastating fires in the state's history — and highlighted the critical role that shared modes can play not just in preventing climate-related disasters, but saving lives when they happen.

Marijuana is legal in some form in 23 states. So why should bus drivers get fired for using it when they're not behind the wheel?

The post How a New Drug Testing Rule from USDOT Could Help Alleviate the Bus Operator Crisis appeared first on Streetsblog USA.

A federal grant program aimed at speeding the transition to zero-emissions transit is being undermined by allocations for low-polluting vehicles, an advocacy group warns.

The post ‘Low No’ is a Blow to the Electric Bus Transition, Advocates Say appeared first on Streetsblog USA.

At last Wednesday’s San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) Board of Directors meeting planners presented the agency's draft Youth Mobility Plan [PDF], “a strategic blueprint for how SamTrans can address the mobility needs of youth in San Mateo County and cultivate the next generation of bus customers.” The plan recommends a number of initiatives to boost the agency’s declining ridership by improving quality of service for youth, defined by the plan as residents ages 24 and under.

Remember when the Great Recession decimated transit agency budgets, but the White House and Congress refused to step in and fund bus service while spending billions of dollars to subsidize car purchases? Well, the hangover continues to this day, leaving bus riders in the lurch.

Office development is booming in Santa Clara County. As the number of jobs increases, will the Valley Transportation Authority ramp up bus service to keep pace, or will streets become overrun with traffic?

The public debate about the proliferation of tech shuttles, and the fees they should pay to use Muni stops, has thus far been driven more by emotion than by data and empirical analysis. But two city planning researchers at UC Berkeley are looking to change that by studying crowdsourced videos of private shuttles in bus zones, which they'll use to gauge the delays they impose on Muni.

The 5-Fulton could get less crowded this fall after Muni launches a package of speed improvements [PDF] in a pilot of the Transit Effectiveness Project.

Muni's brand new buses are rolling in. The first of the 62 low-floor, 40-foot long hybrid New Flyer Buses purchased by the SFMTA are being prepped at a Muni maintenance shop, as captured by Dave Longa on Flickr.