Transit

Yesterday morning Amtrak Cascades #501 derailed on a curve in Dupont, Wash. Jim Hamre and Zack Willhoite, advocates with the Rail Passengers Association (RPA), were two of the three people killed in the crash. They were riding the train on its inaugural run on a new track alignment that reduces travel times on the popular service between Seattle and Portland.

SPUR, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Walk San Francisco, and the San Francisco Transit Riders have come out hard against a proposal to split Muni from the rest of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Once all those additional cars cross from Oakland to San Francisco, where are they supposed to go?

Yesterday afternoon, the SFMTA Board agreed to install concrete boarding islands at all stops on the L-Taraval line as part of the L-Taraval Rapid Project. "This is a big win for pedestrian and rider safety," wrote Rachel Hyden, Executive Director of the San Francisco Transit Riders, in an email to Streetsblog.

Today, Tuesday, December 5, at the SFMTA Board of Directors meeting (City Hall, 1:00 pm), the MTA Board will be voting on the remaining proposed improvements to the L Taraval Muni line. This is a great opportunity for riders to help improve the L Taraval’s speed, reliability, and safety.

Last night the San Francisco Transit Riders (SFTR), the advocacy group that organized the 22-Day Muni Challenge and Transit Week, among other things, celebrated a year of accomplishment and laid out a list of goals for next year at a holiday party held at the Mariposa Hunters Point Yacht Club in Mission Bay.

Litter, excrement, and filth--anyone who uses the 16th and Mission BART station knows the platforms, stairs, elevators, mezzanine, and the plazas above it are just plain gross.

The week before last, a dear family friend and neighbor of my mother's died of a heart attack in San Diego. One can't plan ahead for a trip to a funeral; without an advanced purchase, air fares from Oakland to San Diego are around $200 each way. I don't own a car. And Amtrak is just too slow, thanks to California's circa 1860s rail infrastructure.

Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, was working at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Livable Streets section three years ago, when a friend called and asked if he could put her name in the hat for manager of LADOT.