Transit

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.”

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (CTA) Board authorized $5.5 million in Prop K funds for the downtown extension rail tunnel (DTX) project that will one day connect Caltrain's mainline to the Transbay Terminal.

The West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC), a body comprised of consultants and government officials, is finishing up presentations on its West County High-Capacity Transit Study.

A couple of hundred officials, workers, and looky-loos braved the wind and cold rains and jammed the platforms of BART's new Warm Springs/South Fremont station for this morning's opening ceremony. Regular service begins tomorrow.

Last night, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) and Young Professionals in Transportation hosted a talk and discussion about bike-share and the transportation changes taking place in our cities. The event, which was held at SPUR's Oakland location, featured Jay Walder, the CEO of Motivate. One of many items that stood out: Walder said that Bay Area Bike Share, which Motivate operates, will definitely work with the Clipper card. "We will have it integrated into the transit system," said Walder. "It should be as simple as using BART or Muni or any other part that uses Clipper."

Life for commuters heading north from Warm Springs and South Fremont is about to get a little easier. After months of delay and glitches, it looks as if BART finally has its extension ready to roll. It announced the opening date, March 25.

From nine to nearly noon today, at BART headquarters in Oakland, the agency's Board of Directors and staff had an impassioned discussion about raising fares and parking fees to close projected budget deficits. "Across the country, ridership is down, from four to five percent for rail, and ten percent for buses," explained Grace Crunican, BART's General Manager. "Gas prices are very low and ride shares may be having our lunch."

Uber, Waymo and others are in the process of developing driverless car technology, while transit systems in the Bay Area continue to rely on one operator in the front of every single train.

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.