GJEL

When BART was built in the late 1960s, it was the most advanced subway system in the world. But what was once state of the art technology is now almost obsolete and unable to cope with the ever increasing demands made on the system by booming ridership.

Back in January, Streetsblog brought you news of a major expansion of the Bay Area's Bike Share system, growing the network from 700 to 7,000 bikes. Motivate, the company that manages the system, held a series of meetings to get input on good locations for the share stations. Today Motivate, along with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), released preliminary maps for locations in San Francisco and San Jose (with East Bay Locations to follow). The maps show 72 new stations in San Francisco and 13 new spots in San Jose.

Supervisor John Avalos, backed by safe streets and transit advocates, and Supervisors David Campos and Jane Kim, made a push today to override Mayor Lee's veto of a proposed increase in the Transportation Sustainability Fee (TSF) on large commercial developments. But the override only got six votes rather than the eight required.

As regular riders are aware, BART trains are quite old. Some have been running for more than 40 years, and date back to when the BART system first started operations in 1973. And although additional cars were purchased in the 1980s and 90s, the average age of a BART train is 30 years.

Over the weekend, San Francisco and six other finalists made it to the next round of the US Department of Transportation’s “Smart City Challenge” grant competition.

Late last week, the San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously adopted a resolution to replace "Level of Service" (LOS) with "Vehicle Miles Traveled" (VMT). That's bureaucratese for measuring a project's overall effect on moving people, instead of just counting automobiles. As explained in a previous post, environmental law has long forced transportation planners to grade projects by how they impact traffic flow. "This will streamline California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review for projects that are designed to encourage public transit, promote pedestrian safety and help reduce the need for traveling long distances by car," said John Rahaim, Director of San Francisco Planning, in an official release. "We are pleased to be the first city in California to adopt these new guidelines."

Yesterday's evening commute turned into a nightmare for passengers on the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) train, when--according to the latest reports--a mudslide sent a tree onto the tracks and caused a major derailment.

San Francisco is the best city in America, according to Mercer’s 18th annual Quality of Living survey. What makes it so great? A variety of factors, but the ease of getting around is a big one. "Public transportation is one of a few different factors Mercer considers within the Public Services and Transport category," wrote Miriam Siscovick, a spokeswoman for Mercer, in an email to Streetsblog.

On Tuesday, March 1, at noon, advocates for vulnerable road users will hold a memorial for Thu Phan, a woman who was killed by a city vehicle while she was crossing the street at 7th and Market in her motorized wheel chair. The memorial will be held at UN Plaza, adjacent to the crossing where she was hit. Afterwards, participants will walk to City Hall to testify at 1 pm at the SFMTA Board Meeting. 38-year-old Phan of Berkeley was fatally struck on the morning of Friday, Feb. 5, by a white Ford sedan making a restricted left turn across the crosswalk.