Muni news: Looming Muni/taxi strike, panel says ‘no’ to Central Subway

The Fearsome 5
Photo by Ocu-Master

  • Commentary: Muni Service Could Solve Cesar Chavez Dilemma (StreetsblogSF)
  • Taxi and Muni Drivers Band Together to Plan Public Transit Strike (SF Weekly)
  • Parking placards for the disabled found on Muni workers’ autos (SF Examiner)
  • Witness: Man Shot by BART Police Was Not ‘Running or Lunging’ at Officers (The Bay Citizen)
  • Civil Grand Jury slams Central Subway project (City Insider)
  • Muni staffers asked to donate $20 each for Nat Ford’s goodbye lunch (SF Weekly)
  • Woman’s purse snatched on Muni (BCN via SF Appeal)

What if a cute bunny gave NextBus predicitions?

That must be what Ciaran asked himself. He says, “I finally found a use for this French wifi connected rabbit I bought.”

Inaccurate predictions sound a little better from the robot rabbit, eh?

Update for the geek inside all (ok, some) of us:

Ciaran sent over more notes about how he programmed the robot rabbit called Karotz, which he details on his blog.

An excerpt: First you write javascript programs that interact with an API to control the various Karotz functions like the ears, text to speech etc. Find the developer’s forum on Google Groups (use Google’s automatic translation feature because it’s mostly in French).

Then spend a few evenings writing the Muni times app, using available bus arrival data through xml feeds. You’ll need to use tinyxmldom.js. Upload the code to the rabbit through the website — good luck trying to debug it, though. There is a Linux vm for developing but it’s only a javascript vm, not a simulator.

Wow. Or, you can always just watch the video above like we did.

Thanks, Ciaran!

Creep on the T-Third (update)

T-Third Street - Wings
Photo by Jamison Wieser

Update (3:01 p.m.): In the comments on this post, Stephanie says:
I sent a copy of this to the SFPD and this was their reply:
I printed your blog and gave it to the Captain to see what we can do. I recommend that a police report be made if you see this guy doing this again. If you call the police while on the bus, they can meet the bus and identify him.
Ofc. E. Teper
Bayview Police Station
201 Williams
San Francisco, CA 94124

Original post: Mel has a disturbing report from the eastside:

There is a total creep who gets on the T-Third line over by Ingleside. He preys on young girls who usually seem too scared to confront him, or aren’t even sure of the situation. I know, because he assumed I was one of those.

He will sit next to you in the cramped two-person seats. At some point he will move one of his arms to the side, like he’s reaching for something in his pocket. The only thing is, the arm stays in that awkward position, usually touching a young girl’s thigh or buttock for a really long time.

I know it seems silly, but when I experienced it, I honestly couldn’t be sure he was doing what I thought he was doing. I remember elbowing the guy, and he said he was “reaching for something in his pocket.” Yeah. No one “reaches” for 2 minutes ++.

The guy is really tall, maybe over 6 feet, and just an awkward-looking fellow. I don’t know if there’s anything mentally wrong with him, but his conduct is definitely wrong.

After he tried that on me, he actually kept using the same technique on other girls. I’ve caught him on two other occasions, and have called him out on it. Other than seeming like a crazy person by glaring or trying to warn these other would-be victims, I’m not sure how I can really prevent this from happening to other women.

Hey creepy dude, stop creeping people out, cuz you don’t wanna end up another Muni humper. If anyone else experienced this or any other creep on the T-Third or any other routes, let us know. We also advise you to contact the police, or at the very least, let the driver or SFMTA know about it.

Muni news: Fatal BART shooting, senior/disabled Muni/BART discount passes


Photo by Matt Roe

  • Cabbies And Muni Drivers United On Labor Conditions (CBS 5)
  • A more user-friendly Muni/BART pass for senior and disabled riders (SFGate)
  • BART police chief defends officers involved in Civic Center shooting (SF Examiner) || BART cops shoot, kill man at Civic Center Station (SF Examiner)
  • Transcript of July 4 news conference on officer involved shooting at Civic Center Station (BART.gov)
  • Clipper Card Updates: July 2011 Operations Committee (Akit’s Complaint Department)
  • Argument on Muni bus leads to stabbing of 17-year-old boy (SF Examiner)
1 253 254 255 256 257 410