Category: News

Photo by Alfredo Mendez

Sex crimes on public transportation might be “vastly underreported,” according to a report from the Bay Citizen Saturday.

BART, the San Francisco Municipal Railway and Alameda-Contra Costa Transit together had 370 million riders last year on buses, trains and trolleys that cover San Francisco, the East Bay and beyond. The police documented 95 sex crimes on those three public transit systems, including 35 cases of indecent exposure, often masturbation; 25 cases of sexual battery, which includes groping; one rape; and other unwanted lewd behavior. Forty arrests were made.

Those numbers are surprisingly low given the ridership, said Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, associate dean at the University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin School of Public Affairs, who has studied sex crimes on public transit. The actual number of sex crimes on public transit is most likely much higher, she said.

Twice now I have been on the 49-Van Ness when a male passenger boards the bus, sits very close to me, and “falls asleep” with his arm on my hip bone. At first you want to think it’s just an accident, then it becomes totally infuriating and frustrating.

Read more

Photo by fchrist2 (this is not the bus in question)

A piece of the overhead equipment on a Muni bus flew off and smashed right into the third floor window of a Financial District building last night, reports SF Appeal and Bay City News.

Whoa. What.

A bus was traveling nearby when a “shoe,” the piece of equipment that connects the vehicle to overhead wires, got caught in a guide wire, creating a spring action that sent the equipment flying into the building, [SFMTA spokesperson Paul] Rose said.

The projectile just missed the employees, according to the SF Appeal report, but no one was hurt.

Has this happened before? Rarely, Rose says. Head over to the SF Appeal for details.

Video via SFPD

Officers at the SFPD Mission Station just told us about yet another Muni robbery. They’ve provided the video above and closeup photos of the suspect on the SFPD Mission Station website. As you can see from the video, the victim was sitting by the back door when the suspect reached over and exited through the back door. This happened on 16th Street and Mission Street on Jan. 25, according to the SFPD. Items taken from the victim include: a camera lens, camera flash backpack, and North Face jacket.

If you have more information about this robbery, the SFPD has asked that you contact SGT George Ferraez at (415) 558-5400.

Be careful out there!

Photo by torbakhopper

• Bay Area Transportation Agency Seeks Transit-Savvy Teens For Paid Internships (SF Appeal)
• BART ridership during westbound Bay Bridge closure (BART.gov)
• Private Shuttle Buses Sharing Muni Stops (SF Appeal)
• SF Launches Innovative Muni History Exhibit To Celebrate 100 Years (The Mayor’s Office)
• BART officer cleared in shooting of homeless man (SFGate)
• Supes Should Rethink Kids’ Free Muni Rides (SF Weekly) See Muni Diaries coverage of this issue here
• BART Cops To Get Devices To “improve behavior of all parties during police interactions” (SF Appeal)
• SFMTA to hold a series town hall-style meetings on budget (City Insider)

Photo by Katieswall

New Muni service cuts may be on the table for discussion as SFMTA tried to figure out how to bridge its budget deficit, reports SF Appeal. The agency has just approved sprucing up 80 aging buses (via the Examiner). That project costs $12 million — with $12 million in federal and local funding, SFMTA is still $9 million short. SFMTA’s budget deficit shrank this fiscal year, but the agency is still looking at service cuts as an option.

According to SF Appeal:

The transit agency is looking at $19.6 million budget deficit for the new fiscal year, beginning this July, which means that the SFMTA is again considering “right-sizing its service,” as Reiskin described it at the MTA Board meeting Tuesday.

According to the Ex, Tom Nolan, president of the agency’s board of directors, said that potential service reductions seem “like a really good option.”

Muni cut service by 10% in 2010, which led, they say, to savings of $28.8 million. About half of those cuts, they say, were eventually restored.

Hmm. “Right-sizing.” The San Francisco Chronicle also has more on the budget deficit that SFMTA faces this year.

We’ll keep you updated.