Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Photo by Whole Wheat Toast
The right good folk at Market Street Railway bring us the news that Muni will run shuttle buses during the evening this week through “at least Thursday” on the F-Market line. Bus service could start on the line as early each evening as 5 p.m.
Thanks, MSR!
Photo by Bob at All City
This week on Muni Time Capsule, we bring you a photo by milantram showing the 41-Union and 12-Ocean Avenue kicking it at … 26th and Mission? Read the post to see how the 41 and 12 ended up in what would soon to be hipster-central.
There has been a lot of Muni news in the last few days, especially about Muni chief Nat Ford’s possible departure to take a job in Washington, D.C. So, in Muni news this week:
Looks like the weather is letting up a little, which leaves you free to track down those endanger buses for the Endanger Bus Photo Contest! Money, publication, and small fame might be in your hands.
Enjoy your weekend and these photos.
Photo by Melissa Shapiro
Photo by Sergio
Photo by Curbed SF
Photo by Jeremy Whiteman
Photo by Paul Sullivan
Photo by Anthony Brown
Deadline extended to May 20!
You can win $150 and publication in Bay Nature magazine by submitting your photo to our Endanger Bus Photo Contest! The contest will be judged by Cheryl Haines, director of Haines Gallery and executive director of the FOR-SITE Foundation, which she established in 2003 to support art about place.
The contest challenges you to photograph these beautifully wrapped buses roaming around town, courtesy of the EndangerBus project by artist Todd Gilens.
Instead of thinking about buses an advertising space, Gilens wondered if buses can be a vehicle for other kinds of communication. He raised money to wrap four buses in photographs of the Brown Pelicans, Coho Salmon, Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and Mission Blue Butterfly.
The contest ends on April 10, so peek at the details of the contest:
Endangered Species buses Photo Contest
Find the Endangered Species buses (see bus tracker below) and catch them with your camera in motion or at rest.
Enter up to four images by emailing them to endangerbuscontest@baynature.org (minimum 1500 pixels in length or width)
Prizes
First place receives $150 and publication in Bay Nature Magazine.
Second place receives two tickets to the San Francisco Zoo and two $10 Clipper Cards.
Five other entrants will be picked at random to receive $10 clipper cards.
ENTRY DEADLINE: 11 p.m. April 10, 2011 Deadline extended to May 20th!
To find the Endanger buses, check out the real time bus tracker that Gilens created with GreenInfo Network on the EndangerBus.org website:
Image courtesy SFist
So yesterday I decided to trade it for a Clipper card. The entire experience was relatively painless. If you, like me until yesterday, held onto your TransLink card through the arbitrary and expensive rebranding to Clipper, there is no need to switch unless your Translink card has stopped working (usually because of a scratch or crack or other mishap). But if your Translink card has stopped working, here’s what to do:
(This step-by-step is for riders whose e-cash TransLink card is set to autoload.)
If you have your Fast Pass on TransLink and want to make the switch, call the Clipper customer service (877.878.8883) to make sure the Fast Pass is loaded onto your new Clipper card. While my experience was rather seamless (the correct cash amount appeared on my card the first time I used it after activating it), we’d love to know what your experience was when you switched over. Let us know in comments, please.
File photo by Devery Sheffer
Update:
CBS5 has video footage of the scene:
Original post:
Six people were injured when a big-rig hit the Muni KT-Ingleside/Third Street line in Dogpatch this morning, reports Bay City News/SF Appeal. The accident was reported around 10:30 a.m. on the corner of Third and 23rd Street, causing minor injuries to six people at the scene, who were taken to a hospital and expect to be ok, according to reports.
Read the rest of the Bay City News/SF Appeal report on this morning’s accident.
The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) proposes raising the assumed average weight per bus passenger from 150 pounds to 175 pounds, which could mean that across the country, fewer people will be allowed on a city transit bus. The transit authority, which regulates how much weight a bus can carry, also proposes adding an additional quarter of a square foot of floor space per passenger. The changes are being sought “to acknowledge the expanding girth of the average passenger,” the agency says.
The assumed average bus rider weight is still lighter than other passengers, though. “The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airline travel, gauges average passenger weight at 190 pounds in the summer and 195 pounds in the winter. The Coast Guard’s assumed average weight is 185 pounds for boats and ferries,” reports USAToday.
I guess we can rest easy for now, since San Francisco was rated the leanest city in America in Men’s Health magazine’s 2010 survey of 100 U.S. cities. Phew. Gotta get on that treadmill tomorrow!
