Category: News

Remember those front-facing seats that SFMTA folded and locked for safety reasons? You won’t have to eye those seats woefully for much longer. Muni has been adding poles next to those seats so that they can be open again for use.

Muni locked these seats about two years ago, with safety stickers plastered over the seats, due to the manufacturer’s warning that there had been incidents where “passengers were ejected from these forward-facing seats and sustained quadriplegic injuries.”

SFist reported that SFMTA initially considered installing a barrier in front of these seats, but that “the area in front of these seats needs to be left clear, so that a person in a wheelchair or other mobility device can get into and out of the securement area.”

So instead, SFMTA installed metal hand rails — actually called rotational stanchions (who knew?) — so that you can hold onto it if the bus lurches. We saw one yesterday morning on the 2-Clement:

We asked SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose more about these:

Yes, we are currently installing rotational stanchions for our existing fleet. One of these stanchions will be added to each fold up seat which will allow passengers to have something to hold onto during an abrupt stop. Previously, there was nothing to hold on to., which is why the manufacturer asked us to fold the seats. With each new stanchion, we can now open the seats. We are in the process of implementing the installation onto the following types of buses: ETI, Neoplan and Orion. It is not necessary to install these stanchions onto the new buses arriving now.

There you have it. Two more seats for every ride.

Top photo credit: SFGate

A San Francisco Muni operator was shot and killed outside a bar near San Leandro last Friday night, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

More from the Examiner:

Sheriff’s deputies arrested a suspect who allegedly shot two people, killing one and leaving another with life-threatening injuries, early Saturday morning after a dispute outside a bar.

Around 2 a.m., Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to reports of a shooting outside a bar on 150th Avenue and Robin Street, according to sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Ray Kelly.

Upon arrival, officers located a 43-year-old man lying on the sidewalk outside the bar, suffering from a
gunshot wound to the head, Kelly said.

The Muni operator is identified as Sukia Jackson, 43. Friends and fellow Muni drivers on Facebook were mourning the loss of Jackson.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told the Examiner that “this is a tragic loss of life and we offer our heartfelt condolences to Mr. Jackson’s family and friends. We will certainly provide any support we can as the police investigate this matter.”

You’ve seen the yellow dots on the pavement all over San Francisco and wondered what they are, so the SFMTA blog finally offered a pretty interesting explanation! From the SFMTA blog:

Among Muni staff, these modified circles tend to go by nicknames — tadpoles, frying pans, hamburgers and pancakes…They help operators time their acceleration properly as their electric trolley poles and train pantographs pass through the “breakers” that connect different sections of wire. The arms and gaps on the circles indicate which vehicles they apply to, based on the vehicle type (short or long trolley bus) and the direction of approach.

Commenter Robert Parks, geeking out over the transit trivia, offered a more in-depth explanation of why some of the dots look split while others are filled:

In the picture: you have filled dots with a tail (pancake), and a split dot with a tail (hamburger).

These are variations on the basic marks. A filled circle with no tail indicates that the breaker (the insulator in the overhead) belongs to the 40′ trolley that is approaching the dot in a straight direction.

 

 

A split dot indicates that the breaker belongs to a 60′ trolley artic, also moving in the straight direction in the lane.

The tail points towards the trolley crossing the lane at an angle…in this case the trolley turning from southbound 11th to outbound Mission.

Since the marks for the turning 40′ trolley are doubled, the operator would know that it is a long breaker, not just a short crossing or isolator.

 

 

Out of view below the foreground is the doubled turning breaker for the 60′ trolley.

An unfilled circle is the target point for a 40′ trolley to trigger an overhead switch using the inductive coil (which is activated by pressing the turn signal). An unfilled circle with “TA” in front of it means it is the target point for a 60′ trolley.

Mystery solved!

Photo by SFMTA Blog. Featured photo by Muni Doug.