Category: News

Update: More bad news for BART, as a train apparently struck an object on the tracks in the Transbay Tube and had to be evacuated. BART is claiming no injuries, but we’ll wait for this one to shake out a little.

Original post: SFGate brings us an update on the BART train collision from earier in the week. Apparently, human error was more than just partially to blame. And the Examiner’s John Upton brings us news of that other BART tragedy of late, as some of Oscar Grant’s fellow passengers are filing a $1.5 million claim against the agency.

BeyondChron informs us of the star-studded (or is it dudded?) National Biodiesel Board Conference, taking place in the city this week at Moscone. This is perhaps only marginally transit-related, as BC points out that S.F. is home to one of the largest fleets of public biodiesel vehicles, including many of Muni’s coaches.

TPM’s Elana Schor looks into competing schemes to bring real stimulus to public-transit projects nationwide.

Got more transit news? Muni stories of your own? As always, let us know!

Bad news on BART tonight, as two trains collide beneath downtown Oakland. Reports of minor injuries and 15-minute delays systemwide.

The agency today announces that a third-party vendor will provide wifi on its entire system, a welcome addition. Now, if wifi weren’t such an iPhone-battery-killer. And in other press-release news, the agency announces ways in which it aims to deal with budget cuts.

Meanwhile, KPIX reports on the latest from the Oscar Grant hearings, in which a BART cop’s lawyer claims his client was provoked shortly before another officer shot and killed Grant.

Greg from N-Judah Chronicles does his civic duty by announcing an open invitation from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano to drop by and discuss budget matters at Ammiano’s downtown SF office.

On the stimulus front, now that the bill is in the more-esteemed chamber of Congress, surely it’s about to become more intelligent where mass transit is concerned, right? Wrong.

Ahead of today’s vote on an amendment prescribing transit-infrastructure spending in the bill, TPM’s Elana Schor analyzes what the bill would and wouldn’t do. Shortly after the amendment’s defeat, Schor comes back with a few nay-saying senators‘ forked-tongue responses, including a Democrat who voted “No.”

And finally, because we need a little humor as it appears that No We Can’t, we thought we’d throw this gem from Jason Linkins at Huffington Post. Apparently, our war-criminal ex-secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, had a little trouble boarding a bus in Washington, D.C. Join the crowd, Rummy.

It’s been a busy few days, mostly with up-and-down news concerning transit budgets. Greg at N Judah pointed to a possible sign of hope amongst the doom and gloom of DC/Sacto cuts to Muni, while on the national level, TPM, Transit for America, and Matt Yglesias all discussed the cutbacks mass transit is suffering as the so-called stimulus bill keeps getting watered down in Congress.

KPIX and SFist continued their coverage of the fallout from last month’s BART Police fatal shooting, including some new footage of the Fruitvale incident.

And finally, in our favorite local transit-drama story of the week (so far), we have reports of Mayor Newsom in France extolling the virtues of high-speed rail (yes, yes, we’ve been saying so all along), then comes news that Newsom has ordered a temporary halt of the Transbay Terminal (which would serve as the terminus for said high-speed rail) construction project. And conveniently for us, Greg from N-Judah tars and feathers Newsom for giving French high-speed rail a stroke while virtually ignoring Muni here at home. Come to think of it, can San Francisco even be called the governor’s mayor’s home any more?

As always, if you’ve got more news from the past three or four days that should be mentioned here, let us know.