Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Ugh, isn’t it so annoying when out-of-towners call everything a bus? Actually, there are probably plenty of people who live here and still can’t get it right. The good people at AAA Architecture made a nice guide of transit-speak so you don’t sound like a tourist. Now you can finally work the phrase “articulated coach” into your next dinner conversation and know you’re doing it right.
Photo by AAA Architecture
Muni bought a bunch of new buses to add to its fleet, but tests are showing that the new buses might not be able to handle San Francisco’s famous hills, the SF Examiner reports. The city spent about $26 million to buy the new buses from New Flyer Industries last year, knowing that these buses can’t handle inclines of more than 10 percent, according to the Examiner.
WTF, right? SFMTA plans to run these buses on flat routes instead of getting into situations like this.
Here’s more:
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency tested its newest buses last November before letting rubber hit the cement, but the results of those tests — obtained by the Examiner — show Muni’s
new 60-foot electric buses don’t meet the agency’s own acceleration requirements for even moderately steep hills.SFMTA officials told the Examiner they knew the buses couldn’t handle grades above 10 percent, so the agency would run them only on The City’s flatter routes.
Among the steepest routes in the Muni system are the 1-California and the 22-Fillmore. One portion of Fillmore is graded at over 18 percent, according to topographical maps.
You can read all about the test data over at the Examiner.
They might be rolling out the red carpet for celebs at the Oscars this weekend, but here in San Francisco we’re getting a head start on the whole red carpet business. Via Burrito Justice, here is your daily dose of construction porn, Muni lane edition. I don’t know why I always assumed that the Muni lane was simply was painted red, but photos prove that’s not how it’s done!
Pretty cool.
More insider peeks at building our transit:
Video: Construction of BART lines and stations in the 1960s
Amazing Photos Inside the Central Subway Tunnel
San Francisco is growing, y’all. Like, hella. Muni is already unable to keep up with demand. But they want you to know that they totally got this. Well, kinda.
Last week, SFMTA released its Rail Capacity Strategy (PDF), a pretty comprehensive look at the current system and how it will need to grow to keep up with expected growth in both the population of the city as well as the number of people coming into San Francisco each day to work.
Some key items from the report:
Here are a few examples of how SFMTA is coping with the increased demand and some proposals for the future (some of which align with Supe. Scott Wiener’s proposals for more subways in SF):
Read SFMTA’s announcement here and the full report here. As always, let us know what you think!
Two of our favorite photographers in the city have joined forces tonight in an exhibit called Class is Warfare, featuring more than 100 black and white photos of San Francisco. These candid, moving depictions of our city by Troy Holden and David Root will show at Incline Gallery starting this evening. More than a third of the photos have painted overlays using watercolor, oil paint, and ink by Jarad Barkdoll and UPFUK.
Troy told us that while he and Root were hanging these photographs, a few themes emerged, including our love-it-or-hate-it public transit system. It’s hard to tell a story of living in San Francisco without Muni or BART in the background, and the photographers have captured many of these moments in transit.
Class is Warfare
Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. to March 3 at 10 p.m.
Incline Gallery
766 Valencia St between 18th and 19th (Side Gate)
Photo by Troy Holden
Hey kids: You should always give up your seat to the elderly and disabled, but Muni doesn’t want the fines to bankrupt your entire allowance either. According to a KTVU report, currently you could be fined if you don’t give up your seat to the elderly and disabled on Muni—this is a federal law. But for people under age 18, it could also be a criminal offense, which means it can double the cost you’ll need to pay because of court fees. KTVU reported that the fee could be as much as $300 for juveniles.