Category: News

Paying for Muni with your phone

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mobile_muni

File under: Fewer Things to Worry About

SFMTA announced yesterday that it will pilot a new smartphone app for paying Muni fare. From the press release:

“This mobile fare payment pilot program is part of our efforts to improve the customer’s experience on the Muni system. With this new app, riders will be able to buy tickets on their phones anywhere and anytime,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation, Ed Reiskin. “Customers will now have another convenient option to pay their Muni fares in addition to cash and Clipper.”

The mobile ticketing platform will allow you to buy, store, and use tickets to ride Muni using a smartphone. No pesky cards, you say? Hear hear, we reply!

According to SFMTA, the Muni mobile payment app will include the following features:

  • Ability to purchase, store, and use single or multiple Muni fares on one mobile device
  • Allow passengers to pay for single-ride fares, cable car rides, and one-day, three-day, and seven-day passports
  • Industry-leading security to protect personal information and payments
  • Multi-language support
  • Responsive eCommerce website for online ticket purchases

… [I]t is part of a broader effort to evaluate smartphone mobile payment options for adjoining Bay Area transit operators that participate in the Clipper card program. The next generation of Clipper card, slated for introduction by 2020, aims to provide multiple payment options to Clipper patrons.

[…]

The Muni mobile payment application will initially be available for iOS and Android operating systems and there will be no change in fare structure. Transfers will still be available for those who pay with cash.

Sign us up!

Source
Photo by John Herschell

Category: News

Transit News: BART crime, BART extension, BART Wi-Fi, BART escalators

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Photo by TJ Gehling

  • BART stations at both extremes of crime rates (SFGate)
  • Why Did The Wording Change On The New Muni Lane? (Hoodline)
  • What We Need to Get Right on VTA’s BART Extension to Silicon Valley (SPUR)
  • SFMTA Board Member Jerry Lee Passes Away (SF Appeal)
  • BART cuts Wi-Fi service, prompting threats of legal action (SFGate)
  • BART to shield filthy escalators with $12 million investment (SF Examiner)
Category: BART, News

SFMTA’s new 55-16th Street route headed to board for approval

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55

We’re getting a new bus route, you guys! And it will (temporarily) honor San Francisco Giants fan-favorite Tim Lincecum (reference)!

According to SFMTA, the 55-16th St. motor coach route will ferry riders from the BART 16th Street Station to that up-and-coming neighborhood called Mission Bay. From the SFMTA agenda (PDF) on the new route:

“However, after extensive evaluation, SFMTA confirmed that the overhead wire work associatedwith the proposed 22 Fillmore extension, which involves the construction of new overhead wiring on 16th Street and in the vicinity of Mission Bay and a solution for crossing the Caltrain right-ofwaywith new overhead wiring at 16th and Mississippi Streets, would take several years to complete and could not be implemented by the anticipated opening date for the new UCSF BenioffChildren’s Hospital at Mission Bay on February 1, 2015. Therefore, the 55 16th Street motor coach service, which can be started quickly and provide service to Mission Bay upon the opening of the new hospital, is being proposed for implementation. The 22 Fillmore extension however, still represents Muni Forward’s long-term plan for the 16th Street corridor, and is planned for implementation in approximately five years.

“As an interim phase, the proposed 55 16th Street will travel between 16th Street Mission BART to Mission Bay primarily via 16th Street and serve all 22 Fillmore bus stops between Mission Street and Vermont Street in addition to the newly designated bus stops staff is seeking approval for located east of Vermont Street.”

The proposed new route is up for a vote at the SFMTA Board of Directors next Tuesday. If approved, the 55-16th St. bus will begin service on Jan. 31, 2015. Find a list of planned bus stops along the new route here.

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Canadian group: Crackdown on ‘manspreading’ is nuts

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NYC_manspread

metro

As these signs from Japan, New York, and Paris (top to bottom) obviously prove, there’s a global war on sitting with your legs wide open on mass transit. But never fear, beleaguered manspreaders, some brave foot soldiers have joined the fight against intolerance.

In Canada, a group called the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) has started a Change.org petition to fight the Toronto Transit Commission’s efforts to convince passengers to shut their legs. Not only is the term manspreading sexist, the group notes, but efforts to prevent it can be harmful. From the petition:

This sets a very bad precedent as men opening their legs is something we have to do due to our biology. It sometimes can be physically painful for to close our legs and we can’t be expected to do so. We can’t force woman to stop breast feeding on busses or trains and we can’t force men or women to stop bringing strollers on, why should we force men to close their legs?

As of this morning, 1,777 people had signed the petition. Nearly all of those people were (and this is just a guess on our part) the same ones who say blue balls is a serious medical condition, and one therefore has to sex at that point or you’ll, like, die.

We’ve followed this phenomenon closely because we are no stranger to it here in ballsy San Francisco. Revisit some of our most egregious examples of Muni manspreading (also mansitting) and the shaming thereof.

h/t: Jezebel, Yahoo Health

Images via @GammaCounter, The New York Times, and News on Japan

Category: News, Photos

NYC: Investigating the Manspread

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It’s been bitched about, paired with cats, and ranks high among transit rider complaints. The phenomenon of “manspreading,” or sitting with your legs wide open to the discomfort of those sitting next to you, is also the subject of a recent Gothamist video that attempts to get to the bottom of why people do it. The blog interviewed so-called manspreaders on the New York City Subway and, with the aid of a tape measure, got their take on what is an acceptable amount of spread.

Now, lending Old Media cred to the backlash, The New York Times interviewed subway etiquette expert Johnny T. about the phenomenon and how best to counter it.

In January, New York transit officials will launch a campaign aimed at preventing riders from taking up too much space. But according to one man interviewed by Gothamist, that effort may be in vain.

“We have no choice to have our legs like that,” he said. “You know what I mean? You feel me?

Looks like a problem that won’t get solved anytime soon.

What do you think Muni riders. Is there any hope for our big-balled brethren?

Category: News

Sydney transit riders band together with #IllRideWithYou

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love on muni

Public transit riders share a very special common bond (hello, “Back door!”). It seems that transit riders everywhere band together whenever there is a need.

Commuters in Australia recently started an amazing campaign called #IllRideWithYou to show solidarity after the hostage crisis in Sydney earlier this week. In this report, we learn that Australian transit riders are offering to ride the train with their fellow Muslim riders who may be scared to be attacked on public transit for fear of retribution.

After a rider tweeted about seeing a Muslim woman removing her hijab on the train, other transit riders on Twitter started offering to ride with their fellow Muslim commuters. The hashtag went viral and there’s been 150,000 tweets with the hashtag in just 12 hours, according to mic.com.

We know that Muni riders show one another kindness all the time (like in this story of random kindness or this very San Francisco-style sweet gesture). It’s pretty neat to see how this translates across the world.

Photo by @jennifermarielane

Category: News
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