Bus powered by human poop is a reality

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bio-bus

A bus powered by human waste is up and running in the U.K., says Mashable. How, you ask? The bus is powered by biomethane gas, which is made from human waste. And in case you wonder if poop-powered bus might smell like poop (or just smell like how Muni usually does), Mashable says that the biomethane gas actually doesn’t smell much like anything.

From Mashable:

The “Bio-Bus” seats 40 passengers and can travel up to 186 miles on one tank of the smelly stuff. The amount of biomethane gas it takes to produce one tank is roughly how much is produced annually by five people. The bus currently travels between Bristol Airport and Bath city center.

If you’re worried about the bus smelling like poop — which, let’s be honest, most buses already do — you can calm down. Impurities are removed to create “virtually odorless” emissions. The gas itself is stored in tanks on the roof of the bus.

Well, we know that most of you have smelled (or even seen) poop on the bus – could this be our future? Or maybe on BART, because we know where to find poop on BART!

Photo via Wessex Water/Rex/Associated Press

Category: News

Muni Approves $6.6M for 71-Haight-Noriega Line

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71 haight noriega muni torbakhopper

A big bag of money is coming to the 71-Haight-Noriega line, with the goal of shaving off six minutes for each round trip. The San Francisco Examiner reports that the SFMTA approved $6.6 million as a part of the “Muni Forward” effort to add pedestrian improvement and improve service reliability.

More from the Examiner:

The project will eliminate a number of bus stops and add pedestrian bulb-outs along the route, officials said.

According to the SFMTA’s website, the upgrades will add to the streamlined commute offered by the recently completed transit-only lane on Haight Street and will complement a planned service increase for the 71, which is expected to go into effect next year.

Construction will begin in the spring, SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told the Examiner.

Photo by Torbakhopper

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Your (Wet) Weekend Transit Advisory: Men’s Health Urbanathlon, Sunset Tunnel re-railing, N-Judah signals

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Athletic Association Event

On Saturday: The San Francisco Gaelic Athletic Association event will take place at San Francisco Gaelic Fields on Treasure Island.

A street closure of Avenue “H” between 11th and 13th streets will be required from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday.

The 108 Treasure Island Muni route will be affected.

For details of Muni re-routes, please visit http://www.sfmta.com/news/alerts.  This website will be updated when it is closer to the event date.

Men’s Health Urbanathlon

On Sunday: The Urbanathlon Race will start and finish at Lot A of AT&T Park. The race will begin at7 a.m.

For more event details, please visit www.menshealthurbanathlon.com.

Street closures will be required throughout the race area. Local business and residential access will be allowed with possible delays.

From 6 a.m., Thursday to midnight, Sunday:

  • Terry Francois Boulevard between 3rd and China Basin streets

Read more

Category: News

Left Behind on Muni: Feminine Hygiene Edition

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panty_liner

For the uninitiated, including certain male editors who thought this was a tampon, allow me to clarify for you. Now that that’s out of the way, I think we can all agree this could have gone far, far worse for all involved.

I maintain that it’s not as weird as the discarded tampon applicator found on Muni a couple years ago, about which I went into completely necessary analysis of the why and the how.

It’s just also somehow worse in the rain. A little parting thought for y’all.

h/t Muni rider Karen: “Ma’am, you dropped something…”

Category: WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags:

Now you can protest Muni citations online

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fare_cop
Photo by Wayan Vota

You spend all your time online anyway.

SFMTA today announced a new online platform for protesting Muni fare-evasion tickets.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), recently launched a new portal that allows customers to protest parking and transit violations online at www.sfmta.com/protest.

So, next time you feel wrongly cited, don’t bother mailing things (snoozefest) or, god forbid, going to Muni headquarters to protest. No, now you can simply use this new site to let your protest fall into the ether and disappear forever. Or, at best, be denied. Or maybe approved? Best of luck.

Read more at SFMTA’s website.

Category: News

BART redecorates, ditches old schedules and maps

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bart_maps

Yesterday was apparently BART’s big schedule and map purge. We didn’t immediately notice the difference between the old maps and the new ones that have replaced them, but BART rider Eric Fischer noted on Twitter that there was less glare and Caltrain was now properly capitalized (see below). Either way, we’re glad to see that the old maps were recycled, if they aren’t gonna give them away to transit geeks. BTW, know any?

bart_maps_enf
Photo by Eric Fischer

Category: BART
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