Oh noes! Cyclist, M-Balboa Park LRV accident
Photo by Flickr user colin_brumelle
SF Appeal has the goods. Injuries reported by SFFD as “serious.” We’ll update when we learn more.
Too close for comfort on the Fremont line
Photo by Flickr user fotogail
This story came to our inbox from BART rider Nikki.
I am a daily BART rider. Generally my BART rides are uneventful. I have my bart buddy in the morning, usually my iPod and a good book. On the way home it is very much the same, except for last night. I hopped on the Fremont bound train at 5 o’clock on the dot. It was a full train and the only seat available was the handicapped seat next to the door. I sat down and figured if someone who needed it boarded I would move.
The NextBus Flap: A Tilted Playing Field for iPhone Apps? (update)
Update (Aug. 19, 3:15 p.m.): SF Appeal has more or less wrapped this story of lameness up. MTA and Apple have both told NBIS to take a hike, and don’t let the door hit ya … Oh, and now that Routesy is live once again, we’ll be finishing up our review and posting it soon. It was cut short as this whole brouhaha went down.
Original post (July 10): Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, Ken Schmier and Alex Orloff at NextBus Information Systems (NBIS) got in a fight with Steven Peterson of Routesy. Who are these people? What’s NBIS? Where’s my bus? Good questions.
So, here it goes. We’ve all seen the bus-arrival data flashing at us from bus shelters across town; many of you have probably gotten it on your cellphone. But the matter of who owns this data and who can use it recently became a hot debate when Peterson, the developer of the iPhone app Routesy, got into a disagreement with NBIS, the company that claims to have rights to that sometimes-accurate information flashing at you from the bus stop and on the interwebs.
Oh, and when we say “NBIS,” that is not the same thing as NextBus, Inc.
I know.
$2 Ride in Hell: The Dirty 38-Geary
(This story by Ryan is also posted at Broke-Ass Stuart’s Goddamn Website)
When you’re a young and curious broke ass, coming up with $2 and stepping onto the SF Muni can be a very thrilling and sexual experience. But the thing to remember is you have to make sure you’re ready for this responsibility. When two people love each other very much, they sometimes have urges to ride the Muni; however, it’s very important to be sure you’ve prepared yourself for this encounter. True, you may see a total fox that’s eyeing you from across the aisle, but sometimes you may see a homeless person with their hand down their pants. The real beauty is you never really know which it’s going to be. But more often than not, it’s Big Reggie smiling at you with a toothless grin.
Photo Diary: Parrot, Parking Meter, Public Transit
Photo by Troy Holden from the Muni Photos Flickr pool
Purty …
Those strange voices we all know
Photo by Flickr user Ric e Ette
The following was sent to us by BART rider Jean
i’m on the bart every so often when i don’t drive to work. i don’t mind riding the trains, but it’s the waiting in the stations that gets me. half the time there’s no where to sit and i know it’s silly, but i just can’t read while standing up. so i just stand around and listen to the bart announcements. “ten car train for richmond in four minutes. eight car daly city train in ten minutes.” and it’s always weird for me to hear the automated announcements because i’m thinking about the man and the woman who have recorded them.
did they record each piece separately and then some computer strings them together? for instance, the guy records, “ten car train for” and then “richmond in” and then “four,” “ten,” “one,” etc. or did they think of every possible train length/destination/time combo and have the guy recite each one? Read more