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“This is my no. 1 complaint about Muni. They really, really need to consolidate stops. I understand the tradeoff — that I might have to walk a block farther to get to my stop. But I will most definitely trade that for a faster ride.”
– megan allison In response to "Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and..."
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by Matthew Roth
The idea that the speed and free-flow of cars is the proxy that is being used across the state of California to measure whether a project is [environmentally] impactful is in the long run undermining the very quality of life [we] are working to protect. Continue reading »
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anil
test this
in response to AC Transit Board to Consider Declaring Fiscal Emergency
John Murphy
Tragically, another example...
http://www.ktvu.com/news/19267665/detail.html
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
greg h.
I'd have to agree with Mr. Baker on that one. I agree that motorists are the largest offenders in this discussion (by, what I can only imagine, is a substantial margin). There are simply more cars on the road than cyclists. I can understand the logic behind this 'Idaho Stop', but I can see this innocent and well intended new rule being horribly abused by some cyclists in this city. It would be hard enough to get around (MUNI or car) without any cyclists on the road, and if they can legally coast through stops we'll never get anywhere. I just don't see it ending well.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Jeffrey W. Baker
By the way, if you're willing to put your money where your mouth is, bring a tempting sum of money to the corner of New Montgomery and Howard, 5pm, any weekday. If no motorist commits and unlawful act in the first five minutes, I'll double your money. Otherwise, you donate it to the SF Bicycle Coalition.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Jeffrey W. Baker
And yet the streets are littered with the bodies of people killed by cars, not by bikes. Strange, eh?
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Greg
Look, between his cynical looting of Muni, his ownership of a too-heavy SUV that gets 18 mpg and his overall dislike of mass transit, looting it to pay for mayoral aides with no qualifications at all to take MUNI safety inspector funds, this guy is just another Arnold, but with better hair and whatnot. Keep on praising him for his platitudes because it's not like he ever did much as Mayor - hell he isn't even HERE most months and doesn't care a whit for sustainable anything - besides sustaining his thin career as a public official.
Whatever. Flame on, San Francisco. The City That Once Knew How is now the City That Has No Clue.
in response to Gav For Guv Short On Transportation Essentials
Mike Dahmus
Running a red light or a stop sign is a childish tantrum, not a sensible act (unless it's an emergency). And, again, the more likely outcome of pushing this juvenile anarchism is that 'swing motorists' will stop taking cyclists seriously and instead, as I put it, legislate them to the sidewalk.
No, motorists don't break the law in the quantity or quality that cyclists do. Anybody with a substantial amount of experience commuting in both modes, as I have, knows this to be true - it's only the virulently car-free cyclists that are able to delude themselves into believing otherwise.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Pete
Oh Rob, you continue to entertain us around the country. Everyone knows that if you don't wear a helmet you don't mess up your hair!
I've driven in San Francisco traffic. Yeah, it's the bike riders that are screwing it up.... right...
in response to The Rise of an Evil Anti-Car Multinational Conglomerate
Pete
This isn't about anarchy or whether motorists obey laws or not. The opposite of cyclist is not motorist, it's non-cyclist. It's a fallacy to say that you're putting yourself in harms way on a bicycle any more than as a pedestrian or driver - check the numbers - and the Idaho statistics that Oregon legislators gathered from the Idaho State Police and DOT showed an incidental decrease in bicycle injuries and fatalities (which you'd think would satisfy critics saying Idaho stops are dangerous).
The 'Idaho Stop' law simply documents the (sensible) behavior of just about every cyclist in California and Oregon I've seen in my 25 years of riding. To educate the non-cycling public that legalizing this is a good thing for everybody (including insurance agencies), though, would seem to be an insurmountable task - especially when legislatures are more focused on economic issues. Let's hope Oregon (and the BTA) have better luck with this in 2010.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Adrienne
This is an issue all over the city- San Jose Ave. between Monterey and Randall being the one that I find the most dangerous on a day to day basis. If you are pulling a Burley, you have to ride with the left wheel right on or just outside the line and into traffic. All because they refuse to pave right up to the sidewalk. All over the city you see this, and if you are not careful, that lip will throw you right into traffic.
If the repaving is going on, there is almost never a space left for bicycles to pass safely. If there is any work of any kind going on, builders are not required to make space for bicycles. On Monterey Blvd, there are two construction zones that force riders into uphill traffic between Baden and Congo. The construction crew working at Valencia and 26th (? just up from the mortuary) parked their equipment so that it intruded into the lane, including sharp diggers that protruded 2 feet into the lane without the flag that would be required on a truck transporting cargo that is longer than the truck bed ( I nearly ran right into it, once).
I often think that there should be a handout of how building sites and repaving projects should look in terms of their impact on and intrusion into bike lanes (which are transit lanes, after all).
in response to Eyes on the Street: When Repaving Becomes a Hazard
thiago benicchio
brilliant! A new-old masterpiece. Abraços!
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Josh
@Mike Dahmus
No bikes on sidewalks ever. Sort of a tangent but I feel the need to bring it up because, anecdotally, I've seen a huge uptick in the number cyclists clipping my elbows on the sidewalk.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Spencer Gusick
I get that this is a joke, but this would wreak havoc on the Peninsula. For one thing, if you are headed to SF for the day, 280 is the only realistic route for hundreds of thousands of people. 101 is always gridlocked from at least Cesar Chavez north. 280 provides fast access to Glen Park, Noe Valley, the Mission, Potrero Hill, SoMa and even the Marina. The alternative would put way more cars on the already miserable Franklin/Van Ness corridor, and it would take an hour or more to get across town. I would just stop coming. (Yes, now you can laugh about the benefits of keeping the B&T crowd out, but we spend money in restaurants and theaters same as everyone else, and see if that is really good for SF. BTW, I lived in the city for years before family-unfriendly policies like this sent me packing...)
SF has effectively no mass transit accessible to folks from out of town. The real solution needed is better transit to all neighborhoods of SF, with parking lots at stations so that suburbanites can access the city and leave their cars at home. BART is great for the Mission and downtown, and CalTrain is great for, um, well, baseball games and not much else. Golden Gate Park? Crissy Field? Castro? Pac Heights? You need a car right now.
Until that changes, we need as many good ways to access the city as possible, or else relegate 101 to permanent gridlock. May as well build a wall at the San Mateo County line at that point.
in response to Mayor Newsom, Caltrans Announce Plans to Remove Portions of I-280
greg h.
Cars and bicyclists cannot be equals on the road. It is not possible because cyclists embrace this idea that they can get away with whatever they want. I single out cyclists knowing that drivers do it too, but drivers will cause more damage when they disregard traffic laws. I've been on both sides, and its infuriating either way. As a bicyclist or driver, you cannot just choose which laws apply to you and which don't. To behave with such disrespect for the law - ANY law - is absurd. By getting on your bike in the morning you CHOOSE to put yourself in harm's way. Until BOTH sides decide to act responsibly and agree on a set of Road Rules we will have chaos on the streets of San Francisco.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Pat
"Same rights, same responsibilities." Not only is that false by law, but it is complete nonsense. I don't have to take classes, tests and pay fees to ride a bike. I also can not kill several people (or even one) in a collision on my bike. I take it you have never rode your bike in San Francisco.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
Caroline Samponaro
Good post, Matthew. I couldn't agree more re: dooming a real public-use bike program from getting traction.
Leadership happens almost entirely by example.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Jeffrey W. Baker
Yeah right, because motorists are all about following the law. Meet me in from of the door to my office and within five minutes I guarantee we will see someone speeding, running a red light, double parked, parked in a loading zone, parked in a handicapped spot, parked in front of the fire hydrant, parked in the bike lane, driving in the bike lane, parked in the bus stop, driving the wrong way (no joke, this happens a lot), making prohibited left turns, making prohibited right turns on red, blocking the box, or colliding with cars, bikes, pedestrians, or fixed objects.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
John Murphy
"For this month alone, I have received 2 citations, but what else can I do with the severe shortage of parking spaces in the neighborhood? (Sigh!)"
1) Drive around looking for a legal spot
2) Lease another parking space
3) Sell one of your cars
While I have only one child and not two - I also work in the South Bay and we have only one car, I take Caltrain to work, riding to the station on my bike. It would be simpler (read: Lazier) for me to just get another car, drive to work and to park on the sidewalk when I get home, but it would also be selfish. There are limited resources available - this presents you with a choice. Make one - and not one that requires other people to pay the consequences of your choice.
in response to Disabilities Advocates Launch Campaign to End Sidewalk Parking
Mike Dahmus
This is the opposite of awesome. Same rights, same responsibilities; if you behave like a juvenile anarchist, motorists who are otherwise friendly will stop being so, and you may find yourself legislated onto the sidewalk.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
John Murphy
Keep it coming people. I am collecting notes for "The Case Against Gavin Newsom" coming to a theatre near you.
While there was substantial noise to this effect on DailyKos (much coming from me and Jeffrey Baker, and other names I recognize), if you do a Twitter Search for Gavin Newsom it's pretty scary. Among the names - Lance Armstrong. Say it ain't so Mellow Johnny - Gavin was dealt 4 aces with respect to the bike plan, an opportunity to show leadership in doing what was necessary to overcome Sir Rob Anderson's meddling. Gavin decided to fold and focus on a couple of electrical outlets.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
megan allison
This is simply awesome.
in response to Moralism vs. Utopianism--of Red Lights, Helmets, Bike Lanes and...
tk
From a different perspective, do you know how difficult it is to find a parking space in San Francisco? As a typical family of 4 members, 2 adults and 2 kids, we have 2 cars in the house hold. One of our cars is parked in the gargage while the other one has to be parked on the street. I came home from work from South Bay everyday in the evening at around 7pm and there is no parking space anywhere within a few block. I have 2 young kids who I need to drop off to school in the morning, and whoever has young kids should understand how difficult it is to walk a few blocks to your cars with a couple young kids.
So what should I do with my car? I just did what everyone else did in the neighberhood. i.e. on my driveway, blocking park of the sidewalk. There is still enough space for pedestrian though. However, I have been receiving multiple $100 citations because of complaints (most of the times, I am the only one being cited even though my neighbors are doing the same thing. Maybe it was because my drive way is a little bit shorter than the others, so there is less room to pass by comparing to the others.)
For this month alone, I have received 2 citations, but what else can I do with the severe shortage of parking spaces in the neighborhood? (Sigh!)
in response to Disabilities Advocates Launch Campaign to End Sidewalk Parking
Jamison Wieser
We have negatives with the current appointment system, I worry that in reaction we'd go to another extreme and the conversation will become polarized.
I'm very curious about how different arrangements have worked out. The LAMTA has adjusted their board makeup at least once since the merger, but I also find them appealing because they put a strong emphasis on customer service and the customer experience and seem willing to make the expensive investments up front that take a while to pay off. Just look at any of the Streetfilms about LA, but that board setup may not be the right one for us.
in response to Where is the MTA Board's Leadership on the Budget Crisis?
Jeffrey W. Baker
The other problem with cutting street sweeping, and I know this is a complicated subject so I'll type slowly, is that the street's aren't clean. Perhaps this is of little interest to motorists, but it's a big deal to bicyclists.
in response to Today's Headlines
JoPa
Cyclocross...
in response to Ad Nauseam: What Are You Implying, Chase?
rzu
I agree that there are a lot of potential negatives with an elected board. All I'm saying is that the current set up is not working particularly well and we need to start talking alternatives.
in response to Where is the MTA Board's Leadership on the Budget Crisis?
marcos
Prop E was a mistake, Prop A just added more crap to the mix.
Who thought it was a good idea to add the intractable morass of the Taxi Commission to an MTA that cannot run its railroad?
Who thought it was a good idea to imprison the power to make streets livable in an agency that is wholly unaccountable?
Who thought it was a good idea to give TWU employees a wage floor without exacting work rule concessions to give line managers more flexibility?
A tight reading of Section 8A.105 of the Charter, the Municipal Transportation Fund is needed now:
(a) There is hereby established a fund to provide a predictable, stable, and adequate level of funding for the Agency, which shall be called the Municipal Transportation Fund. The fund shall be maintained separate and apart from all other City and County funds. Monies therein shall be appropriated, expended, or used by the Agency solely and exclusively for the operation including, without limitation, capital improvements, management, supervision, maintenance, extension, and day-to-day operation of the Agency, including any division subsequently created or incorporated into the Agency and performing transportation-related functions. Monies in the Fund may not be used for any other purposes than those identified in this Section.
Note that "predictable, stable and adequate" are the first words of the paragraph.
This fund has been raided, and the Mayor proposes "unpredictable, unstable and inadequate" levels of funding for the Muni. Is this legal?
Cosmetic changes to governance will not solve the structural problems of the Prop E+A MTA.
-marc
in response to Streetscast: An Interview with BOS Prez David Chiu on the MTA Budget
marcos
The sheer audacity of it all!
USA Today, Tomorrow the World!
-marc
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
mcas
http://sfcitizen.com/blog/2009/04/07/sf-mayors-hybrid-suv-is-so-heavy-it-needs-an-exemption-to-be-legal-on-many-streets/
Claims that it weighs over 6,000 pounds-- and is, therefore, illegal on at least 177 SF Streets-- if it wasn't a 'city vehicle', that is...
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Jamison Wieser
I asked MTA CFO Sonali Bose that question, why not redirect arrival time requests to 511? Turns out there's several reasons, some of it had to do with load on the phone lines that I didn't understand, service quality (there is that mayoral mandate and would you really want to go back to 511 now that you've experienced 311?) and to top it off: they negotiated down to $1.96 per call instead of per-minute.
And since the MTA never had this level of service before 311 (just a contact number during business hours and no bus arrival times) we don't know what doing it in house would cost, but there's economies of scale from centralizing so it would almost certainly cost more and you would definitely loose the convenience of a single non-emergency number.
We could work on things which reduce the load on 311, such as putting routes on predictable schedules (the 35 is on a clock facing schedule which works well: every 30 minuted, LA used to have a "12 minute map" of lines that had waits no longer than 12 minutes) and that's part of the Transit Effectiveness project (TEP) which already underway as newly hired schedulers are starting to adjust route schedules to run on time. Or put up more NextMuni signs, which comes back to money they don't have (signs are a capitol expense and 311 is operational, which means different funding sources) but is planning ahead with the new shelters (which aren't costing us a penny: a private company has the contract and pays for it from the revenues off the advertising) all designed to house a sign even if there isn't one to install yet.
We can also stop calling 311 for info unless we really need to.
in response to Streetscast: An Interview with BOS Prez David Chiu on the MTA Budget
Jamison Wieser
So before this talk of electing the MTA board goes too far, there are alternatives that combine elections and appointments. In New York, the MTA board has several non-voting members including the Citizens Advisory Council and label.
Down south, Los Angeles' MTA board is made up of 14 members including 5 members of the board of supervisors, the LA city mayor, 2 LA city council members, 4 representatives selected from different sectors of the county excluding the city of LA itself, and one non-voting member appointed by the governor. They also make $150 pre meeting, but have also merged their funding authority with the transit agency to cut out a lot of wasted time, energy and money taken in the back and forth.
Here, the SFMTA is separate from the County Transit Authority (CTA, or TA, our other transit agency) which has a board made up of the SF board of Supervisors and takes away a lot of funding that could go to Muni and f MTA projects like the bike program in order to fund their own projects (like Geary and Van Ness BRT, those endless studies of Market Street, etc.) or the money just gets sucked up by all the time, staff, outside consultants, and all the other resources it takes on both sides to actually get the money directed to the SFMTA to them.
in response to Where is the MTA Board's Leadership on the Budget Crisis?
The Overhead Wire
All a part of the Emerald Aristocracy. True green is tossed aside for Gizmo Green.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Michael Scheper
I think 311 is a great idea in general—anything that makes people less likely to ring 911 in non-emergency situations is a win, and I like not having to stuff around looking for telephone numbers for City agencies. But surely an easy fix to the $1.96 problem (gasp!) is a message at the beginning of the call that says 'for public transport info, please hang up and ring 511'.
Jamison: I like your bugbase analogy. But a good way to reduce the bug count in software is scope reduction, and since that means service cuts in this case, I'm dead against it.
in response to Streetscast: An Interview with BOS Prez David Chiu on the MTA Budget
Michael Scheper
I've never been sure how much of Gav's attempt to look green is just PR and how much is real concern. I'm pretty impressed at the fact that places like Jamba Juice aren't allowed to use Styrofoam in this town, and solar panels on government buildings are worthy of applause. But this... crikey, it certainly shows the man isn't always *thinking* green! He can't be *that* ignorant!
I wonder if he'd be a greener governor than Schwarzenegger...
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Michael Smith
Funny that the mayor's "green" 18mph SUV is reviewed in USA Today, of all places. I've always thought that Gavin's claims to being green are as destructive as the USA Today claiming to be a real newspaper. You see, when people read the USA Today they think they are being informed. This means they think don't have to search out any real news sources so they never get the kind of information that would actually help them understand the world. It actually causes people to be less informed.
Well Newsom's fake do-nothing "green" policies simply make people think that something is being done about the environment. Instead of making real improvements to transit, walking, and bicycling, we are supposedly going to be the electric car capital because of two electrical outlets at city hall (almost as exciting as the hydrogen highway!). Instead of making serious improvements for bicycling we get a claim of doing a pathetically small bike sharing program in the future. And for peds, well, peds don't even count at all apparently (Newsom was for allowing motorized Segways and parked cars on the sidewalk when he was a Supervisor).
We need real improvements. Not pathetic green-washing press releases that make people think that they don't actually have to do anything more than they already are.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Jamison Wieser
Not to disagree with anything Board President Chiu, because I think he's pretty dead on in the interview, but he touched on some subjects that have a lot of background to them.
I think of the MTA as sort of a buggy alpha version, with periodic releases that add as many new bugs as it fixes. As Chiu explained, with Prop A we voted to give the MTA more money and more independence. We fixed the bug where supervisors could meddle in the budget by limiting them to just an up or down vote on the budget, but it introduced an exploit where other city agencies can exploit this to get money out of the MTA and the Board can't do anything to stop it except to reject the entire MTA budget. Still, Chiu isn't saying we need to repeal Prop A, we've just got more bugs to file.
Even with everyone up in arms about the work orders and the cost of 311, I don't know that anyone is proposing we limit the ability to put new demands on the MTA without giving them new funding to go with it.
311 is a good example. The Mayor issued a mandate to fix shitty customer service by creating a single non-emergency phone number for everything. Awesome, right? You can call a live operator any time, 24/7, to ask where your bus is... and it's totally not going to cost anything right?
in response to Streetscast: An Interview with BOS Prez David Chiu on the MTA Budget
Paul Dorn
Doubtless, this is the kind of "visionary leadership" Gavin the smiling haircut hopes to bring to the entire state as governor.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Jym Dyer
must. kill. flowers.
=v= At least it's not parked in the bike lane, though of course the door is.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
Matthew Roth
Hey Deep,
One of the links in the post is to a USA Today review of the Tahoe Hybrid, which in their real-world driving got 18 MPG. I don't know if Newsom's vehicle is armored, but if it is, it will get worse mileage.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
marcos
Progressives are good at winning district supervisor elections in progressive districts with good candidates.
Some progressives and environmentalists are good at winning citywide ballot measure campaigns sometimes.
Any ballot measure needs to be well thought out beforehand and have a substantial coalition behind it with a proven track record of winning elections.
Cobbling crap together during the contrived Charter Amendment process that gave us Prop A is not a good idea if we want to win.
IIRC Prop A started at 55% +-2.5% and ended up at 55% with no significant campaign against it.
-marc
in response to Where is the MTA Board's Leadership on the Budget Crisis?
Amandeep Jawa
I'm pretty sure the Mayor's people will tell us any second now that this vehicle is a hybrid. And as a hybrid, "slightly better than crappy for the planet" = GREEN.
Sigh. We MUST do better, especially "environmental champion," Gavin Newsom.
in response to Eyes On The Street: Mayor Newsom Shames Earth Day
patrick
Newsom isn't fit to be mayor of San Francisco, much less the Governor. What has he actually done other than photo opps?
He claims responsibility for NextMuni & TransLink? Please!!! At best he allowed it to happen, but there is no way it was his vision, or that he even promoted it. His MTA directors are only there to allow funds for Muni to be funneled to other departments where he has political friends.
Newsom would be worse than the Governator.
in response to Gav For Guv Short On Transportation Essentials
rzu
You are right that the MTA board is no stranger to the issues of underfunded transit. Unfortunately, the so-called "Blue Ribbon" panel that the mayor convened way back in 2007 to examine MUNI's funding problems failed to come up with any solutions. In fact, they did little other than take options that were politically unpalatable to the mayor's allies off the table.
I attended a few of the panel's meetings toward the end of their process and was appaled by the lack of vision. I wrote this article about it over a year ago and am sad to see that little has changed:
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=5458
Except one thing ... amid the balloning city-wide (indeed state- and nation-wide as well) budget crisis, activists have lost their focus on MUNI issues and have been unable to articulate a way forward independent of the MTA. The idea of an elected MTA body is a good one, as activists seem to be better at focusing on winning elections, and an elected body is much easier to keep accountable.
in response to Where is the MTA Board's Leadership on the Budget Crisis?
CBrinkman
Yay for the bike rental shops: practical response. Sausalito and the ferry companies - watch and learn. And how come no one complains about the aesthetic issues of car traffic jams and parked cars littering the street. I think a mass of parked bikes is a beautiful thing - it signals progress and efficiency and sustainability. (Well, except that the tourists probably all flew to get here.)
in response to Sausalito To Install Donated Bike Racks for Tourists
Donovan b
I think the electric traffic jams quote was a case of sarcasm and is actually making the same point rzu and mikesonn made. Regardless, support for mass transit is great, but the connection to land use has to be hammered on. Just locating housing near transit stations is a beginning, but there is soooo much more to good local and regional planning than that and the advocacy community has to be articulate on the issue. Gav, as mayor of sf, has to understand this. Settling for anything less is not going to get us to where we need to be in terms of a sustainable, human-scale living environment. This isn't rocket science and the ball has to be moved further than just housing and transit.
in response to Gav For Guv Short On Transportation Essentials
Seth Andrzejewski
Yes, this is why so many of us youngins were socialized to think walking was the source of much grief. Then again, we didn't really want to get married when we were 5.
Wow.. a 2:49 pedestrian dwell time? Time to get a new city engineer.
in response to Cartoon Tuesday: Don't Walk (?)
Pat
First world problems
in response to Sausalito To Install Donated Bike Racks for Tourists
DanB
Oh, and I think part of the interface problem is painting the bars on the sides of the exit doors the same color as the sticker (or vice-versa, if you prefer). I see people pulling and pushing on those bars all the time when trying to get the back door to open. People half-read the sticker or just do a quick color association and think yellow hardware = exit. Bad.
in response to The Rear Door Problem With Muni's New Hybrid Buses
DanB
They've already revised the door stickers at least once; version 1.0 were English only, in black type. No one read them. The new ones are longer, multi-lingual and in blocky red type. No one reads them, either.
in response to The Rear Door Problem With Muni's New Hybrid Buses
rzu
Good point mikesonn. And lets not forget that it is the MTA Board that Gavin appointed that is raising fares and slashing service, choosing to drive away MUNI riders rather than deal with the difficult task of generating revenue in some other way. Yes, the problem is in no small way due to the state budget mess, but well before the current crisis, advocates have been begging the MTA to figure out better ways to fund the agency. So far, Gav's only response has been to put the kibosh on sound ideas, like raising parking rates and imposing stricter penalties on illegal parking.
in response to Gav For Guv Short On Transportation Essentials