New York City Transportation

Q&A: Green Lane Project Explains How Bikes Are Actually Good for Business

No matter the grade of the street, getting a separated bike lane installed anywhere in San Francisco is always an uphill battle -- literally. On Polk, local businesses have stalled an MTA proposal that hinted at the possibility of a cycle track, decrying the plan's removal of parking as an attack ... More >>

How Effed Up Is Muni? Find Out in One Click

To put it politely.​Muni riders have given up on certain expectations when it comes to transit service. Like, for example, the assumption that passengers on a bus will arrive at their destinations before a spry pedestrian gets there on foot. Or the belief that their bus route is too important to g ... More >>

Play Your Way To Work With MTA.me -- But Where's the SF Muni Version?

<br />Looks like it's gonna be a tough race, but so far Conductor is narrowly edging out Freaky the Scary Snowman for "most weirdly therapeutic random Internet find of the week." A script designed by Alexander Chen -- perhaps you have hea ... More >>

Two Men Walk Into a Subway Station...

'The Other Guys' Movie Poster has No Guns in Muni Station -- But Fully Armed on Muni Buses

No guns here...​Last week, we noted that the movie posters for the predictably low-brow but high-grossing cop comedy The Other Guys had been disarmed by Muni. While Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are soaring through the air, guns drawn, in the billboard you'll see by the freeway, they're either pu ... More >>

David Chiu Kills Muni Charter Amendment -- Which Would Have Failed Miserably

Jim HerdEnd of the line for the progressive Muni charter amendment​Call Supervisor David Chiu what you will, but don't call him sentimental. The Board of Supervisors' president last night tossed the "Progressive Muni Charter Amendment" he'd crafted alongside Ross Mirkarimi, Eric Mar, and David Cam ... More >>

Path to Civility

Cyclists jumping lights and drivers blocking bike lanes need to get cited.

Is Progressive Supes' Muni Amendment Just a Bargaining Chit?

Like this old train, many elements of yesterday's sweeping Muni charter amendment were things we've seen before...​The Charter Amendment yesterday introduced by a quartet of progressive supervisors would essentially tear apart the way the Municipal Transportation Agency is run and sew it back toge ... More >>

No Punishment Yet for Meter Maid Caught Parked Illegally, Shopping

A spokesman for the Municipal Transportation Agency told SF Weekly that the parking control officer caught on video browsing through a Goodwill while she was parked illegally outside has not yet been punished. And, even if she had been -- or will be -- he wouldn't tell us about that. "We don't talk ... More >>

Muni To Cease Fare Evasion Saturation Stings

Ashley HarrellYou won't be seeing this anymore -- to the relief of fare-evaders and terrified immigrants​Transit riders who still haven't gotten their May Fast Pass can breathe easier. Due to complaints from the immigrant community, Muni is halting its saturation stings of buses for fare evaders, ... More >>

City Audit Slams Muni Labor, Management

N-Judah Chronicles/Lauren Oliver -- Used with PermissionPlenty of fail to go around...​City's Budget Analyst Harvey Rose released "part one" of a performance audit of Muni today. And, guess what? Muni drivers' self-serving work rules cost the city millions. The agency is drowning in overtime, acco ... More >>

Cost of Muni Fast Pass Going Up in May (For Some)

​If you are young, old, or disabled, a Muni Fast Pass will cost you an extra $5 starting tomorrow. The Municipal Transportation Agency is raising the price of its discounted passes from $15 to $20. The fare hikes will raise an extra $1.25 million annually for MTA. Very fast scofflaws who can outru ... More >>

Muni Budget Leaves Board Prez David Chiu Mystified

N-Judah Chronicles/Lauren Oliver -- Used with PermissionBoard President David Chiu to Muni: Show me the money! ​Board of Supervisors President David Chiu likes to remind people that he's a Muni rider. Come May 8, with 10 percent service cuts taking effect, he'll be a Muni waiter, just like everyon ... More >>

Dispute over who gets to run city parking garages leads to allegations of a shakedown

Hidden Joys of Proposed Muni Budget

Ready or not, here it comes...​Yesterday, the Municipal Transportation Agency reluctantly passed a two-year budget for Muni. We're notifying you today as a symbolic nod to the overriding feature of that budget -- its 10 percent service cuts. Much like the buses and trains themselves, you had to wa ... More >>

Supes Spurn Appeal; Muni Service Cuts Coming May 1

Bryan DemplerTen percent service cuts are the one Muni-related item that's not delayed​A transit activist claiming that Muni and the planning department violated state laws by approving service cuts without an environmental review was given the "nice argument, but you lose" treatment moments ago b ... More >>

Your Rundown on the Week in S.F. Government

Pride of the city​Over the weekend Your Correspondent was lucky enough to have one of those reality-check conversations with a reasonable layperson -- these sorts of chats come far too seldom for us poor hacks, who spend a lot of our time talking to the wonkish caste that includes legislative aide ... More >>

Will Influx of State Money Prevent Muni Service Cuts?

Woosh! Are service cuts soaring away?​When it comes to funding, Muni has been down so long, everything looks like up to them at this point. So the surprise news earlier this week that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a pair of bills that'll send roughly $36 million Muni's way -- after he'd earlie ... More >>

Think Tank's 28 Ideas to Save Muni Millions -- Without Fare Hikes or Service Cuts

N-Judah Chronicles/Lauren Oliver -- Used with PermissionA plan that can't fail? ​Unlike March Against Muni, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research didn't take the streets or wield any bullhorns. Instead, they offered actual solutions to Muni's myriad problems. On Friday, the moderate think tank ... More >>

Muni May Lay Off 170 Operators on Friday

Jim Herd​Muni spokesman Judson True has confirmed a rumor disseminated by the Muni Drivers' union: 170 operators -- and 230 Muni employees -- will be facing layoffs after Friday's Municipal Transportation Agency Board meeting. "At the Friday meeting, service reductions will be voted on. If the boa ... More >>

Supe Hints at Ballot Measure to Wrest Muni Board Appointments From Mayor

Jim Herd​Mayor Gavin Newsom has never been particularly subtle about attempting to dictate marching orders to the Municipal Transportation Authority Board. Now, the mayor's progressive critics, particularly members of the Board of Supervisors, are being equally unsubtle in their criticism. Last mo ... More >>

Cabbies cry foul over plan to sell medallions

Give 'Em the 'Boot': S.F. Car Immobilizations On the Rise

Joe EskenaziA more and more ubiquitous sight​Last year, statistics SF Weekly requested from the Municipal Transportation Agency pointed to a counter-intuitive trend: With more and more city residents suffering financially and ostensibly less able to pay their outstanding parking tickets, the numbe ... More >>

SF Gov InAction: Mayor and Supervisors Still Not the Get Along Gang

  Oh bleary eyed passengers on San Francisco's ship of fools: I have to say I'm getting quite the kick out of my vacation. Last week I went a whole six days without thinking of Sean Elsbernd!  Honestly, life is too short to think about Sean Elsbernd. I don't know how he does it. Instead ... More >>

Supe Hopes Audit of Muni Management Will Be Factor in Budget Battle

Jim Herd​With the Municipal Transportation Agency preparing to send hundreds of workers packing and MTA staff advocating for fare hikes and service cuts, Supervisor David Campos has a different idea. Earlier this week, he requested the city's budget analyst undertake a full audit of the city's tra ... More >>

Transit Advocates Wait For MTA Board to Knuckle Under to Mayor

Jim Herd​When you're watching Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, there's always a fleeting thought, part-way through, that this time Shylock is going to prevail and humble those feckless, bigoted aristocrats who consider him a subhuman. Never happens. Can't happen. It's not in the script. In a ... More >>

MTA Board Member Emerges as Riders' Advocate -- and Mayor's Critic

MTA board members disdained the notion of $5 F-Line rides, among other objections to proposed Muni revenue-generating measures​SF Weekly wrote earlier this week about how transit advocates were dismayed by the Municipal Transportation Agency's efforts to make up the $17 million hole in Muni's budg ... More >>

S.F. Streetcar Maven Mystified By Muni's Attempt to Charge $5 For F-Line

When will I be a real rail line?​Today, Muni's staff will try to sell the agency's board on a handful of eye-opening measures meant to make up the latest budget shortfall. Among other controversial measures, Muni proposes to jack the price of a ride on an F-Market line up to $5. Deprived of state ... More >>

What Does Latest Proposed Muni Hike Mean? It Means Muni Never Meant What It was Telling Us Before.

Speeding out of your price range...​Since paying more and getting less seems to be the order of the day worldwide, it's good to know that we in San Francisco have been in the vanguard once again. Delegations of government officials will, no doubt, be arriving here shortly to take notes on just how ... More >>

Report On Google Shuttles In the City: You May Hate 'Em, But the Environment Doesn't

Pipe down, Nimbys...​So maybe you've heard Mission and Noe Valley dwellers complaining about the huge shuttle buses huffing through their small residential streets to whisk 2,500 daily commuters away to their Silicon Valley cubicles. Well, turns out they're not so bad, Nimbys. Thus concluded a stu ... More >>

Ironically, bike hater Rob Anderson advances cause of cycling in S.F.