Passenger Transportation

Color Schemes: The Underground Taxi Market

Airlines Accused of Price-Fixing in Class-Action Lawsuit

​A hangar-ful of airlines is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco that alleges an "international conspiracy" to fix prices and bilk travelers.The suit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court by San Francisco resident Caroline Joy, who is represented by the law firm Moscone Embli ... 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 >>

Broke Caltrain Moves to Cut Half its Service

You likely soon won't see one of these during non-commuter hours​Whenever your CEO prefaces his message to the board with "This is not an April Fools' joke," you're in for some bad news. And bad news is what Caltrain boss Mike Scanlon delivered yesterday: "There's a possibility this railroad could ... More >>

Marching Muni Drivers Overwhelm 'March Against Muni'

All Photos | Joe EskenaziMarch Against Muni organizer Jared Roussel looks on as Muni Drivers' union boss Irwin Lum snatches away his bullhorn and addresses the crowd​"March Against Muni," the odd amalgam of largely young, hip people deeply incensed at rude Muni drivers, paper Fast Passes, and ... 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 >>

Transit Advocates Rejoice as $70M Shunted From Airport Connector to Muni, BART, Others

Celebrate good times -- BART and Muni won the lottery!​Public transit advocates are all but dancing in the aisles of public transit following a ruling that yanked $70 million in federal funding away from the controversial Oakland Airport Connector and led to moribund local transit agencies being s ... More >>

Oakland Airport Connector Lives to Be Controversial For Another Day

​The regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission moments ago voted to stay the course, applying $70 million in endangered federal funds not to the Bay Area's moribund transit agencies but a controversial, half-billion dollar proposed BART extension to Oakland Airport. "Closer than I thought, b ... More >>

iBike -- New App Helps Users Write City's Bike Routes

​As San Francisco breathlessly awaits the day when Judge Peter J. Busch lifts the court  injunction that has prevented the city from installing amenities for cyclists, news pops up that two-wheeled San Franciscans' lives are improving, despite the ban on bike lanes.The judge had asked for arg ... More >>

You Know All Those Corks You're Saving? You Could Be Wearing Them Someday

Gare and Kitty/FlickrThe makings of a kickass pair of wedgies?​If you want another option for your used champagne and wine corks -- beyond using them in bad art projects -- there are fashion-forward options in the works. Cork is one material that's migrating from the recycling bin to the shoe ... More >>

Safe Bet: Newsom's Pot Shots at Longer Parking Meter Hours Mean You'll Be Suffering More on Muni

Jim HerdWhoosh! There goes your parking revenue! ​As first reported on Streetsblog and then this morning in the Chronicle, Mayor Gavin Newsom has made clear that he's no fan of alleviating Muni's revenue headaches by extending parking meter hours. Muni's pledge to study the merits of extended park ... More >>

Bay Links: Flowers, Mice & Castles

Photo by Toyota​Solar Flower Power! [Laughing Squid]Kick-ass castle for sale. [Curbed SF]Mouse infestation in Presidio. [SF Citizen]Maya Lin debuts a new piece at the Academy of Science Thursday. [Richmond District]You can find anything on the street in the Mission. [People Reading]Muni fare inspe ... More >>

Predators are free to move about the cabin

The girl flew as an unaccompanied minor, and she's still experiencing turbulence.

Muni's 'New' Notion of Selling Cable Car Sponsorships Was a Great Idea -- In 1982

Sadly, it's too late to wheedle a cable car sponsorship out of Thelonious MonkWhen Municipal Transportation Agency director Malcolm Heinicke earlier this week proposed selling off "sponsorships" to the city's treasured cable cars as a means of making the city's ends meet, you could almost hear the r ... More >>

Cops, Muni in Stress Position Over Reward Posters

Now with wanted posters!After an an apparent daylong game Thursday of bad cop communication, good cop communication, the San Francisco Police Officers Association reports it's going to be able to put up posters in city buses seeking witnesses to the 2006 murder of a 17-year-old Bernal Heights boy."W ... More >>

SF Gov InAction: Madatory Composting -- And Your Mother -- Are Back In Town

Well, that's the thing: I thought my mom would know the Snuggie was a gag gift, but she actually thought it was a real gift. So here I'd planned this completely ironic moment, and she was starting to tear up. She actually said "It looks so comfortable, and I get so cold in winter!" Shit! So what ... More >>

S.F. Ticketing Program Could Open Costly Pandora's Box For City

Joe EskenaziFormer SPOT director Pat Tobin lectures a mover during a hearing. Contractors claim such hearings denied them their right to due process -- and members of the Police Commission worry this could be true.Wednesday night's hearing regarding a controversial police ticketing program was not n ... More >>

Oscar Grant's Buddies File $1.5M Worth of Charges Against BART

Five pals of the man shot dead by BART police on New Year's Day have filed a claim accusing the rapid transit system of illegal search and seizure, excessive force, and false arrest and are demanding $1.5 million. The claim was filed by lawyer John Burris, who earlier sued BART for $25 million on be ... More >>

Flipping the Bird: Local Airports' Methods of Repelling Winged Obstacles

If the US Airways flight that yesterday took off from La Guardia and got only as far as the Hudson River suffered the "double bird strike" claimed by its pilot, it would just be the latest incidence of a two-pound creature downing a 91,000-pound plane. The Bird Strike Committee USA (yes, such a body ... More >>

St. Nick, Reporting for Duty

Train Wreck

Major public transit agencies around the country — including San Francisco's — may pay billions for risky deals with bankers.

Building Overtime

Off-duty police officers making time and a half are swarming over construction sites, handing out tickets. Only in S.F.

John Burton’s Murky Role in Perata Probe

Can't We All Just Roll Along?

There is a way bike riders and car drivers can more safely coexist, and help the environment.

SF's Most Maddening Final Four

SF's Most Maddening Final Four

MTA Wants to Hike Parking Fees and Fines

Muni Mulling Fast Pass Price Hike: It's Good for Poor People?

Bangalore to Be SF's New Sister City - Keeping IT in the Family

Muni-Me

Gavin Newsom may be the city's top official, but he's not its highest paid--not even in his own office

Life Isn't Fare

Bus Stopped

How an attempt to make the 38 Geary bus work became another senseless San Francisco social cause

You preach/We laugh

In which we come up with our own (slightly cynical) version of Muni's new ad campaign

Uncle Sam Needs You to Be a Suspected Terrorist

Wise-ass humor is the best way to fight the Bush administration's anti-terror excesses. And, hey, wise-ass humor is what we do best.

Letters to the Editor

Week of November 13, 2002

Life Is Change

Even a headstrong columnist can meet his match -- and have to move on

A Black and White Issue

A lawsuit alleging racism at Amtrak's Oakland yard has made it to the Supreme Court -- and could affect discrimination cases nationwide

Runaway Train

Why is Muni in such a hurry to win approval for a blindingly complex, potentially risky, $1 billion plan to privatize the city's rail fleet?

Dog Bites

How Soon Is Now?; What He Did on His Vacation; A Cubicle of Her Own

Letters

Letters from September 6, 2000

When Cesar Reigned

An aging journalist remembers 1999, when an election became a revolution, and the city changed forever

Political Economy

How a Willie Brown real estate venture snagged tens of millions of dollars in government subsidies and opened the way for Democratic heavyweight Angelo Tsakopoulo to make even more money

Cothran

Cothran

A Million Here, a Million There ...

Rewarding Failure

What's really wrong with Muni? For starters, one third of its employees don't show up to work, causing systemwide delays and costing the agency more that $20 million a year in overtime. First in a two-part special report

Boondoggle by the Bay

Why the tacky political giveaway called Pier 39 shouldn't be used as a model for the coming redevelopment of San Francisco's waterfront

Letters

Letters