After the deaths of five people in a crash near the Farallon Islands last month, yacht racing off the Northern California coast is set to resume this weekend, with the local sailing community vowing to improve safety and training standards to prevent future tragedies.
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With landmark anniversary parties, bridge closures, and transit and street shutdowns, the Bay Area is going to be a tough place to navigate over Memorial Day weekend.
The biggest event on tap is the 75th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday. Commemorative celebrations set to take place along Marina Green and Crissy Field are expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators.
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The City’s transportation agency will soon have a new corporate logo, and even though maps, business cards, publications and vehicle exteriors will have to be replaced or altered, the change isn’t projected to cost any extra money.To coincide with the 100th anniversary of Muni, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has reached out to residents to help it redesign its logo.
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The Bay Area’s population is expected to increase by more than 2 million people over the next 40 years, and the overwhelming majority of those residents are projected to live near transit centers such as BART stations.
To address the region’s shifting growth patterns, BART has developed a long-term service strategy as part of its Metro program.
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Po Bronson said he bears scars from tripping and falling on the uneven soccer fields behind the Beach Chalet. And he once threw out his hip after stepping into a gopher hole there.
With the popularity of soccer increasing in San Francisco, demand for even less-than-ideal playing fields far exceeds their availability. So Bronson, president of the San Francisco Vikings Youth Soccer League, favors their overhaul.
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Only Honolulu and Los Angeles have worse traffic conditions than San Francisco, according to a new report that compared congestion levels among major American cities.
Drivers here lose 48 hours annually stuck in traffic, with the slowest period occurring between 5:45 and 6 p.m. Thursdays, said the report compiled by Inrix, a company that analyzes traffic trends. Inrix used a series of traffic and transportation criteria to determine the rankings.
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Muni’s commitment to containing overtime costs is forcing service cuts on some lines, including steep reductions to streetcars and cable cars.
Faced with a midyear projected deficit of $29 million, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has attempted to reconcile the shortfall by reining in overtime.
However, transit operators recorded an unexplained-absentee rate of 12.2 percent last quarter, and without trained drivers to run the system, the agency has been forced to cut service in lieu of paying overtime.
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With citation revenue continuing to increase, Muni is set to expand its bus-camera enforcement system, a program aimed at nabbing motorists for traveling in transit-only lanes.
Currently, only 30 of Muni’s 800-plus buses have the cameras, which snap a photograph of the scofflaw before sending a citation to the vehicle owner. Despite the program’s modest reach, citation revenue has grown steadily since it was implemented in 2009 as part of a new state law.
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Muni customers now have a new all-in-one tool for getting information about the transit system in real time, including balances for Clipper cards.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, recently released an application called Muni+ for Android and iPhone users.
App users will be able to access information on arriving buses, plan out transit routes, locate nearby stops and check their Clipper card balances.
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From a vintage car show to art exhibits and fireworks, there are plenty of reasons to attend the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th anniversary celebration May 27.
Just don’t plan on driving there.
Bridge officials are urging festival-goers to walk, ride bikes or take public transit to events planned at Crissy Field. Parking is expected to be extremely limited and planned road closures will have motorists mired in traffic.
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A plan to run swift-moving buses down the center of Van Ness Avenue was unanimously approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on Tuesday.
Known as bus rapid transit, the vehicles will travel on grade-separated lanes and benefit from traffic lights timed to speed up service in both directions. The bus rapid transit lines will replace Muni’s existing service on Van Ness Avenue, which is frequently mired in traffic.
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Muni’s plan to provide free passes for low-income youths received a big funding boost from local officials Tuesday, as it faces questions at the regional level.
A committee of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which is governed by the Board of Supervisors, recommended $400,000 for the plan. The 22-month pilot program would provide free Muni for 40,000 youths.
Last month, Muni’s board of directors said the program could move forward only with $5 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional transit agency.
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Travelers from Ocean Beach to the Financial District should expect to be inconvenienced next week by a major construction project that will impact as many as 100,000 bicyclists, motorists and transit riders in The City.
Starting at 7 p.m. on May 25, construction crews will begin an 11-day project to improve railways, streetscapes, sidewalks and underground infrastructure at Church Street and Duboce Avenue and also on Carl Street. The effort will disrupt service on two popular light-rail lines as well as several bus routes and one of The City’s main bikeways.
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Fans of all sizes made their way to Marina Green on Monday morning for Stage 2 of the Tour of California, the nation’s biggest professional cycling event. There were young children dutifully following their parents on their two-wheelers and serious-looking cyclists cruising around with state-of-the-art equipment.
The majority of the hundreds of cycling fans in attendance came, naturally, with bikes in tow to see off the group of professional riders, who took a grueling 117.1-mile trek down to Aptos.
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Pedestrian safety and transit advocates touted the implementation of 15 mph speed limits at 181 school zones in San Francisco, the completion of a project that began last year.
Under a state law passed in 2008, local jurisdictions can enforce the lower speed limits as long as they are within 500 feet of a school and are located on two-way streets. More than 180 public and private schools in The City meet the criteria.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/will-reisman
