An unprecedented act by Congress is the only thing standing between Muni and a crucial federal grant for its Central Subway project now that the Obama administration has signed off on the $942 million application.The grant, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of the $1.6 billion project, was forwarded to Congress on Friday by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Congress has 60 days to reject the application, but Muni chief Ed Reiskin said such an action has never occurred.
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A controversial proposal to reform how The City issues its taxi operating permits will be up for approval today, despite the recent mass resignations from an industry advisory board.
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The agency in charge of overseeing seven Bay Area bridges is poised to receive a payout worth more than $600,000 as part of a settlement with JPMorgan Chase over faulty lending practices.The Bay Area Toll Authority, which is responsible for all regional spans except the Golden Gate Bridge, is scheduled to vote to accept a $604,757 settlement Wednesday. The payout is part of a $92 million settlement agreed upon by JPMorgan Chase and 25 states.
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Riders on the 5-Fulton, one of Muni’s busiest bus lines, could soon speed along quicker during the morning and evening commutes.
Running from the Financial District to Ocean Beach, the 5-Fulton travels mostly through the Richmond district, carrying 19,000 passengers a day. It’s frequently crowded and passengers commonly complain about full buses passing by stops.
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A new BART board member was appointed Thursday to fill in until an elected member is seated in December.
Mary King, a former interim general manager of AC Transit, was unanimously approved Thursday to succeed Bob Franklin, BART’s District 3 representative, who stepped down from his
position in June to take a full-time job at the agency.
King’s tenure on the nine-member board will last until Dec. 7, when a full-time replacement who is chosen in the November election takes the seat.
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The structural integrity of the new Bay Bridge span will be reviewed by an independent panel following a request by state lawmakers concerned about
accusations of test falsifications on the project.
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A series of controversial advertisements on Muni buses has spurred a signature-gathering effort to remove the signs and forced the agency to reconsider its position on advertisements moving forward.
The ads, paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative — an organization deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — say, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”
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The BART board of directors is poised to name a new member to its 11-person governing body Thursday, although the appointment will only be temporary.The board has been short a director since June 21, when Bob Franklin stepped down to take a full-time job at the transit agency. The board has 90 days to announce a replacement for Franklin, but several members have expressed concern that the new member would have an unfair advantage in the upcoming November election. BART is one of the only transit agencies in the country with a publicly elected board of directors.
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The City’s residential parking program, in place for more than 35 years, could be in line for a major overhaul.
Designed to keep out-of-town commuters from parking all day in residential neighborhoods, the program lets permit holders park on city streets for 72 hours without having to move their vehicles. Since it was created in 1976, the program has evolved to include 27 zones of varying sizes spread unevenly throughout San Francisco.
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Muni’s practice of stopping transit lines and turning them around before the final destination shows a disregard for passengers, doesn’t improve service and is not widely practiced by other transit agencies, according to a new civil grand jury report.
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BART passengers may be noticing something strange about the transit system’s notoriously unreliable escalators: They are actually
moving now.
After vowing in June to redouble maintenance and repair efforts, BART has dramatically increased the availability of escalators. Currently, only seven out of 176 are out of service, assuring the agency of a 96 percent reliability rate, according to BART data.
That’s a far cry from May, when only 76.5 percent of escalators were working, well below BART’s 95 percent goal.
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The permits needed to operate taxis will cost more to purchase and will generate extra income for The City under a new plan by San Francisco’s transportation agency.
Holders of taxi medallions can operate cabs or lease out their vehicles to other drivers while still collecting a slice of the profits. Until 2010, the only way to obtain a medallion was to keep your name on a waiting list, but the permit could take decades to arrive.
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Motorists should brace for significantly higher prices at the pump in the coming weeks as a result of Monday night’s fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond.
Wholesale prices for fuel have already risen by 23 to 35 cents a gallon, a cost increase that will soon be passed on to consumers, said Cynthia Harris, a spokeswoman for AAA. She said it is too early to speculate about how much gas prices will increase, but the spike will be “significant.”
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Plagued by aging vehicles and budget constraints on overtime pay for drivers, Muni’s service levels continue to deteriorate at a time when more people are riding the system.
In July, Muni missed an average of 650 service trips — a one-way trip on a line — each weekday. The missed transit runs account for roughly 5 percent of the agency’s total daily schedule. In March, the agency missed roughly 3 percent of its daily scheduled trips, meaning the number of missed service trips has increased from 390 a day to 650 a day over the past five months.
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All-door boarding on Muni buses appears to be paying off for the agency and its passengers.
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