In an effort to increase privacy measures, the duration for which regional officials can keep personal information obtained by the Clipper card is set to be reduced.
Currently, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which oversees the universal transit payment system, can retain personal travel data for up to seven years for cards that are registered.
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BART will review its safety protocols and announce new initiatives to protect passengers and employees — measures that take on new significance in the wake of last week’s bombing attack in Boston and a thwarted railway attack in Canada.
At the Thursday board of directors meeting, BART officials will discuss new communication strategies, upcoming training programs and efforts to improve relationships with other agencies. All of the proposals are aimed at improving safety conditions for workers and passengers, with specifics to be discussed in more detail at the meeting.
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Labeling a band an institution — implying it is past its prime — is a dangerous game. But if any group is capable of wearing the tag without insult, it’s Built to Spill, playing a two-night stint at Slim’s this weekend.
Led by chief songwriter Doug Martsch, the Boise, Idaho, group’s devotion to all things guitar — from fuzzy, distorted riffs to angular and precise compositions — has created the template for indie rockers of the past two decades and is embraced by new groups such as California X and Cymbals Eat Guitars.
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Despite its deceptively low-key title, Muni Contract 1300 will cover construction of the vast majority of the agency’s Central Subway project, including three stations, the trackway and a train-control system.
It’s also about $100 million more expensive than originally anticipated.
That overrun will eat up about half of the contingency funds available for the project, which will extend the T-Third Street light-rail line 1.7 miles from South of Market to Chinatown.
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The first day of work furloughs for air traffic controllers passed without incident at San Francisco International Airport, as no delays were reported at the hub Monday.
As part of a series of spending cuts enacted earlier this year due to gridlock in Washington, D.C., the Federal Aviation Administration announced mandatory days off for airline workers across the nation beginning Sunday.
Although other airports — particularly on the East Coast — suffered delays due to the work reduction, SFO did not experience any notable setbacks, according to spokesman Doug Yakel.
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Tunnel-boring machines for Muni’s Central Subway project are set to arrive in San Francisco this week, with digging expected to begin in June.The two massive machines — which each are more than 300-feet long — will take about four to six weeks to assemble once they arrive from China, according to Sarah Wilson, an engineer on the project. Once built, the machines will be dropped into a launch box below Fourth Street, where they will start drilling at about 40 feet per day, Wilson said.
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Clearer protocols for exiting buses, different seat colors for disabled passengers, anti-graffiti material on ceilings and new floors are all features of the 80 recently rehabbed Muni buses set to hit the streets next week.
Muni’s 800 buses currently make up the oldest fleet in North America, and the aging vehicles are prone to breakdowns and malfunctions. As part of a $19 million rehabilitation project, the 80 buses will now have another four years of usefulness added to their lifespan, according to John Haley, Muni’s director of transit.
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A weekly gathering place in Noe Valley could become a permanent fixture in the community as part of an open-space project.
For years, the Saturday farmers market on 24th Street has acted as an impromptu meeting spot for neighborhood residents. However, the site is a parking lot for the remaining six days, and there are no officially designated public spaces in the heart of Noe Valley.
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More cabs will roll onto the streets this year, despite concerns from taxi drivers about the uncertain future of the industry.
Based on recommendations from an independent report, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors approved a plan Tuesday to add 120 taxis in 2013 and 200 in 2014. Depending on market needs, more cabs would be added in 2015 and the years after, eventually raising the total number of taxis in San Francisco from the current 1,620 to 2,300.
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Prop. A, five years later: The second part in a two-part series explores where funding from Proposition A has gone since voters passed the initiative in 2007. It was intended to give the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency more control over revenue from parking meters and off-street lots to put toward the Transit Effectiveness Project. It appears that money has been put toward other uses.
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San Francisco voters in November of next year will likely be asked to approve about $590 million in tax increases and bond measures for transportation improvements in The City. If the initiatives have any chance of passing — no certainty with high thresholds for approval — advocates of the plans will have to convince a skeptical public that they’ve learned their lesson from the last time they asked voters for money.
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As he chatted with a passenger on a mostly empty 9-San Bruno bus just after 11 p.m., Muni operator Todd Westbrooks had no reason to believe that his March 11 shift would be any different than normal.
The sound of five gunshots quickly changed that.
Acting instinctively after hearing the gunfire, Westbrooks, 44, pulled his bus over to the intersection of San Bruno Avenue and Ward Street, where he found a 23-year-old man lying in pain on the street.
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For the first time, BART has combined its operating and capital programs into one budget document as a means to better illustrate the agency’s fiscal standing.
The operating budget, which covers day-to-day needs, has produced surpluses in recent years, a far cry from the financial straits facing other local transit systems. However, BART’s capital budget, which covers long-term projects, has a $6 billion shortfall over the next decade.
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Potential cost overruns have surfaced less than two months after Muni’s Central Subway extraction project in North Beach was approved, although the agency expressed confidence it would be able to stay on budget.
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With a solution for repairing several dozen broken stabilizing rods potentially still months away, Bay Bridge officials conceded Wednesday that they may not meet their Labor Day weekend deadline for opening the rebuilt eastern span.
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