With its fledgling service struggling mightily, South San Francisco ferry officials are exploring new ways to attract passengers.
The Peninsula-East Bay service that was launched with much fanfare in June has fallen far short of expectations. For the last week of February, the service averaged only 131 daily boardings — barely one-third of the projected ridership.
It has so far recorded a dismal 8.4 percent farebox recovery rate, meaning nearly 92 percent of its $3.4 million operating budget is subsidized by local and state taxpayers who don’t use the service.
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City leaders are decrying a controversial set of advertisements that have returned to Muni buses, but agency officials and legal experts say banning the messages would violate free speech rights.
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Construction could begin in May on a skateboarding and dog park in South of Market that has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo for years.
Various city agencies are poised to sign a 20-year contract with Caltrans to rent a vacant lot under the Central Freeway and transform it into an open space for skateboarders and dog walkers. The concept design for the park was first developed in early 2009, but lease disagreements between the state and city agencies delayed the project.
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Muni’s switchback policy on transit routes gained a new foe last week, but while the practice might be increasing on some lines, it appears to be slowing down on others.
A perennial complaint of disgruntled riders, Muni says its practice of cutting short its scheduled routes is necessary to clear delays on other parts of the system.
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The date has been set: All-electronic tolling will begin March 27 on the Golden Gate Bridge.
After two years of planning, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is set to lay off its remaining toll workers and begin discussions on what the new speed limit should be at the plaza to prepare for the cashless system.
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Only about half the low-income San Francisco youths eligible for free Muni have enrolled in the plan.
On March 1, the transit agency rolled out the 16-month pilot program. Agency officials estimated that about 40,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 17 would be eligible for the plan based on income levels, but so far just 22,300 have enrolled, according to agency statistics.
Jaron Browne, a community organizer for nonprofit POWER, which led advocacy efforts for the program, said there are several reasons to explain the low numbers.
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Pedestrians planning to cross the Bay Bridge for the opening celebration of the new eastern span during Labor Day weekend can breathe easy: They won’t have to pay any fees to take part in the festivities.
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Bus line extensions to Pier 70, bike-sharing stations, separated pedestrian pathways and transit hubs in the Dogpatch neighborhood are all part of a new Muni plan to improve transportation access to the rapidly growing Bay waterfront.
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A debris-littered patch of decaying asphalt in McLaren Park is on the verge of becoming a bicycle-skills course after years of advocacy from local groups.
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As one of the country’s busiest airline hubs, San Francisco International Airport is particularly prone to the 90-minute delays that federal officials have been warning about as a result of the so-called budget sequester.
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has specifically said airports in San Francisco, Chicago and New York could see major delays due to the budget cuts implemented last week as part of the political impasse in Washington, D.C.
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Supervisor Scott Wiener is planning to introduce a resolution that will urge the expansion of a bike-sharing network in San Francisco.
The City’s oft-delayed bike-sharing plan, managed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, is supposed to feature up to 500 interchangeable bikes at 50 different stations where users can pick up and drop off the two-wheelers across downtown San Francisco.
However, Wiener said that The City, with its dense layout, is capable of handling a bike-sharing network numbering in the thousands.
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Folks walking along The Embarcadero will notice something a little different on the Bay Bridge starting Tuesday.
Composed of 25,000 light-emitting diodes, the Bay Lights installation will drape across the western span of the bridge, making it the largest such project in the world, according to producer Amy Critchett of Illuminate the Arts, which is staging the event. Tuesday marks the beginning of the two-year installation, with the lights coming on at dusk and going out at 2 a.m. daily.
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Commuters who drive to BART stations should prepare for a double dose of fare increases.
The transit agency’s board of directors approved a measure Thursday to expand the inflation-based fare increase policy until 2020. The biennial program, which expired last year, will ensure that fare hikes are scheduled for 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. Fares will go up 5 percent Jan. 1 and about 4 percent in each of the following rate hikes.
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The party is set for the long-awaited opening of the rebuilt Bay Bridge, but you might have to pay to cross the new eastern span.
As way to celebrate completion of the $6 billion project, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which manages the span, had recommended spending $5.6 million in toll funds to allow at least 150,000 people to walk over the bridge for free during the Labor Day weekend. The money would pay for transportation, security and sanitary details.
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The contentious and long-debated experiment to provide free Muni service for The City’s low-income youths is set to begin Friday.
Instead of paying the normal $22 monthly fee, more than 20,000 students between 5 and 17 years old will be able to ride for free for the next 16 months as part of a proposal that has been in the works since the beginning of 2011.
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