Faced with the prospect of a four-figure fine, motorists will probably think twice about illegally using a disabled parking placard in San Francisco — unless they know how to game the system.
But to the chagrin of city officials, drivers can actually clear that $1,000-plus citation by ponying up just enough cash to buy a large pizza, due to a processing glitch at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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With employees logging an average of 40 unscheduled absences annually, reforming work rules will be a key focus for BART during ongoing labor negotiations.
BART management and its five unions, which collectively represent 3,200 workers, are engaged in contentious contract talks, with the current pact expiring June 30. However, talks so far have yielded little progress, and union groups say they are further apart now than in 2009, when a strike nearly occurred.
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Despite concerns about potential cost overruns and a lack of local firms hired to work on the Central Subway project, Muni officials Tuesday approved an $840 million contract for the $1.6 billion transit-extension plan.
The contract — awarded to Tutor Perini, a large contractor based in Southern California — covers the construction and installation of three stations, 1.5 miles of tracks and a new train-control system.
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An $840 million contract for Muni’s Central Subway project — a pact that accounts for more than half the total cost of the undertaking — is up for approval Tuesday.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors is expected to vote on the contract, which includes the construction of three underground stations, an elevated platform and 1.5 miles of light-rail tracks. The stations are slated to be built underneath the Moscone Center, Union Square and Chinatown, and the platform will be located at Fourth and Brannan streets.
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Among projects detailed in San Francisco International Airport’s capital plan for the next decade is a four-star hotel.
The $4.1 billion plan also calls for rebuilt terminals and boarding areas and a rehabilitated air traffic control tower.
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Downtown San Francisco will be mired in gridlock unless changes are made soon to alleviate automobile traffic — and the most effective method could be a long-discussed and controversial congestion-pricing scheme.
Unless private automobile traffic is reduced by 27 percent over the next three decades, congestion levels in The City will be unmanageable, with vehicles stuck at a standstill and pedestrians and cyclists prone to increasingly dangerous conditions, according to a new report by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, a local planning agency.
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An obsolete ban against suitcases on a SamTrans express line to the San Francisco airport will finally be lifted next month.
The remnant of a legal claim filed in the 1970s, the SamTrans KX has barred passengers from carrying luggage due to its unfair competitive advantage over private shuttle providers. San Francisco Airporter, which operated regular runs to San Francisco International Airport for years, filed the lawsuit, arguing that it couldn’t compete financially with a publicly subsidized service like SamTrans.
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Under a new proposal backed by city leaders, motorists with disabled placards would have to pay for parking and be subject to time limits at meters.
Drivers with a blue placard can park for free at any space in The City and they are not subject to any time limits. But since 2001 there has been a 100 percent increase of the placards in the Bay Area, leading some disabled advocates to question whether the permits are being abused. Every year, about 1,800 placards are confiscated in The City for fraudulent use, but permits continue to be issued out.
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For revelers and runners in the Bay to Breakers race, the euphoria of finishing the event usually wears off as soon as they realize they are stuck at Ocean Beach.
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Hundreds of on-street parking spaces will be set aside for car-sharing vehicles this fall as part of a city-led effort to reduce private-car ownership in San Francisco.
Companies like Zipcar and City CarShare will be allowed to reserve up to 150 spaces apiece, with another 150 potentially available next year. Wheelz, which specializes in peer-to-peer transactions involving personal vehicles, and Car2Go, a startup that features one-way car trips, could be included later.
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Four years after agreeing to a wage freeze and reduced contributions to their health and retirement plans, BART workers are back at the table for contract talks that appear as though they could be more toxic than in 2009, when there were repeated threats of work stoppages and strikes.
The biggest issues in the contract talks are wages and compensation, including health care and pension contributions.
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Catching a glimpse of the new tiger cub or any of the other exotic animals at the San Francisco Zoo could soon be a bit more expensive.
Admission fees are slated to increase $2, with prices for San Francisco residents poised to go from $12 to $14. Fees for nonresidents could be raised from $15 to $17, while rates for seniors are slated to go up from $7.50 to $9.50. And for children 4 to 14 years old, the cost could rise from $5.50 to $7.50.
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Nonprofit institutions and other local organizations will be able to use the new conference center at the renovated Lake Merced Boathouse, but it will come at a cost.
Part of a $2 million rehabilitation project set to begin at the end of this month, the conference center will have room to host 85 people for meetings and 50 people for catered events. Once the site is reopened this fall, the Recreation and Park Department, which owns the property, wants to begin renting out the conference room.
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More than 100 feet below the roiling waters of the Bay lies BART’s Transbay Tube, one of the region’s most impressive engineering feats — a path that acts as a portal for nearly 200,000 passengers travelling each day between the East Bay and San Francisco.
Tucked neatly into a protective trench on the floor of the Bay, the tube is nonetheless exposed to the elements of corrosive saltwater, and, more troubling, an occasional misplaced ship anchor.
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The new painted transit-only lane on Church Street — designed to keep private vehicles out of the way of Muni vehicles — appears to be paying dividends for the agency.
Since a layer of red paint was laid down on a three-block stretch of the street, the 22-Fillmore has had a 5 percent reduction in travel time and a 20 percent increase in reliability along that stretch, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which manages Muni.
The red paint was put down in March between Duboce Avenue and 16th Street — the most congested stretch of Church Street.
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