Author: jeff

Not that Muni Diaries would ever dissuade anyone from using buses and trains in the city, but this report from the Chronicle‘s Rachel Gordon, of how several perhaps-more-vital city agencies are pilfering SFMTA, doesn’t paint a pretty picture for our beloved/maligned Muni. Greg at N-Judah Chronicles shares his take, in no uncertain terms, on the goings on over at McAllister and Van Ness.

This whole “economy” thing is bad, folks. We wouldn’t bemoan riding a bike or walking. Just, er, look both ways if you do, as there were two cases of a Muni train not hearing the thunderous sound of an approaching pedestrian and striking them as recently as yesterday. The Examiner reports the other incident, in which a ped got smacked at Fifth and Market. Apparently one of these two incidents involved life-threatening injuries, though it’s unclear which. Yikes.

Speaking of, and this comes to us a little late, the MTA board last week approved “$1.8 million to settle a dozen claims involving collisions with cars, a slip and fall, and doors shutting on a passenger.” Maybe after this weekend, that tally will inch up a bit.

Late Friday, ex-BART officer Johannes Mehserle was released on bail, to celebratory cheers all around, I’m sure. The Examiner has thrown its pennies in the pot (though not quite $0.02, we’d estimate), with an editorial on how truly stinky BART’s “investigation” and subsequent decision to farm that work out is.

If you’ve got something burning in your loins that you feel our readers should know of, please, let it out. The story, we mean. Call us, call us, any, anytime …

Update: More bad news for BART, as a train apparently struck an object on the tracks in the Transbay Tube and had to be evacuated. BART is claiming no injuries, but we’ll wait for this one to shake out a little.

Original post: SFGate brings us an update on the BART train collision from earier in the week. Apparently, human error was more than just partially to blame. And the Examiner’s John Upton brings us news of that other BART tragedy of late, as some of Oscar Grant’s fellow passengers are filing a $1.5 million claim against the agency.

BeyondChron informs us of the star-studded (or is it dudded?) National Biodiesel Board Conference, taking place in the city this week at Moscone. This is perhaps only marginally transit-related, as BC points out that S.F. is home to one of the largest fleets of public biodiesel vehicles, including many of Muni’s coaches.

TPM’s Elana Schor looks into competing schemes to bring real stimulus to public-transit projects nationwide.

Got more transit news? Muni stories of your own? As always, let us know!

Bad news on BART tonight, as two trains collide beneath downtown Oakland. Reports of minor injuries and 15-minute delays systemwide.

The agency today announces that a third-party vendor will provide wifi on its entire system, a welcome addition. Now, if wifi weren’t such an iPhone-battery-killer. And in other press-release news, the agency announces ways in which it aims to deal with budget cuts.

Meanwhile, KPIX reports on the latest from the Oscar Grant hearings, in which a BART cop’s lawyer claims his client was provoked shortly before another officer shot and killed Grant.

Greg from N-Judah Chronicles does his civic duty by announcing an open invitation from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano to drop by and discuss budget matters at Ammiano’s downtown SF office.

On the stimulus front, now that the bill is in the more-esteemed chamber of Congress, surely it’s about to become more intelligent where mass transit is concerned, right? Wrong.

Ahead of today’s vote on an amendment prescribing transit-infrastructure spending in the bill, TPM’s Elana Schor analyzes what the bill would and wouldn’t do. Shortly after the amendment’s defeat, Schor comes back with a few nay-saying senators‘ forked-tongue responses, including a Democrat who voted “No.”

And finally, because we need a little humor as it appears that No We Can’t, we thought we’d throw this gem from Jason Linkins at Huffington Post. Apparently, our war-criminal ex-secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, had a little trouble boarding a bus in Washington, D.C. Join the crowd, Rummy.