News – Page 127 – Muni Diaries

Last Day To Get Famous On Muni

July 31, 2012 eugenia One comment

See that empty ad space? You can fix that! Photo by Robert B. Livingston

Today is the last day of our “100 Days, 100 Muni Stories” contest, which means: you can get on a bus, point to an ad, and say to your friend/date/random passenger next to you, “Hey, I wrote that.”

We’re celebrating 100 years of Muni by putting a part of your Muni story on a bus ad that will be displayed in the interior of all Muni surface buses. And you only have a few hours to send your stories (tweets too), because we’re closing the contest at 11:59 p.m. today.

Our guest judge is Isaac “Mr. Rad” Fitzgerald, managing editor of The Rumpus (have you subscribed to their Letters In The Mail program yet?), who will help us choose two winners from the pool.

So get your stories in today by using the hashtag #100MuniStories!

Category: News Tags: announcement

Your Weekend Transit Advisory

July 27, 2012 jeff Leave a comment

Here’s SFMTA’s warnings about disrupted Muni service this weekend.

Critical Mass
On Friday the monthly Critical Mass bicycle ride will leave from Justin Herman Plaza sometime after 6 p.m.

Motorists and transit riders may be delayed as the bicycle ride passes. Roads will reopen as soon as bicyclists have passed.

SF Marathon
On Sunday the annual San Francisco Marathon will begin from The Embarcadero and Mission at 5:30 a.m., with staggered starts until 6:40 a.m. The race route will loop north along The Embarcadero, through the Presidio, the outer Richmond District, Golden Gate Park, the Haight, the Mission District, Inner Bayview and back to The Embarcadero. An attendance of up to 20,000 runners is expected.

The following Muni routes and lines will be affected:

F Market
K Ingleside*
L Owl
M Ocean View*
N Judah**
N Owl
T Third
1 California
2 Clement
5 Fulton
6 Parnassus
9 San Bruno
10 Townsend
12 Folsom/Pacific
14/14L Mission
14L Mission Limited
19 Polk
22 Fillmore
24 Divisadero
27 Bryant
28 19th Avenue
29 Sunset
31 Balboa
33 Stanyan
37 Corbett
38 Geary
39 Coit
43 Masonic
44 O’Shaughnessy
47 Van Ness
48 Quintara
49 Van Ness
71 Haight/Noriega
76 Marin Headlands

*Early morning bus service only
**Metro and early morning bus service

Up Your Alley Fair
The Up Your Alley Street Fair will be held on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The following Muni routes will be affected:

9 San Bruno
12 Folsom
19 Polk
27 Bryant
47 Van Ness

Category: News Tags: transit-advisories

Transit News: East Bay BRT approved, BART real-time screens, free Muni for kids voted down

July 26, 2012 jeff Leave a comment

Photo by grace1171

Oakland City Council Gives Final Approval to AC Transit BRT (Streetsblog SF)
New York City’s M.T.A. Opens Front of MetroCard to Advertising (NY Times)
BART real-time departure screens coming (SFGate)
BART Helps Make Movie About Oscar Grant Shooting (SF Weekly)
MTC Votes to Reject Funding for Free Muni for Low-Income Youth (Streetsblog SF)

Category: News

5 More Days to Submit Your Bus Ad in 100 Muni Stories!

July 26, 2012 eugenia One comment

We’ve been celebrating 100 years of Muni by hosting the “100 Days, 100 Muni Stories” contest. A portion of your story could end up on an ad inside the bus! 100 days goes by quickly, and we are in the last week of the contest. The contest ends Tuesday, July 31 at 11:59 p.m., so get your stories in now, or send us tweets by using the hash tag #100MuniStories.

And if you’re wondering what literary heavyweight will be judging the best Muni story, we’ve got that covered. The wonderfully funny and talented Isaac Fitzgerald will be our guest judge for the “100 Days, 100 Muni Stories” contest. Isaac is the managing editor of The Rumpus and has regaled you with his own Muni stories at Muni Diaries Live (bus hero, heyo!).

So get your stories and tweets to us. Only five more days until public transit fame could be yours.

Submit stories here. Email stories. Tweet stories. DO IT.

Category: News Tags: announcement

About BART’s poop-covered escalators

July 26, 2012 jeff 3 comments

Photo by Jeremy Brooks

On Wednesday, SFGate ran a story about human waste being the cause of so many broken escalators at downtown San Francisco’s BART stations. You might want to wait to eat breakfast until well after reading this story.

The most vomit-inducing passage:

All those biological excretions can gum up the wheels and gears of BART’s escalators, shutting them down for long periods of extended repairs, increasing station cleaning costs and creating an unpleasant aroma for morning commuters.

Read on, if your stomach will allow.

Category: BART, News

FTA Awards Muni with $21.4 Million

July 24, 2012 jeff Leave a comment

Photo by THE Holy Hand Grenade!

Streetsblog SF reports that the SFMTA, which runs Muni, has been awarded $21.4 million to upgrade its fleet with new buses, and make improvements to a specific route.

From Streetsblog’s report:

Muni, which has the oldest transit fleet in the nation, will be able to replace 18 twenty-year-old buses with low-floor, biodiesel hybrid buses using the $15 million State of Good Repair grant, according to a news release. Another $6.4 million, which comes from the Livability grant, will be used for these improvements along the 8x Bayshore Express line as part of the 8x Mobility Maximization project:

Coloring of existing dedicated transit lanes;

Transit signal priority;

Pre-payment fare collection;

Information panel and transit arrival prediction signs;

Vehicle branding and enhanced stop identification; and

Cameras on buses to capture vehicles illegally occupying transit-only lanes.

Overall, Bay Area transit agencies fared well, also. In addition to Muni’s take, BART, AC Transit, SamTrans, and the Valley Transportation Authority are set to receive a total of $45.7 million for transit improvements.