Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
In which Share Better SF takes Airbnb to task. I, for one, am happy that they signed it “San Franciscans.”
You might remember last year when this off-the-mark real Airbnb ad struck a cord and many memes were born. Though Airbnb apologized for the ads at the time, I think it’s safe to say this was not the end of it.
Making dreams come true for cat ladies everywhere, a group has taken over a subway station in London and covered it entirely with adorable cat pictures. Riders in South London’s Clapham Common tube station were greeted yesterday with photos of adorable (and adoptable) felines rather than obnoxious advertising. How did this magic happen? Atlas Obscura has the details:
The group responsible—the Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (CATS)—has been scheming about this since at least April, when their Kickstarter page first popped up. In less than a month, they raised £23,131—enough to turn Clapham Common into Cat-fan Paw-mon. (Sorry.)
Why can’t we have nice things like they do in London? For now we’ll have to make do with these furry Muni cats: in a stroller, on a shoulder, or looking cool in sunglasses!
Photos via CatsNotAds.
Anyone who has taken a bike on BART knows it means hovering over your bike while trying not to crash into anyone else while the train is moving. BART has a new idea for you: straps that hold your bike in place. SFGate reports that a new test program has installed two types of fabric straps (either velcro or a buckle) in 60 BART cars.
Cyclists: Have you tried these new straps and how are they working out for you?
Photo courtesy of BART
How far can public transit take you? A new app maps out just how far you can go within a specific time frame—just move the starting point pin, tell the app how much time you have, and the maps lights up with how far you can go using public transit.
The Commutometer app calculates travel time using Bay Area public transit, including Muni, BART, ferries, Caltrain, and a whole host of other options. Lesson learned? It’s gonna take you more than 30 minutes to get from the north end of the city to have drinks with your Mission friends. And it looks like you can travel to a lot more areas in the city if you’re starting out near the Van Ness Station than, say, Chinatown or other points north. The folks on this Reddit thread have lots more observations (like how quickly you’d have to get away from Colma).
Click around the map and let us know if this is an accurate depiction of your commute.
New shuttle loops may give N-Judah commuters some relief in their typically crowded commute. Two additional one-car shuttle loops started running this week between Cole Valley and Embarcadero Station, reports SFGate. The shuttles run during morning commute hours for inbound commuters.
Just how bad was the problem? SFMTA transit director John Haley told SFGate that a recent study found that 100 to 150 passengers every morning are left waiting for a later train at the Carl and Cole streets stop. He estimates that the shuttles can carry as many as 500 additional passengers.
The N-Judah is Muni Metro’s busiest line, carrying as many as 50,000 passengers each day, according to the SFGate report. If you are a N-Judah commuter, let us know if your morning rides have been a bit better this week, please.
Photo by Chris Haynes
Last year, SFMTA teamed up with SF Beautiful to hold a contest. This wasn’t sports or anything. It was a competition in which the public voted for their favorite artist to have their work adorning Muni buses all over town. So rad.
The contest and campaign went so well, they’ve come back for another round.
And this year’s winners are …
Here’s what SF Beautiful’s Darcy Brown had to say about the campaign:
“Every year the public vote is so exciting,” said Darcy Brown, Executive Director of San Francisco Beautiful. “This project is such an important addition to the San Francisco arts scene because it highlights five local artists and gets their work in front of, not only the thousands of people who participate in the vote but over 700,000 Muni riders every day for four months. What young artist doesn’t dream of an opportunity like that?”
SFMTA’s Ed Reiskin added:
“This project is a win-win for both the artists and the riding public who were engaged in the voting process from the very beginning,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation, Ed Reiskin. “These local artists can be proud to showcase their work across our city, which will add another round of engaging art to our Muni trips.”
Yep.