MTA board of directors gets an earful

And You Don't Know What You Want
Photo by Thomas Hawk

The MTA Board of Directors met on Tuesday and, as StreetsBlog SF reports, balked at the F-line fire hike and want to take another look at extending parking meter hours. The Examiner also reported details about the proposed Muni service cuts. Rider Dee Leit attended the meeting and sent us a report that focused on the public comment portion of the meeting, which had an amazing turnout and really struck a chord with Dee. Commenters were concerned about the possible layoffs of Muni cash handlers, car cleaners, and other upcoming service cuts. An excerpt from Dee’s account of the meeting:

The MTA meeting opened with some business, then it opened up first for public comment on off-agenda items. I saw many union workers and people who may be laid off from MTA in the next few months. This includes 11 car cleaners, the folks who keep the buses clean every day. An 11 year old girl came up to say that zxshe was worried about H1N1 being spread due to layoffs of custodial workers on the bus. She was worried that because her school takes Muni on field trips and lots of her fellow students also take Muni, the layoffs of car cleaners could mean that she might catch the disease.

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BART minus the pants

My pantsless legs on MUNI
Photo by Flickr user nelz9999

It’s that time of year: Time to ride BART and Muni with no pants on and freak out all the grannies and grampses riding on a Sunday afternoon.

What follows is organizers’ Improve Everywhere’s Facebook page devoted to this Sunday’s event. Rather than linking to FB and making many of you sign in or sign up, we’ve gone ahead and pasted it all here. Remember: the organizers do not want those participating in the ride to do anything conspicuous like take photos. We’re honoring that request, and not asking you for any. Instead, we’ll do our best to round some up early next week. SFW, natch.

All are invited to participate in the 9th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride. The event will take place starting 1:30 PM on Sunday January 10.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it
3) At least $5 for the BART/MUNI rides and some extra for bar/etc.
(or a fast past)

If you are unfamiliar with the No Pants Subway Ride, read the history at Improve Everywhere.

THE PLAN:

Pittsburg/Bay Point train, times below.

Go to the station of your choice, before the scheduled train arrives. If you can, arrive with no pants (if you are bringing pants for later, have them in a bag or otherwise concealed; if you need to, discreetly take your pants off in the station before getting on the train). Then get on the train when it arrives. Act casual. Don’t take pictures, if you can help it. Try not to notice the other pantsless people, unless someone points them out to you. If asked, pretend you have no idea why everyone else has no pants. See the improv everywhere page if you need ideas on why /you’re/ not wearing pants.

This is the new revised schedule; if you can plan on boarding from the other stations that are suggested, PLEASE DO. The more spread out we are the better.

1:47 San Bruno
1:51 SSF
1:54 Colma
1:58 Daly City
2:01 Balboa Park<-Last names that start with A-H
2:04 Glen Park
2:07 24th & mission<-Last names that start with I-P
2:09 16th & mission
2:11 Civic Center<-last names that start with Q-Z
2:13 Powell
2:14 Montgomery
2:16 Embarcadero <—we all exit

After we exit on embarcadero, we will proceed to MUNI and go from there. Our goal is to be by MUNI by 2:30 After this our new adventure will begin!!!

Let the search for the pants lead you! Wear comfortable shoes and bring some extra cash. Once again try and refrain from taking pictures, the more it looks that we just forgot pants the better. There will be plenty of photographers that are spectating for us. I know its going to be hard not to take pictures, but at least tone it down 🙂

———————————————————————————-
The last year event page and all the details/pictures we posted:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=41689368279&index=1

———————————————————————————
The main stop everyone boarded on was @ 16th and mission but I’d like to have it more spread out this year so everyone isn’t getting on at the same stop. If some could disperse to 24th and mission that would be great. (the more spread out we are the better)

Remember that you might want to bring pants for later in case it does get cold. The forecast is a high of 58 so we are looking good so far.

I’ll update this more this week. Thanks and hope to see everyone in their best attire.
—————————————————————————————
THESE INSTRUCTION ARE FOR EAST BAY ONLY DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE ON THE SF BAY SIDE
*EAST BAYERS*
You are very important too, so make sure you come. It would be great if you would arrive on this train or around 2:16 so the confusion of both trains in the station emptying out with pants-less passengers.

1:27 Concord
1:32 Pleasant Hill
1:35 Walnut Creek
1:39 Layafette
1:44 Orinda
1:50 Rockridge
1:55 McAuthur
1:58 19th & Oakland
1:59 12th & Oakland
2:03 West Oakland
2:11 Embarcadero< exit here
Our train will arrive a couple minutes later so just wait for us.

Vivek-

A call for no pants

My pantsless legs on MUNI
Photo by Flickr user nelz9999

It’s that time of year: Time to ride BART and Muni with no pants on and freak out all the grannies and grampses riding on a Sunday afternoon.

What follows is organizers’ Improve Everywhere’s Facebook page devoted to this Sunday’s event. Rather than linking to FB and making many of you sign in or sign up, we’ve gone ahead and pasted it all here. Remember: the organizers do not want those participating in the ride to do anything conspicuous like take photos. We’re honoring that request, and not asking you for any. Instead, we’ll do our best to round some up early next week. SFW, natch.

All are invited to participate in the 9th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride. The event will take place starting 1:30 PM on Sunday January 10.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it
3) At least $5 for the BART/MUNI rides and some extra for bar/etc.
(or a fast past)

If you are unfamiliar with the No Pants Subway Ride, read the history at Improve Everywhere.

THE PLAN:

Pittsburg/Bay Point train, times below.

Go to the station of your choice, before the scheduled train arrives. If you can, arrive with no pants (if you are bringing pants for later, have them in a bag or otherwise concealed; if you need to, discreetly take your pants off in the station before getting on the train). Then get on the train when it arrives. Act casual. Don’t take pictures, if you can help it. Try not to notice the other pantsless people, unless someone points them out to you. If asked, pretend you have no idea why everyone else has no pants. See the improv everywhere page if you need ideas on why /you’re/ not wearing pants.

This is the new revised schedule; if you can plan on boarding from the other stations that are suggested, PLEASE DO. The more spread out we are the better.

1:47 San Bruno
1:51 SSF
1:54 Colma
1:58 Daly City
2:01 Balboa Park<-Last names that start with A-H
2:04 Glen Park
2:07 24th & mission<-Last names that start with I-P
2:09 16th & mission
2:11 Civic Center<-last names that start with Q-Z
2:13 Powell
2:14 Montgomery
2:16 Embarcadero <—we all exit

After we exit on embarcadero, we will proceed to MUNI and go from there. Our goal is to be by MUNI by 2:30 After this our new adventure will begin!!!

Let the search for the pants lead you! Wear comfortable shoes and bring some extra cash. Once again try and refrain from taking pictures, the more it looks that we just forgot pants the better. There will be plenty of photographers that are spectating for us. I know its going to be hard not to take pictures, but at least tone it down 🙂

———————————————————————————-
The last year event page and all the details/pictures we posted:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=41689368279&index=1

———————————————————————————
The main stop everyone boarded on was @ 16th and mission but I’d like to have it more spread out this year so everyone isn’t getting on at the same stop. If some could disperse to 24th and mission that would be great. (the more spread out we are the better)

Remember that you might want to bring pants for later in case it does get cold. The forecast is a high of 58 so we are looking good so far.

I’ll update this more this week. Thanks and hope to see everyone in their best attire.
—————————————————————————————
THESE INSTRUCTION ARE FOR EAST BAY ONLY DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE ON THE SF BAY SIDE
*EAST BAYERS*
You are very important too, so make sure you come. It would be great if you would arrive on this train or around 2:16 so the confusion of both trains in the station emptying out with pants-less passengers.

1:27 Concord
1:32 Pleasant Hill
1:35 Walnut Creek
1:39 Layafette
1:44 Orinda
1:50 Rockridge
1:55 McAuthur
1:58 19th & Oakland
1:59 12th & Oakland
2:03 West Oakland
2:11 Embarcadero< exit here
Our train will arrive a couple minutes later so just wait for us.

Vivek-

SFMTA releases video of 19-Polk crash

Update: Above, video of the crash (thx @ActionNewsSF):

Original post: The following is a press release from MTA spokesperson Judson True. It shows both the 19-Polk and the truck running their respective stop signs moments before slamming into each other.

The SFMTA today released video from the 19 Polk vehicle’s DriveCam system and its onboard video surveillance system. At approximately 12:05 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 5, this 19 Polk Muni bus traveling northbound on De Haro Street was involved in an accident with a truck traveling westbound on 18th Street.

The DriveCam video is provided as an attachment to the e-mail.

The onboard video can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/6Giiyi. The 164- megabyte file may take a few minutes to download. This video is also available on DVD; e-mail judson.true@sfmta.com to obtain a copy of it.

The video appears to show that the Muni bus rolled through its STOP sign on De Haro Street and the truck ran its STOP sign.

“Video is a tremendous help in our investigation of accidents like this one,” said Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., SFMTA Executive Director/CEO. “It is a vital tool that helps us improve Muni safety.”

The Muni Operator involved in the accident remains on non-driving status pending the outcome of the investigation.

DriveCam is a driver risk mitigation system that the SFMTA has installed in all of its trolley, biodiesel and biodiesel-electric hybrid buses, to help improve safety on the transit system. The DriveCam system records inside and outside the front of the bus to capture collisions or other driving behaviors. The cameras record and download a few seconds of footage before and after an incident when the vehicle experiences an exceptional force, such as hard braking or swerving. These recordings will be used for safety investigations and Operator instruction.

Because the files involved do not run on Macs, we’re providing the .wmv version of the video here. If anyone can convert this to .mov or upload to YouTube, let us know and we’ll embed it here. We watched it, and it’s clear that both vehicles are at fault.

19-Polk crash injures 9, including bus driver

I couldn't Decide...
Photo by Flickr user Allio

Final update 11:45 a.m.: SF Appeal has MTA’s statement, which clarifies that both the bus driver and the driver of the truck suffered injuries that sent them to the hospital. Five passengers were also sent to the hospital, and two were treated on the scene, as originally reported.

Update 9:20 a.m.: The Examiner and NBC both say that the bus driver was among the injured. Consensus forming around that report, we’d say.

Update 8:01 a.m.: CBS 5 reports that the bus driver was among the injured. ABC 7 reports that the “driver” who was injured wasn’t the bus driver, but the driver of the truck. We’ll try to sort that out. Still, six bus passengers were sent to the hospital, and two passengers were treated at the scene.

Original post: SF Appeal and others are reporting an early morning crash involving a 19-Polk bus and a truck near 18th and De Haro (Potrero Hill neighborhood).

More details as they emerge.

Who says your kid won’t look good in Muni?

Just in time for Christmas!

Coming off the heels of this post on BART Diaries, we couldn’t help but notice these adorable toddler tees adorned with (you guessed it) Muni art!

How cute. No, really.

According to the site, New Skool “is owned and designed by Bay Area Designer and Graffiti Artist Nate1 MPC,” and designs “kids and adult clothing for the Hip Hop minded.” What better intersection for hip hop than everybody’s least-favorite pubic transportation agency?

There’s more toddler and infant wares to be had, and some neat art with Muni in it. So head over to New Skool today. And feel free to tell ’em what sent ya.

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