Mind the Bikes on BART, Boy!

Integrated transport excitement - you can take bikes on the BART!
Photo by Flickr user Pete Boyd

BART rider Chris sends word of a major sting operation on BART. That’s right, bike scofflaws, beware:

This morning, at 16th and Mission, a station agent was posted up at the fare gates asking every person attempting to enter with their bicycle which direction they were going. If they said East Bay or Downtown, then they were reminded that bikes were not allowed on BART. Some people were visibly annoyed… but no one seemed to not know about the rules… mostly people were asking the agent why this rule was starting to be enforced.

BART’s bicycle rules are here, for the record.

Anyone else seen these dragnet officers in action? Anyone got any strong feelings on the matter? Let us know in comments.

Muni Fisticuffs (update with partial translation)


Update:

Got a partial translation from a Chinese-speaking source. According to our source:

The two women started having an argument about an available seat. As the clip progresses with both women arguing, saying “Fuck you” and “you’re stupid,” a bystander said in Cantonese something akin to, “Don’t get excited, talk to her slowly.” According to our commenters, more than one bystander could be heard saying, don’t fight, don’t fight. As the argument escalated and the women begin physically fighting, a second bystander said in Cantonese, “Hit her, hit her, hit her, hit her until she’s afraid.” Then a third bystander pulls them apart as you can see in the video clip.

This whole exchange is really disturbing. Can anybody else verify what was being said?

– Eugenia

Original post:

Okay, this is really ugly. But we couldn’t not post it, could we?

We’re working on getting a translation for the lady not speaking English. We’ll update this post as soon as we get that.

(Thx: @ActionNewsSF and @pereljon)

Rug for Muni Lovers

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Muni rider Chibbs alerts us to this must-have area rug for Muni Diaries headquarters: A $3,000 wool rug bearing the image of a Muni transfer.

From the dark corner of the internets, Chibbs found Swedish artist and interior decorator Carouschka Steijffert, who designs this rug as well as rugs bearing the image of the Milan and Copenhagen transit tickets. Muni historians out there, help us out: Is this a transfer from the days of yore?

And also, dear, dear reader: If you or someone you know purchase this rug, please, for the love of God, let us all know. A photo shoot would be in order, stat.

BART’s Oakland Airport Connector — Yea or Nay? (updates)

BART @ Bayfair Station, 2007
Photo by Flickr user sftrajan

Update (9:04 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009): Transbayblog has a recap of last night’s City Council meeting, in which the council approved the OAC, with a caveat or two.

Original post: Things could come to a boil at tonight’s Oakland City Council meeting, when the council will vote on a resolution rejecting a proposal for an elevated line connecting the Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont lines to the Oakland International Airport. The estimated cost of the project: $522 million.

We at BART Diaries see both sides of a fairly complicated and certainly expensive project. But we want to know how you, dear reader/BART rider, feel about this. Let us know in the comments.

Oh, and if you’re so inspired, Transbay Blog is awarding prizes to anyone who shows up to tonight’s City Council meeting to speak about the OAC (Oakland Airport Connector).

Tagger arrest (from outside) on the 14

Muni Bombing As An Artform
Photo by Troy Holden

We’ve had plenty of public speculation as to SFPD’s patrolling of Muni, or lack thereof. Monday, though, the Ingleside police station chief’s daily report included a tagger getting arrested by a cop who wasn’t actually on the bus at all:

7:59 pm Mission @ Trumbull Graffiti arrest
Officer Hurwitz was on undercover patrol. The officer was stopped at a red light next to a bus. The officer looked up and saw a suspect writing on the rear window of the bus. The officer quickly stopped the bus and took the suspect into custody. Report number 091022362

Newsom-Muni-Parking Meters: It’s getting ugly in here

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Photo by Flickr user myelectricsheep

SF Weekly has a nifty play-by-play of sorts detailing the long, drawn-out drama involving our broken public transportation system, and suggested studies of ways to keep the thing afloat.

Muni Diaries isn’t taking sides in all of this, of course. We’d simply like public transportation to be affordable. That, and we feel like good ideas are worth exploring further. Good ideas like extending parking-meter hours in an effort to let those who choose to drive help pay the way for those unable to do the same, which his Gavination seems to be against. Even studying the aforementioned.

Oh, and the obligatory Gavin joke: Wait, he’s still the mayor?

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