Don’t be this guy. Ever.

It’s really too bad that BART nixed its whole “Who’s the biggest asshole on BART” contest, or whatever it was, because this guy could be a contender.

He was on a super-crowded SFO Airport-bound train, not only hogging both halves of the disabled seat but pretending to be asleep so nobody could oust him. How do I know he was pretending? He did finally relinquish half the seat when a woman asked him to, and she didn’t have to wake him up to get the job done.

Seriously, people. If you sit down in one of these seats, and you are not disabled, elderly, pregnant, etc., it is not yours to keep. It’s your responsibility to keep an eye out for the folks who DO need these seats, and to make sure you give it up if someone needier boards the train. In fact, it’s against the law NOT to.

Looks like I’m not the only one peeved about this.

— Beth W.

Transit-News Digest 2.3.09

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.

Coming 2.18.09: The First-Ever Muni Diaries Pub Crawl!

beer

You’ve heard the rumors. You’ve felt the chatter. You’ve smelled the … oh, never mind.

We’re pleased to announce the first Muni Diaries Pub Crawl, set to take place Wednesday, February 18. Whether you’ve been following this blog, our Twitter feed, or best of all, submitting stories, come join us for some beer and cocktails and meet fellow reader-riders!

We’ve carefully crafted a public-transportation-friendly route: We’ll start things off at our official supporter, Lucky 13 (Market and 15th Street), then head over to Dalva on 16th Street near Guerrero. From there, we’ll close the night out at Doc’s Clock on Mission (near 22nd Street). Getting home, well, that’s your problem. And Muni’s.

Read more

Transit-News Digest 1.29.09

Late Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the stimulus bill, which will provide much-needed mass transit funds. Elana Schor at TPM detailed the mass-transit funding in the bill, which still awaits watering-down debate in the Senate.

Closer to home, SFist_Dan gives us all a much-needed update on the state of TransLink. Put it this way — it’s running about as well as Muni is.

Greg Dewar adds more information to Wednesday evening’s incident in the Sunset involving a car getting pummeled by the N. Greg extended his post with a pretty scary olfactory incident of his own witness later that night. Greg also offered up a seemingly great idea to avoid transit-funding cuts, one he scribbled down at a bar a few years ago, to boot.

KPIX tells us BART’s decision to hire big-name lawyers to conduct a probe into the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant.

And SFGate reports of one example of confusing Muni signage. Word of the wise to SFGate: While technically accurate, this is the tip of iceberg. Read: All things NextBus.

If you know of news we missed, let us know!

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