Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
SFGate reports that Muni is taking one of the service’s oldest streetcars to put it back to service on the F line!
From SFGate story:
“These cars touched people’s lives,” said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency. “It’s more than steel wheels and steel frames and wooden seats. These cars took people home to their loved ones, they took them to the doctor, took them to school.”
Thx SFGate.
Reposting from Tony Long’s North Beach Examiner, a look at one community’s counter-proposal to Muni’s idea of euthanizing the northeastern line.
Disclosure: Tony is my boss in both of our day jobs. And he’s one hell of a journalist and good guy.
Can we have our marquees back? Please?
The Examiner takes a close look at the proposed cuts on a couple of linnes with paltry ridership.
A little teaser from the story:
These cuts are two of many proposals being studied by Muni as part of its Transit Effectiveness Project, which, if implemented, would result in the most comprehensive bus rerouting done in my memory. And I’ve been here a long time. There isn’t a single line passing through or near North Beach (save the cable cars) that wouldn’t be affected in some way.
Some of this post is F-centric, and some of it is just rants and raves about what should be basic common sense on public transit. It’s going to be pretty clear which is which.
Muni Diaries often complains about the F. I guess Muni Diaries complains about a good handful of things, but there are special problems inherent in the F that require extra-special complaints.
I don’t know how much it cost by its unveiling in 2000 to expand the F-Market line to the wharves, but I’m sure it was expensive. It appears to have been part of a continuing effort to revamp the rails and give tourists something cute to ride on. Nonetheless, I think the city underestimates how many people, regular SF residents, use it to get to work. We use it because there is NOTHING QUICKER. It’s so freakin’ cute. It emphazies local history and I love that to bits. But it is so inefficient and slow, it makes me and the other commuters want to rip our hair out as we all fight to get on the tiny, infrequent cars.
Muni Diaries would rather stay out of presidential politics. But this year just feels different. It should come as no surprise that we support any candidate willing to invest in transit solutions that offer equal access to efficient, clean transit systems.
DCist lays out the policy and philosophical differences between Barack Obama and John McCain.