Shoeless on BART
Recent woes with, um, having BART’s trains actually function aside, we come to you with a very sincere inquiry:
WOULD YOU RIDE BART BAREFOOTEDLY*?
Well, wouldja?
Photo by Isabel
* not an actual word, but there you go
Trumpet-playing Muni driver at it again
Among the many advantages of playing a portable instrument, one of them is that if you’re a Muni driver, you can have a mini practice session while you’re on break! This Muni driver did just that, and we’re oh so charmed. And lookee, it’s not the first time he’s been “caught in the act,” so to speak
Maybe he’s warming up for a performance with these other musicians playing on Muni:
First guitar
Second guitar
Cello
Brass
Thanks, Amy Spyvee, for submitting this delightful Muni moment on Twitter!
Got your own Muni moment? Tag #munidiaries on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to add your own slice of San Francisco life!
The BART Twitter account wins the Internet amid system meltdowns
There’s a right way and a wrong way to run the social media account of a public entity. During this week’s BART disruptions, the agency’s Twitter account engaged in so much “the right way of doing things.” Gizmodo has the story:
“Last night, the person in charge of the official San Francisco BART Twitter account lost it. In 57 tweets, the account espoused truth and honesty, and pretty much admitted what everyone in the Bay Area already knows: the crumbling institution kinda sucks.”
We can sympathize! Here at @munidiaries and @bartdiaries, we probably see almost as many hateful public transit tweets as the poor soul who ran BART’s Twitter feed this week. Fortunately our only job here, as four riders blogging away in our living rooms, is to pick out the funniest rants and present them to you! The media found the guy who was running BART’s Twitter feed that night: Taylor Huckaby of @iwriterealgood.
More from Wire.com:
Thankfully for Huckaby, BART’s higher-ups approved of the rogue policy change. His boss commended him for “single-handedly” turning the tide of “pretty much abuse” into an actual conversation. “It was exciting to be able to start a conversation about infrastructure,” Huckaby says, “because infrastructure is just not sexy—unless something is broken or brand new.”
Even The New York Times is on it. They talked to Huckaby about his approach to social media for BART:
His philosophical approach to social media runs counter to that of most government agencies, which he said use Twitter as a bullhorn.
“With the political climate, there’s a lot of focus right now on America’s crumbling infrastructure — why are our tax dollars not getting us anything; where’s our return on investment?” he said, explaining why he thought it was important for government to be responsive online.
Here are a few of the tweets from that evening:
@lisabari To illustrate this point – the number of people who exit at 19th street in Oakland has doubled in less than a decade.
— SFBART (@SFBART) March 17, 2016
Like @iamjohnoliver has said on @lastweektonight, infrastructure isn't sexy – but without it, no one moves. #ThisIsOurReality
— SFBART (@SFBART) March 17, 2016
@shakatron BART was built to transport far fewer people, and much of our system has reached the end of its useful life. This is our reality.
— SFBART (@SFBART) March 17, 2016
@tquad64 Planners in 1996 had no way of predicting the tech boom – track redundancy, new tunnels & transbay tubes are decades-long projects.
— SFBART (@SFBART) March 17, 2016
People in other parts of the U.S. took notice and applauded BART’s openness and honesty through the crisis:
I actually wish more government agencies were this honest about their problems and the tradeoffs of solutions: https://t.co/qtcAGkzBGI
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) March 17, 2016
This one, from the Metro LA account, was especially awesome in its GIF-y solidarity:
@SFBART pic.twitter.com/9xSwytfty4
— Metro (@metrolosangeles) March 17, 2016
Yes, we indeed need more openness and candid communication from public transit agencies. Hear that, @SFMTA_Muni?
What’s the best place for a Muni bus stop?
Ever notice how some Muni bus stops are on the near side of the intersection and some are past the intersection, on the far side? A recent article from The Atlantic’s Citylab blog suggests that there might be a reason for this.
According to a study cited by Citylab, there are three types of bus-stop placement: near-side, far-side, and mid-block. And, as you probably guessed, there are pros and cons to each.
From Citylab, “[N]ear-side stops take more time than far-side ones, by somewhere between 4.2 and 5.0 seconds …” There’s a whole lot of transit-planning “Greek” in the article, but it’s worth checking out if you think Muni could do a better job of 1) placing its stops and 2) keeping the system running more smoothly and effectively. And I’m gonna guess that those two things interest you. Just a hunch.
Photo by @cara4art
Random stranger’s Muni note on how to improve your day
This reminder of how to make your day (and the day of everyone around you) a little better came from @gaedepa on Twitter.
P.S. Here’s another worthy note found on Muni!
Should the Central Subway extend to Fisherman’s Wharf? SFMTA to study the question
Should the Central Subway go all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf instead of just ending at North Beach? That’s the $1.2 million question that SFMTA wants to answer with a new study, reports the Examiner. Current plans for the Central Subway would extend the T-Third from the Caltrain station at 4th and King to stations at 4th and Brennan, Yerba Buena, Union Square, then Chinatown (jog your memory here). The new study will help determine a plan for possibly extending the line to Fisherman’s Wharf.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin told the Examiner that the proposed study will explore “more community work and more technical work, to tee it up into preliminary engineering into environmental impact and analysis.”
Though it’s just a proposal (set to be voted on by the board of directors in April), the supervisors are into it. Supervisors Scott Weiner and Aaron Peskin both expressed support, and neighborhood organizations in Fisherman’s Wharf told the Examiner that extension would help bring more workers into the area:
Troy Campbell, head of the Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefits District, told the Examiner last year that when it comes to businesses at the wharf, there’s been an “exodus of minimum-wage workers in The City.”
Workers need transit options, Campbell said, and the lack of crosstown transit options to Fisherman’s Wharf makes attracting workers like cooks, bussers and shop workers increasingly difficult.
What do you think? The Examiner has more on the story here.
Photo by Patrick Nouhailler