It's kind of entertaining sometimes to have two daily newspapers around covering the same beat because you often get differing accounts of the same story. Like today. In a story about Nathaniel Ford's comments about the State of Muni after the recent debacle, the Chron paints a rosy picture of Ford's assessment. The Examiner-- not so much. ...

In another shocking development, it has been discovered that 40% of the people who board cable cars are not having their fares collected by conductors. Actually, this isn't that shocking considering it was discovered awhile back by Gavin Newsom, Private Dick. In another shocking part of the story, it was determined that the time and amount of crowding on a cable car can affect when and when not a conductor collects fare. ...

Here's todays roundup of the news...

So we all know Muni is having some budget problems, mainly that in order to work the way they (and us) want it to work, they'll need more money, like $150 million dollars. But they also know that any sort of fare increase will only bring the wrath of God on them. What to do, what to do? ...

This might be a surprise to some of you (well, all of you) but the T-Third line isn't even official yet but already there are problems. According to the Chron, the line is already slower than predicted and the Examiner today reports that there are shortages in trains, not enough drivers, and so far not enough passengers. As this is the weekend the train goes pro, these are not the things Muni wants people to be hearing. ...

A couple of weeks ago, there was a minor kerfluffle over parking meters in relation to the MTA, mainly that they weren't collecting enough money. Which is what happens when the city doesn’t check to see if people are putting money into them. So today, we get two stories about the latest. ...

Today is an exciting day in the world of San Francisco transit as we move from Phase I of the Metro Overhead Line Replacement Project (MOLRP) and start Phase II. Woo hoo! We hear there was a celebration in honor of the start of Phase II which largely consisted of Nathaniel Ford breaking a champagne bottle on the first delayed run of the J Church. ...

-Pelosi starts right in with the San Francisco values: bans smoking. -The Governor's health care plan could supercede San Francisco's health care plan. ...

Now that we were back, we were looking forward to waiting for MUNI and smelling all the chocolate-y goodness of the new aromatic "Got Milk?" ads (insert Got MUNI? joke here). But alas, we came back a day late and a dollar short. Due to the usual stuff, the chocolate-smelling bus stops are no more. Meet the new MUNI bus stop, same as the old MUNI bus stop. ...

Dear Martha, The war continues on and I miss you terribly. It's been many months since General Ford launched his war of MUNI aggression on us and I fear it might go on for ever and ever. The winter is here and it's getting colder and colder but we're told we must fight on against the able-bodied advocates with their Transit Effectiveness Project. Sometimes I wonder what we're fighting for but then I'm reminded it's for the transit-dependent. All the seniors, single parents with young children, people with disabilities, and school age youth, the huddled masses of San Francisco. Don't they know that it's their rightful mobility that's at questions? What would they do if that rascally Nathaniel Ford makes them walk an extra block or two? ...

The Chron's got the wrapup of the results from this year's problem-solving Chronicle Watch reports -- from October 2005-October 2006. We've got a wrap-up of the wrap-up, right here! Total number of problems fixed: 139. Breakdown by region: San Francisco -- 70 (29 street repairs, 23 park fixes, 7 public transportation fixes, 11 signs). East Bay -- 44 (21 street, 14 park, 5 signs, 4 public transit). South Bay -- 16, North Bay 9. Number......

We have actual real-live good news on the transportation front today and yes, that's a sentence we don't write a whole lot. First up is MUNI which is now using the 1 California to test out a new system to ensure busses are on time. Why the 1 California? Because Gavin got in a tiff when he waited for one and watched four go buy without stopping. So he called Nathaniel Ford himself to complain. See, it sometimes pays to be all Grampa Simpson like. The story doesn't say, however, whether Gavin was incognito when he awaited one or why he was riding the 1 at all. Hmmm...maybe the whole hair thing was just part of some elaborate disguise. ...

Does anyone else remember those awesome signs they used to have behind the driver on the old MUNI buses -- "Information Gladly Given But Safety Requires Avoiding Unnecessary Conversation"? Well, get some information -- and maybe even have some unnecessary conversations -- at Ross Mirkarimi's Town Hall Meeting On MUNI tomorrow, Wednesday November 1! Ross and (SFist obsession) MTA Director Mr. Nathaniel Ford (!!!!!) will be on hand "to discuss your concerns about service,......

SFist interviews our own craigslist reporter, Nick Ross...

Getting ready for Tuesday's election? Study up on our handy-dandy chart of the gubernatorial candidates or our five-second summary of all the state and San Francisco propositions. Or pick sides in Ma v. Ja! And if your favorite candidate loses, well, he or she can always become a filmmaker instead. Free free free! A free Madame Butterfly performance, free We Are Scientists tickets, free readings, a free baseball, free stuff on Craigslist, and free......

After a holiday break, we're back with more of our conversation with Nathaniel P Ford, Muni's Executive director. As a refresher, check out parts one, two, three, four, five, and six. Eve Batey: Something that we always wonder when we go fill out that form on the website, when we have a complaint or a comment or something, where does it go? What happens? So frequently, unless we really raise a stink and we......

We continue our conversation with Nathaniel Ford, Muni's executive director. If you need to catch up, here are parts one,two, three, and four and five. Eve Batey: While we're on all these initiatives, how about TransLink? What's going on there? Nathainel Ford: Okay. I guess Translink has had its challenges. It’s a new technology. I’m part of the TMG, which is the Transit Managers Group. We are working with the MTC to try and bring......

Here's the fifth part of our conversation with Nathaniel Ford, Muni's executive director. Previously: Parts one,two, three, and four. Eve Batey: What about Transit.511? Nathaniel Ford: Okay. Now I’ve heard about some challenges we’re having with Transit.511, and that in some cases it’s not giving as accurate information as we need to have. Again, this is another one of those programs where we’ll have to continue to continue to refine it. Now I mentioned......

Part the fourth in our multi-part conversation with Nathaniel Ford, the Executive director of Muni. See part one here, part two here, and part three here. Eve Batey: Well, this is going to kind of put you on the spot, and, frankly, I don't know how honest you can be, but I have to ask: Is the Central Subway really a good idea? I’ll bet two thirds of the people who voted for it......

Part three in our series detailing our conversation with Nathaniel P Ford, executive director of the MTA. See part one here, part two here. Eve Batey: While I’m asking what you’re going to do for money now, of course I also want to know – Nathaniel Ford: Increase patronage! EB: Well, yeah! NF: Increase our patronage, and part of that is, speeding the system up. And that was in the SPUR Report, you know,......

Check out SFist Shelley with Henry Rollins (!!!) at last week's benefit for the West Memphis Three! MUNI madness: while SFist Eve meets the famous head of MUNI, Mr. Nathaniel Ford, SFist MattyMatt grits his teeth and waits in vain for the elusive 33. What else have we been doing? We're going to DocFest, the Mission Creek Music Festival, theater, and air guitar championships. We also went to check out the new Beard Papa......

We recently sat down with Muni's executive director, Nathaniel P. Ford, to ask him some of the questions our readers and we have been dying to get the answers to. We spent enough time with him that we felt it made sense to publish our conversation in serial form, as opposed to one oppressively long interview. This is the first segment in the series. Nathaniel Ford: Thanks for coming in. Eve Batey: Oh, thank......

At about the same time that Nathaniel Ford takes over as the new head of Muni, using the subway is going to get very confusing. But don't panic: we've got tips here for avoiding delays, and also predictions about how Muni could make this a smooth process, but will instead opt to completely f**k things up. (PS: And don't forget to submit your Muni stories for our Dear Mr Ford feature!) The Facts: -......