It's been about nine months since the SFMTA rolled out the high-tech SFPark program, which means it is time again to check in on the deluge of data from those fancy meters. When we last looked at the demand-adjusted rates back in July, the prices weren't too crazy, depending on the neighborhood. Fast forward a couple months, however, and the data-hungry meters continue to widen the gap between the highest and lowest prices — sometimes varying by a couple bucks per hour in the space of a block or two. more ›

Because your wallet isn't already fat enough, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority is currently cooking up another universal payment card to give locals yet another way to feed parking meters or pay for cab fare. Since the Clipper card you probably already have isn't set up for cabs and parking, the new card is an MTA side project for now, although the Chronicle reports that the new card's services could get rolled in to the existing Clipper system. more ›

As part of their ongoing (and some might say misguided) efforts to fix the taxi situation in San Francisco, the Municipal Transportation Agency is fielding proposals for new cab stands spread around town. In North Beach, a small group of business owners see the cab stand plan as an opportunity to stimulate business along their porny/clubby Broadway corridor. more ›

Infamous for their lack of vehicular finesse (and numbers), taxicabs will now be allowed to legally use bike lanes to pick up and drop off passengers. more ›

You know what's more frustrating than not enough taxis in town? A string of taxis blowing by with their light on while you stand there continuing to hold your arm up in the air like a jerk. Thankfully, the geniuses at the SFMTA are working on a a colorful new proposal that would add a couple lights to taxicab rooftops. As it stands, the "TAXI" light only goes dim when the meter is running, leading to confusion if a cabbie is headed home for the night or on their way to a pickup. Under the new proposal, Taxis would have three lights: one for "available", one for "unavailable" and one for "PANIC" - a new safety feature the MTA wants to try out, since we're already talking about adding lights. more ›

The interminable source of rage and frustration known as the SFMTA is taking steps this week to "improve efficiencies within the Muni system," and they're starting with several of the busiest rail lines. In response to customer feedback, Muni says it will increase the frequency of trains on the J line, to one every nine minutes at peak periods, and put only five minutes between F-line streetcars on weekdays, in order to alleviate crowding. Also, that N-line service to CalTrain and the ballpark? It's coming back. more ›

The family of Emily Dunn, the 23-year-old who was struck and killed by a Muni bus driving an improvised route in the Castro last August, will sue San Francisco. The Examiner reports: "Michael Kelly, a lawyer representing the Dunns, said the family will submit a claim regarding the accident later this week." more ›

Call it a subway to nowhere, or call it the greatest thing ever to happen to riders of the Dirty 30, the Central Subway is going to be a fact of life for many of us for years to come. While Stockton Street gets dug up for years, and while various pundits and politicos debate the cost and merits of the thing until they're blue in the face, we're guessing you've been as curious as we were about how the entrances were going to work in what's already a crowded part of town. Now architecture critic John King shares a couple of renderings of the most visible above-ground piece that will come of this new line: the Union Square/Market Street Station entrance at Union Square. more ›

Despite the fact that every ne'er-do-well and elderly lady with a pink plastic shopping bag already does this, back-door boarding on Muni busses is still illegal, and that one Muni driver in twenty who is not sleepwalking through their shift will still yell at you if you do this. But now, in an effort to improve on-time performance, the SFMTA board is considering making all-door boarding the new policy on buses, and putting more fare inspectors out there to make sure all those old ladies have Clipper cards. more ›

We know Muni's in-vehicle cameras work, we've enjoyed/gasped at footage of at least one accident in the past year, but the Municipal Railway's aging fuzzycams aren't sophisticated enough for the surveillance geeks at the Department of Homeland Security apparently. So thanks to a hefty $6 million federal grant, 358 Muni buses are getting wireless security cameras and an upgraded computer network that will allow the MTA to "view, download and store the captured video images wirelessly and view them in real-time or through the Internet." more ›

At their board meeting yesterday, the SFMTA voted to approve 85 new taxi medallions, 50 of which will be for part-time, single operators limited to 60 hours per week on the streets. This increase in the total number of taxis, which is currently capped at 1,500, comes amid some resistance from taxi drivers fearing competition, despite the well documented lack of available taxis when we need them, like anywhere, besides certain nightclubs and hotels. 35 of the medallions will be full-time, meaning they're good for two 10-hours shifts per day. more ›

At their board meeting on Tuesday, the SFMTA is planning to consider issuing 125 new taxi permits, potentially increasing the city's fleet of cabs by about 8%. This is obviously welcome news to all of us who have tried to get anywhere in a hurry at 7 o'clock on a Friday, or whenever it rains. more ›

Well that was quick. The Chronicle reports today that the current director of the Department of Public Works has gotten the nod from the Municipal Transit Agency to fill the void left by former Muni Director Nat Ford's parachute escape. After closed interviews this week, SFMTA officials announced their decision at a press conference this morning. Reiskin was chosen over Debra Johnson who has been filing in as the agency's boss during the search for a long-term chief. Reiskin, who has plenty of management experience but none at a transportation agency, has signed on for a three-year, $294,000 annual contract that starts on August 15th. more ›

Former Muni executive director Nat Ford has finally left the building with his $384,000 golden parachute, and with this news we were both relieved and disgusted. Debra Johnson, meanwhile, who was formerly Director of Administration, Taxis and Accessible Services, is serving as interim executive director until a new hire is made by the SFMTA board, on a schedule they've yet to announce. But, trying to play nice given what horrible press they've gotten — and given, ahem, what a majorly mismanaged organization they are with trains that have a penchant for breaking down during rush hour a couple of times a week — they're seeking some public commentary at this time. In other words, you now have a chance to make your opinions heard, via a handy online survey, about who they should hire as the next person to direct the agency and incur our wrath. more ›

In a 55-page report released yesterday, a Civil Grand Jury tasked with keeping an eye on SFMTA's Central Subway Project called out the project for being too expensive and poorly laid out. While it offered 26 total recommendations on how to improve the project, they more or less amount to a complete redesign for the SFMTA. And then there's the big elephant on the train: how much burden will the new line place on a system that can barely keep itself working straight as it is? more ›

At the SFMTA meeting last night, board members unanimously approved Nat Ford's $384,000 separation agreement. That "poof" sound you're hearing is Ford's golden parachute deploying to slow his fall after years of driving Muni straight in to the ground. Ford's last day will be June 30th, so start planning your celebrations appropriately. (Just be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to get to them in the case of another meltdown.) Also making a hasty exit was Carter Rohan, Ford's Executive Deputy Director, who turned in his resignation before the SFMTA board meeting yesterday. more ›

Nathaniel Ford, the (infamous?) San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chief, plans on leaving his job later this month. The Chronicle, who broke the news, reports: "The governing board will meet in closed session Tuesday to terminate Ford's contract. Ford has scheduled a meeting this afternoon with his top tier of managers to discuss his looming departure. An agency-wide letter to staff members will go out after that." more ›

A morning Muni nightmare occurred Thursday when a passenger lost his breakfast (or Wednesday night's dinner, we don't know what kind of morning meal habits you people have) on an outbound K-T train. more ›

Charlie Goodyear, SFMTA's hired gun PR guy, announced yesterday that the agency reached a tentative agreement with the Muni Operators Union. As pretty much everybody reports, the deal will save the agency $21.3 million over three years by freezing operator pay, allowing for part-time operators, changing the overtime pay scheme and taking unlicensed operators off the payroll. Although the MTA seems pleased with the results of the past few months of negotiations, the prickly Transit Workers Union is already miffed that Goodyear and company released the details of the deal before they've had a chance to vote on it. more ›

The Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde, and California cable car lines will be shut down today through Sunday for "repairs and upgrades" as part of the SFMTA Cable Car Improvement Project. SF Appeal notes: "Muni shuttle buses will operate along the cable car routes with all regular, accessible stops available for passengers." Please be advised. more ›

At tomorrow's Board of Directors meeting, the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Agency will review a proposal that would raise taxi meter rates to 55 cents per fifth of a mile or minute of waiting in traffic. If passed, those 10-cent increases to the current rates (plus another ten cents per fifth of a mile in potential fuel surcharges) would make our taxis the most expensive in the country according to a 12-city study conducted by the SFMTA. Adding insult to injury are the proposed two- and three-dollar fees for booking your ride through a dispatcher, meaning a phoned-in evening pickup could cost you over six bucks just for getting in the cab. The agency will be taking one last round of community input at tonight's final taxi town hall meeting before voting tomorrow to authorize all or some of the new rates and surcharges. [Chron] [SFEx] more ›

The SFMTA announced some increased fees and fines today: neighborhood parking passes are going up a couple bucks. Starting in July, a year of street parking will now run you an even $100 before you inevitably forget to move your car for street sweeping. The big fine increase is for the handicap zone violations, which will now set you back a steep $850. So the next time you're thinking of borrowing a handicap zone while you run in the store for a pack of smokes, ask yourself if it's really worth blowing most of your rent money on it. [SFEx/CBS] more ›

Mothers in San Francisco have been lobbying for months to get parking permits for their nannies, thus allowing their frazzled and exhausted hired help to park closer to the homes they work in without fear of parking tickets. While the nanny parking program looks to be moving forward with some stipulations, the Examiner has the shocking revelation today that gossipy moms in the members-only Golden Gate Mothers Group have been secretly discussing workarounds for obtaining residential parking permits for their non-resident nannies. more ›

Would an 85% on-time record be enough to satisfy the disgruntled riders of Muni trains and buses? That was the voter-mandated percentage as of 1999, but the best Muni has done so far is 75%, which we still think sounds high, and in the third quarter of last year that figure slipped to 72%. Given all the ridiculous delays of last fall, we suspect the fourth quarter won't appear much better. more ›

This should go over swimmingly with some San Franciscans. Looking to fill Muni's $21 million budget shortfall, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials plan on ticketing divers more in 2011. Yes, in lieu of raising fares (at least for now), "[t]he agency plans to redeploy parking control officers to better capture meter revenue and issue citations." more ›

After enduring a number of painful delays on the Muni underground himself, SFMTA board member Malcolm Heinicke called a meeting last week to discuss the "unusually" high number of delays in recent months. "The usually very efficient [Ed. Note: Ha!] and reliable [light-rail vehicles] have not been [reliable] in the last two months," admits Heinicke. more ›

Those who've spent any time in New York likely have found it frustrating to hear that those 'For Hire' lights on the top of cabs in S.F. often don't denote available taxis -- the explanation we always got was that more people call cabs here, via telephone, and an empty cab with the light on is likely heading to pick someone up. Those 'For Hire' lights, you see, only go off when the meter is running, and sometimes drivers leave them on when they're going off duty as well. more ›

SFMTA sent out this helpful flier to warn drivers about incorrectly situating their vehicles while waiting to enter the Arco gas station on Fell, a move that effectively blocks the bike lane and forces cyclists into high-speed traffic. more ›

Muni is holding a hearing today to discuss/debate the restoration of more than half the service cuts they made this past spring, which they say can happen by September. They're crediting "stronger than expected revenue streams, operational efficiencies and new grant opportunities" as reasons why they can restore some service. In other words, all those fare evasion tickets and their FastPass price hikes must be paying off. Now if only they can only run enough outbound trains and buses to accommodate the commuter traffic between 5 and 7 — and keep the system from completely melting down at rush hour — we'll be golden. [SF Appeal] more ›