Oh how we hate that high-pitched whine generated by held-open subway doors. It hurts, but of course, that's the -- it's supposed to make you let go of the door so the whole train doesn't have to wait for your giggling gasping slowpoke friends. more ›

In today's installment, our Muni Driver takes a look at the Transit Effectiveness Project and gives us his thoughts on it. As always, drop us a line if you have any questions you'd like answered. more ›

There's been a spirited debate over at the Rescue Muni group ever since a local woman was killed under the tires of a bus in the Tenderloin last week. Some folks are saying that "fender skirts" (they're like covers over the wheel) could have prevented the pedestrian from being thrown under the wheels as the bus turned a corner. Fender skirts show up on some more modern buses, like those used by many of lines around LA. more ›

Even though you're probably too chicken to admit it, we know you're curious about the January 24th meeting of the SF County Transit Authority meeting (100 Van Ness Avenue, 26th Floor). They're planning to allocate ten milllllllllion dollars to some Transbay Terminal tomfoolery: that's extending Caltrain to the terminal, redeveloping the terminal's crappy neighborhood, and sprucing up the terminal so that it's the kind of place people actually go to. Most of that 10 million will pay for a year's worth of project management. more ›

We're getting pretty antsy, waiting for service to start on Muni's fabled new Third Street line. It was originally supposed to be operational when, like, 2005? And the delays just keep mounting. The lastest obstacle: getting driver signed up and trained for the new line. Muni was dragging its feet on that, and for a while it looked like the training process would mean an additional couple months of delays -- but the SF County Transit Authority was having none of that. At the SFCTA's urging, Muni has assigned Carter Rohan, Deputy General Manager for Construction, to make sure that the training doesn't push the start of revenue service too far past the already ridiculously late schedule. The new projected start date for Third Street service: somewhere between January and March of 2007. We tremble with anticipation. more ›

No, not the sewers -- the subway. Passions were set aflame among transit enthusiasts when a memo by the SF County Transit Authority [PDF] suggested that the Central Subway (an as-yet-unbuilt system, intended to connect the existing lines with Chinatown, SOMA, and elsewhere) might get built without any actual means of transferring between subway lines. For those of you playing along, yes, that would make the entire $1.2 billion project pretty much useless. more ›

We neglect the North Bay sometimes, but it's not for lack of love -- it's just that we're not sure what the heck people DO up there sometimes. Whetever it is, it sounds classy; like the art exhibit at Roshambo Winery in Healdsburg, wherever that is. Todd Barricklow (ceramics) and William Smith (prints and drawings) from the Killing Time Studios will be showing off their work at a reception from 5pm to 8pm this Saturday. more ›

Hey, did you know that the San Francisco County Transportation Authority is thinking about speeding up transit on Van Ness by putting in dedicated bus boulevards? BUT WAIT DON'T CLICK ON THAT LINK IT MIGHT CRASH YOUR BROWSER! The SFCTA, in their wisdom, has placed two JPEGs on their page about the proposed Van Ness corridor; one is a picture of how the dedicated lanes might look (pretty), and the other is a mock-up of how the MUNI map might be changed (acceptably), and each image is a bone-crushing TWO MEGS. The map alone is 6344 by 4843 pixels -- several orders of magnitude greater than an average monitor is capable of displaying -- and was more than enough to completely crash our modest laptop. Great work, SFCTA. more ›

As expected, the Municipal Transit Authorities proposal to increase fares by $.25 went over as well as Tara Reid's attempt to play a brainy archeologist in her new movie. So far, it's led to a protest, a rowdy committee hearing and some waffling on the part of the Gavster. Not to mention some spirited debate on SFist. The proposed fare increases are in an attempt to try and close a projected deficit of over $50 million for the upcoming year. more ›