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Black History Lost and Found: Dorothy Jaymes and Accessible Transit By Jeremy Menzies We continue to celebrate Black History Month by sharing the stories of SFMTA staff whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for future generations of Muni riders. Today, we look at the incredible contributions of Dorothy Jaymes, who played a critical role in helping advance accessibility on transit in San Francisco at a time when little was being done.   Jaymes (left, holding tennis racket) with her assistant, Linda Westry in the Muni Lost & Found Department in 1977.  Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jaymes started her career in Muni’s Lost & Found Department in the 1970s. According to a 1977  article in the department newsletter, Trolley Topics, she took her job seriously, accounting for every lost item no matter how small or large.  Around the same time, protests by local disability rights advocates exposed the issues of poor access to public transit to local officials. The city r

N Judah Motorization Allows City Partners to Complete Critical Maintenance Work By Jessie Liang MOW Crew Repairing Damaged Pavement Around Tracks on 9th Avenue Kudos to the SFMTA’s Maintenance of Way (MOW) teams for successfully completing critical work during the N Judah motorization on Feb. 18 and 19. The purpose of the motorization was to provide access for work to be done in Muni’s right of way by Public Works, PG&E and the SFMTA, including utility pole replacements at Cole and Carl, sewer investigation, repairs at 18th Avenue and Judah and 41st Avenue and Judah. The SFMTA was also making improvements to the J Church surface route between Duboce Park and the Balboa Park Station to increase service reliability, enhance street safety and reduce travel times.  To maximize the benefits of the motorization, the MOW teams took advantage of the opportunity to complete project milestones and critical maintenance work  for traction power and overhead lines, mechanical systems, ligh

Scooter Permittees Receive Feedback from Students with Disabilities By Maddy Ruvolo On a recent Monday in Golden Gate Park, 28 students and staff from AccessSFUSD gathered on JFK Drive to test-ride adaptive scooters. The group took turns riding adaptive devices from two scooter companies permitted to operate in the city, Lime and Spin . Adaptive devices are designed to meet the needs of riders with a variety of disabilities and provide additional stability features, such as a seat, a wider base, and an additional wheel. After trying the scooters, the students shared their feedback about a variety of design elements, including the wheels, seat, throttle, basket location, foot plate width, and the ease of getting started.  Adaptive scooter demo in Golden Gate Park Students embraced the opportunity to ride scooters and provide feedback. AccessSFUSD is a community-based program for students 18-22 with disabilities. Located across 11 sites in San Francisco, the program focuses on te

New Express Service Comes to the 1 California By Melissa Culross Newly painted Muni flag stop indicating the pilot 1X California Express Beginning February 21, 2023, a pilot program will offer express bus service on the new 1X California Express between the Richmond neighborhood and the Financial District. The SFMTA plays a significant role in San Francisco’s economic recovery, and this pilot that serves downtown is part of that.  We have been working on improving travel time and reliability over the last several years. Travel times are now 11% quicker on the 1 California thanks to new transit lanes on California, Clay and Sacramento streets. But our work is not done on the corridor! The new 1X California express will provide another option for riders to zoom from the inner Richmond into and out of downtown even faster. We also expect this service to ease crowding on the 1 California as more people head back to the office.  Three morning 1X California Express buses will depart fr

2022 Muni Rider Survey By Jeanne Brophy Almost 100% of San Franciscans have access to Muni service within two or three blocks of their home or work. The results of the 2022 Muni Rider Survey indicate that our continuing efforts to deliver fast, reliable and frequent service are benefiting riders and they appreciate it. Over half of respondents, 66%, rate Muni service as “good” or “excellent” – a 9% increase from 2021 and the strongest increase since 2018.   Since 2021, riders’ ratings of individual attributes of Muni have generally increased or stayed the same: The greatest increases were:  Trips take a reasonable amount of time (65% in 2022 vs. 57% in 2021)  Frequency of service (51% in 2022 vs. 45% in 2021)  Reliability/On-time performance (47% in 2022 vs. 42% in 2021).   We expect that some of these improvements have to do with the fact that since the last survey in 2021, we restored the Muni network so that almost 100% of San Franciscans have access to Muni service

A New Connection with Art in Chinatown By Enrique Aguilar Artwork at the Chinatown-Rose Pak Central Subway Station brings communities to the forefront by honoring the history and contemporary identity of Chinatown. These art pieces deliver vivid colors and designs to every level of the station. Muni customers can expect a unique experience at this new station.  The three artists with work at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station received the Visionary Artist Award earlier this year and were honored at the Harmony and Bliss Gala — an event that supports the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco and its mission to elevate underserved communities and give voice to equality.      Yumei Hou transformed two of her traditional Chinese paper cuts into large laser-cut metal panels painted a vibrant red and installed to stand slightly off the wall to allow for shadow casting. Spanning the station’s mezzanine and ticketing hall walls, Hou’s monumental artworks portray scenes from Yangge (Rice Sprou

Parking at Muni Stops is Being Phased Out By Andrea Buffa Implementing red curb "clear zones" occurs in two phases. Read more below. If you would like for us to prioritize a particular bus stop for conversion, please make a request through 311. In late November 2021, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution calling for us to “promote unobstructed pedestrian access for boarding public transit by eliminating parking in bus stops.” There are more than 3,500 Muni stops in San Francisco, and about 1,200 are stops at which there isn’t enough dedicated curb space for the bus to pull to the curb for riders to board. Instead, Muni vehicles stop in the travel lane, and riders often must walk in between parked cars to get on and off.    These stops are mostly in residential neighborhoods and on lower-frequency transit lines, but they potentially can be unsafe for riders and are particularly problematic for seniors and people with disabilities. The Boar

Muni Art 2023  By Sophia Scherr “ The Botanical Gardens” by Alice Wu, 2023 Muni Artist, 10th grade  We’re partnering with San Francisco Beautiful for the eighth year of Muni Art! The 2023 theme is “Sights of San Francisco” and for the first time, the project collaborated with both, San Francisco Unified School District for the artist competition and 826 Valencia for the poetry competition. Established in 2002, 826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students who live in under-resourced communities in San Francisco with their writing skills. The student poets are enrolled in free programming at 826 Valencia's Mission Center.   The 2023 Muni artists are:  Alice Wu 10th Grade  Annie Aguilar 11th Grade  Isabel Lombardi-Coronel 11th Grade  Natalie Diener 12th Grade  Vilma Ramirez 11th Grade The five local poets and poems are:  Abner Valencia, “What You Get at Bernal Heights”  Age 16  Jake Dominguez, “I Like Chinatown”  Age 8  Jennifer Lopez, “The