Blogging Tips for Beginners

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni By Mariana Maguire Next time you ride Muni or see a Muni vehicle, keep an eye out for the faces of some of the people of the SFMTA working to keep customers and fellow staff safe on Muni, day to day. They include members of our Muni Transit Assistance Program , Proof of Purchase team, our Muni operators, as well as our head of Safety, Security and Investigations. Staff in our Muni Transit Assistance Program ride Muni \ to help address conflicts.Our Proof of Purchase team, Station Agents and Transit Inspectors support customer safety by providing an extra presence on Muni vehicles, at stops and in stations and assistance if issues arise. And our Muni operators provide  the first line of safety for customers. While their primary responsibility is to operate their vehicles safely, they can also help address conflicts onboard when necessary and when it is safe for them to do so. In the case that it’s not possible or safe for an operator to sto

June 10 Muni Service Changes Adds Service on Connector Routes By Clive Tsuma The 38R Geary Rapid will run every 6 minutes starting June 10 Starting Saturday, June 10, the SFMTA will be adding Muni service on several lines to address crowding, wait times and to support increased summer tourism. We’re also making some stop changes to serve more customers and make the service more accessible and reliable.  Increased Service  To address crowding and reduce pass-ups, we’re adding service on the 1 California between Clay and Drumm streets and California Street and Presidio Avenue – where demand is highest – on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.  We’re also going to be starting service earlier on the 1X California Express, at 7:30 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., in response to customer feedback, as well as adding stops at Cherry, Spruce and Laurel streets and Presidio Avenue.   We’re also extending the evening service to the Presidio at 30 Stockton seven days a week. The last trip from the Sports

Sunday Streets Starts This Weekend By Enrique Aguilar A full season of Sunday Streets starts this weekend! Check out the upcoming schedule below.   Sunday Streets 2023 is here, featuring three community parties, two signature mile-plus routes and the Third Annual Phoenix Day block party program. The 15th season will kick off on Galvez Avenue and Mendell Street in Bayview on May 21 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Residents and visitors alike will celebrate the neighborhood's vibrant diversity with cultural programming, health resources, local vendors and recreational activities for all ages. It is completely free and open to everyone! Each neighborhood's character makes the experience a distinct adventure. As the streets come alive with music, dance, and community spirit, SFMTA project experts will be on hand with updates and information on various transportation options. In partnership with Livable City and Into The Streets , the SFMTA proudly supports this series of events th

Bike to Wherever Day By Join people across the city bicycling today for the annual Bike to Wherever Day. The SFMTA is proud to be the official citywide sponsor of  Bike to Wherever Day 2023,  San Francisco's favorite biking celebration!    Hosted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Bike to Wherever Day celebrates  bicycles as a fun and healthy way to get around. This annual event invites people to pedal to their destinations, and it promotes bicycling both as an alternative commute and as a healthy and safe alternative to driving to…wherever.  We encourage everyone, including those who don't usually bike, to get out and cycle today. After grabbing some wheels  (your own or  a bikeshare bike ), consider joining one of the Neighborhood Rides. Need more reason to stop by? You also can pick up your free Bike to Wherever Day canvas tote bag, filled with goodies, courtesy of the SF Bicycle Coalition.  Resources to Help You Plan Your Bicycle Trip  The SFMTA has go-to resour

San Francisco To Extend Parking Meter Hours Citywide By Pamela Johnson Much like real estate, parking is at a premium in San Francisco. For decades, most parking meters in the city have operated from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. While drivers generally love free parking, they may not realize that it’s hard to find a space in the evenings and on Sundays in many neighborhoods because the meters are not running.  Beginning in July 2023 and continuing in phases through December 2024, the SFMTA will extend parking meter hours until 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and add Sunday meter hours from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Parking meters already operate in the evenings or on Sundays in some areas, including Mission Bay, South Beach, the 18th Street business district in Potrero Hill and along the Embarcadero. This extension will make meter hours more consistent citywide, create more parking availability and generate revenue to help the agency sustain vital Muni ser

Unsung Heroes of the Central Subway By Melissa Culross When is a subway more than just a subway? More than its tracks, tunnels and platforms? More than simply a way to get from point A to point B?   A subway is much more when people put their hearts and souls into building it, as so many who worked on the recently opened Central Subway did. The subway was decades in the making, and over the years, hundreds of SFMTA employees spent countless hours designing and constructing it. Every single contribution, no matter how large or small, was essential, and there are so many unsung heroes of the Central Subway whose collective legacy will be felt well into the future.   We want to introduce you to a few of those heroes, but please know that they are not the only ones.      Wyman Lee For Wyman Lee, building the Chinatown-Rose Pak Central Subway station was deeply personal. Lee, the SFMTA’s resident engineer for the construction, was born and raised just steps away from where the stati

Meet the People of the Next Generation CIS: Leon Yu By Deanna Leo Leon Yu, Graphic Artist, Creative Services   What do you do on the project?  I help design the user experience: What users see on the new displays, how they see it and how often they see it, down to the actual graphics.   How do you feel your work impacts our customers? Who will benefit?  My work communicates transit information to customers as cleanly and clearly as possible, so the information is easy for any member of the public to understand. We only have a small space to work with on the displays, so we must make it count. People  of all backgrounds, languages and abilities, so need to get this information quickly at a glance.   What was your favorite part of the project?  My favorite part is working with the team and all the different CIS systems. This is such a multidisciplinary project involving many staff and people I’ve never worked with before. Being able to collaborate with so many dedicated colleagu

Muni Rider Satisfaction the Highest in 10-years! By Bonnie Jean von Krogh Here at the SFMTA, we are focused on creating the fastest, safest and most reliable public transportation network for all San Franciscans. This is why we consider it a top priority to hear from our riders and non-riders alike about how we’re doing, what your public transportation priorities are, and ways we can improve. These findings help to inform budget, long-range planning and policy decisions. They also help build a better Muni for everyone traveling in San Francisco.  In recent months we conducted our Rider Survey as well as a broader Community Survey . Real-time data from our partners at Transit App in their North America Transit Rider Happiness Benchmarking Survey provides additional details about community feedback.   The good news? Rider satisfaction with Muni services is up across the board:  Per SFMTA’s Rider survey, 66% of Muni riders rate services as good or excellent — a 9% increase from 20

Just in Time for Bike Month: The Active Communities Plan Interactive Map! By Christopher Kidd Image of the new Active Communities Plan (ACP ) interactive map  As part of our ongoing public outreach about the Active Communities Plan , the SFMTA has created a new ACP interactive map .  The release of the map comes just a couple of weeks after we began collecting feedback through our new survey .   The map shows conditions for biking, scooting and rolling across San Francisco, as well as multiple layers of analysis conducted by the Active Communities Plan team. It is meant to help users understand how different factors like comfort, safety and network quality influence whether people decide to use active transportation or not.   We want users to have the opportunity to explore and compare data, reflect on how it compares to their experiences with active transportation and provide input about what kinds of solutions work best.  The interactive map has six main layers to explore: 

Traffic Collisions have Decreased on San Francisco’s Slow Streets By Julia Malmo   As a whole, Slow Streets are safer than they were before being designated Slow Streets  Streets that are part of the SFMTA’s  Slow Streets Program have become measurably safer since the program began in 2020, with the number of traffic crashes falling by almost half. On average, these corridors have seen a 48% drop in collisions following their designation as Slow Streets, compared with a 14% drop in collisions citywide over the same period. Slow Streets also are more welcoming for people who walk, bike and roll. Fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day use all but four of the current Slow Streets (20th Street, Minnesota Street, Noe Street, and Page Street).  The goal of the program is to create safe, shared streets that are comfortable and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities, using any mode of transportation. We now can see how it’s doing in a new evaluation report . When the SFMTA Board appr

Three Golden Rules to Improve Scooter Safety By Mona Chiu The SFMTA has some exciting news for all who use the sidewalk in the city! Starting May 1, 2023, we'll be launching a new safety campaign to promote safe and responsible electric scooter use for both permitted scooter share devices and privately operated scooters. The campaign will focus on three key safety rules that every rider should keep in mind while riding: no sidewalk riding, no speeding and no double riding (two people riding one device). By educating riders about the dangers of sidewalk riding, unsafe speeding and riding, and improper parking, we hope to make the city safer for everyone.     Sidewalk riding has been a major concern for pedestrians in San Francisco, and it's illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk.     Electric scooters can travel at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour, which can be dangerous if riders aren't paying attention to their surroundings. The SFMTA's safety camp