Posts

Showing posts from September, 2023

Go Local. Muni Supports Small Businesses.

Image
Go Local. Muni Supports Small Businesses. By Sophia Scherr An illustration for one of the featured neighborhood districts supporting the Take Muni to Support Small Business campaign, Artwork created by Dan Bransfield. This week we are launching a campaign encouraging residents and visitors to take Muni to support San Francisco small businesses. The “Go Local” campaign is centered around defining the personalities of several neighborhood business districts, highlighting what makes them unique and promoting the benefits of taking Muni to shop, dine and explore.   Economic Boost  When you choose Muni for your daily commute or to explore the city, you're directly contributing to our local economy. Small businesses thrive when customers can easily access their shops, restaurants and services, as many of them rely on foot traffic and local patronage. By opting to take Muni, you're helping these businesses grow, create jobs and continue to enrich our city.   Climate Conscious Ch

Taken with Transportation Podcast: Transit Month on Muni

Image
Taken with Transportation Podcast: Transit Month on Muni By September is Transit Month in the Bay Area and on the latest episode of Taken with Transportation, the official SFMTA podcast, host Melissa Culross talks with Muni riders in multiple neighborhoods who use our buses, streetcars and light rail vehicles as their principal means of transportation.   “I just absolutely loathe driving, and the Muni gets me somewhere that I don’t have to drive,” says Erin Livingston, who has lived in San Francisco for almost a decade. “I have such fond memories of days that I had nothing to do, and me and my friends just kind of bopped around, and we took the Muni to one neighborhood and then took it another … and I think Muni is so quintessentially San Francisco.”  “My family still doesn’t drive, I don’t drive,” San Francisco native Jennifer Borromeo says. “I’m so happy that I have a transportation system that’s reliable, something I can easily navigate with my parents as they’re getting older.

Reimagine Potrero Yard: View Latest Designs

Image
Reimagine Potrero Yard: View Latest Designs By Bonnie Jean von Krogh Rendering of Bryant and 17th Streets intersection. Image: Arcadis IBI Group  We are reimagining the SFMTA’s Potrero Yard as the nation’s first known joint development of a bus maintenance facility with integrated housing and retail. Please join us at a Community Open House today, Wednesday, September 20, 2023, to learn more about the Potrero Yard Modernization Project including updated designs, economic development opportunities and the public art plan.   Community Open House   Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 5:30 p.m. (TODAY)  Z Space, 450 Florida St, San Francisco, CA  Bus Yard tours for all ages, childcare and dinner provided Español  - Jornada Comunitaria, Miércoles 20 de septiembre de 2023 a las 5:30 p.m. Z Space, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA. Tour de Yarde de autobuses para todas las edades, Cuidado de niños, Cena. Located at Bryant and Mariposa Streets, Potrero Yard is an over 100-yea

Muni Heritage Weekend Brings History Alive

Image
Muni Heritage Weekend Brings History Alive By Jeremy Menzies Take a ride back in time and explore transit history at Muni Heritage Weekend this Saturday and Sunday, September 23-24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This years’ festivities combine free rides on heritage buses and streetcars, with special cable car service and activities to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the cable cars . The action will come together in the plaza across from the San Francisco Railway Museum on Steuart Street between Market and Mission Streets.  Vintage Bus Rides  Pulling out for the weekend will be several vintage trolleys and motor buses that will run on two new, never-before offered excursion loops. Trolley coach buffs will get a chance to ride on three different buses running a special Cable Car 150th Anniversary commemoration route over Nob Hill. This route follows in the footsteps of San Francisco’s very first cable car line from 1873.  Four motor buses from 20 to 85 years old will drive along the

Enhancing Safety on Franklin Street

Image
Enhancing Safety on Franklin Street By Mark Dreger We're excited to share an update on the Franklin Street Quick-Build Project, an effort to enhance traffic safety on Franklin Street between Broadway and Lombard Streets. This roadway stretch was the site of 38 collisions between 2017 and 2021, including the tragic loss of a Sherman Elementary School paraeducator in November 2021. Our data-driven approach focuses on several key safety improvements, and we are ready to share the evaluation results and the next steps to bring further safety changes to Franklin Street.  The project includes the implementation of a suite of safety measures focused on the intersections where neighborhood stakeholders expressed most concerns during the outreach process.  Painted safety zones (PSZs) have been installed to increase pedestrian visibility at crosswalks by keeping the corners of intersections clear. Slow-turn wedges have been added to encourage drivers to turn at safer speeds and

Transit Month is Taking Over the Bay Area

Image
Transit Month is Taking Over the Bay Area By Guest Authors Rebecca Gibian and Reanne Lacosta, San Francisco Transit Riders Transit Month 2023 is a celebration of the role of public transportation in our communities and the Bay Area’s economic, social and cultural vibrancy. In the span of just eight years, it has grown from Transit Day into Transit Week and into the robust month it is now, thanks to our partnership with Seamless Bay Area and other transit-focused agencies and organizations. Together we have reached hundreds of riders through events held across the city.   We love seeing people get on transit and enjoy themselves, the ride and the experience. We appreciate that Transit Month encourages people to take a trip they never have or try a new line. We love seeing the shift that happens when people take the bus or train, realize how easy and affordable it is and then continue to do so (and tell their friends)!  Transit Month is a time to show our support for the people who

Taken with Transportation Podcast: Connecting Community to Transit

Image
Taken with Transportation Podcast: Connecting Community to Transit By The Bayview Community Shuttle is intended to help residents connect more easily with transit lines that serve Bayview-Hunters Point, such as the 54 Felton and T-Third. Accessing public transit can be more difficult for people in one particular San Francisco neighborhood than it is in other parts of the city. So we are designing a supplemental transportation program for this area, the Bayview Community Shuttle. You can learn more in the latest episode of the SFMTA podcast, Taken with Transportation . Host Melissa Culross talks with SFMTA Transportation Planner Christopher Kidd, San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, Bayview-Hunters Point Community Advocates Environmental Justice Director Dalila Adofo, SFMTA Planning Director Maia Small and neighborhood residents about the shuttle, which is expected to begin running in Bayview-Hunters Point in 2024.  Christopher Kidd is the planner in charge of the shuttle progr

MTA Board of Directors Welcomes Lydia So

Image
MTA Board of Directors Welcomes Lydia So By Stephen Chun Lydia So, a championed public servant, advocate for the AAPI community and an accomplished urban planner, designer and architect, has joined the SFMTA’s Board of Directors. She was appointed in June 2023 and sworn in by Mayor London Breed on Aug. 23, 2023, at Central Subway’s Chinatown Rose Pak Station, in line with her personal connection with the Chinatown community.   So was born in Hong Kong and is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese). She is the founder of the architecture firm SOLYD Architecture, Management and Design. She is a former Historic Preservation Commissioner for the San Francisco Planning Department where she voted in favor of the Potrero Yard Modernization Project that is expected to bring hundreds of housing units to our city while maintaining the functions of the SFMTA. She was the first Chinese American Historic Preservation Commissioner, implemented the Planning Department’s Racial and Social Equity policy and