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Women Pioneers at Muni: Adeline Svendsen and Muni’s First Newsletter By Jeremy Menzies To close out Women’s History Month, here’s a look back at one woman whose work to bring Muni staff together in the late 1940s created a legacy that lives on to this day. Adeline “Addy” Svendsen was founding editor of Muni’s first internal newsletter, “ Trolley Topics .” Adeline Svendsen sits at her desk in the Geneva Carhouse office building in this 1949 shot. Trolley Topics was a new venture when it started in February 1946. As Svendsen wrote in the first issue it was created, “to bring a little fun, a little news, and a lot of good will to all our fellow employees in the Railway.” Just two years prior in 1944, Muni merged with the Market Street Railway Company, expanding the small municipal operation into the largest transit provider in the city with hundreds of employees, vehicles of every shape and size, and dozens of facilities scattered across town. The newsletter was meant to help unite

The Van Ness BRT Will Soon Welcome You By John Gravener We will be celebrating the new Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit system with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the War Memorial on April 1, at 9:15 a.m., and you are invited ! This immense civic improvement project has not only brought the first Bus Rapid Transit corridor to San Francisco, it also presented the opportunity to do much-needed underground and utilities work. This project looks towards San Francisco’s future with an eye towards climate resiliency and transit efficiency The Bus Rapid Transit corridor provides a globally proven solution to improve transit service and address traffic congestion on Van Ness Avenue. With the new, physically-separated transit lanes along the Van Ness corridor, buses will be able to travel without getting caught up in traffic and passengers will be able to board buses more easily. Other benefits include improved lighting, sidewalk extensions (bulb-outs), new countdown signals for people crossing V

SFMTA to Replace All Parking Meters in the City By Jessie Liang San Franciscans will see new parking meters on city streets beginning in early March 2022. Staff from the SFMTA’s Parking Meter Shop will replace the meters at all the nearly 27,000 paid parking spaces in the city because those meters have reached the end of their useful lives, and because many of the meters rely on 3G communications technology that soon will be phased out by the wireless companies. The first new meters will be installed in the South of Market and Mission Bay neighborhoods.  SFMTA staff will provide notices on vehicle windshields when the new meters are activated.  The new meters will provide several benefits, including larger and more legible screens, more intuitive user interface, more powerful batteries, and more resistance to vandalism.   The following neighborhoods will move to a pay-by-license-plate system with new paystations. South Beach SoMa Mission Bay Civic Center Hayes Valley Fisher

Virtual Permit Transition Summary By Stephen Chun Effective April 1, 2022 the SFMTA will transition annual Residential Parking Permit (RPP) permits from physical stickers to virtual permits. This will streamline the RPP application and administration process. This change will not apply to other permit types—including 1 Day, Visitor, Press, City Vehicle, Teacher and Contractor permits.   Currently, about 70,000 San Francisco residents living in RPP areas purchase an annual parking permit in sticker form each year. Those renewing their permit at the same address can pay online and receive their permit in the mail.  People buying new permits can do so (a) in-person at the Customer Service Center, where the customer receives their physical sticker at time of purchase, (b) by-mail, or (c) online, and receive their permit in the mail.   Virtual permits have several benefits, such as:  Permit is active as soon as it is paid. No waiting for a permit to be mailed.  Permits can be purc

Share Your Feedback on Geary Boulevard's Transit and Safety Improvements By Amy Fowler Geary Boulevard is a critical east-west arterial and one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, connecting downtown San Francisco to the Richmond District. The SFMTA has been busy working on the second phase of planned improvements on Geary, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project , to improve Muni’s 38 Geary bus service and address traffic safety between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street.  The project is building on the success of the Geary Rapid Project , which was recently completed on time and on budget and has already shown promising travel time savings on the eastern half of the Geary corridor.    Last fall, we asked neighbors in the Richmond about their priorities for transit, safety and driving issues on Geary via pop-up events on the corridor and a Virtual Open House. Thanks to input from over 600 community members , the SFMTA has used this feedback to draft the detailed

Geary Boulevard Improvement Project Update By Amy Fowler Geary Boulevard is a critical east-west arterial and one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, connecting downtown San Francisco to the Richmond District. The SFMTA has been busy working on the second phase of planned improvements on Geary, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project , to improve Muni’s 38 Geary bus service and address traffic safety between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street.  The project is building on the success of the Geary Rapid Project , which was recently completed on time and on budget and has already shown promising travel time savings on the eastern half of the Geary corridor.    Last fall, we asked neighbors in the Richmond about their priorities for transit, safety and driving issues on Geary via pop-up events on the corridor and a Virtual Open House. Thanks to input from over 600 community members , the SFMTA has used this feedback to draft the detailed, block-by-block project design. 

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You! By Kharima Mohamed As part of the Next Generation Customer Information System project, over 700 new Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) signs will display real-time information at Muni transit shelters. Approximately one-third of these signs will be double-sided to provide additional visibility at the highest-ridership stops and major transfer points. This week we installed a single-sided prototype at Eddy and Larkin streets. Serving the Tenderloin, an Equity Neighborhood , this sign will feature real-time predictions for the 19 Polk and 31 Balboa routes. The primary purpose for installing this prototype is to conduct in-field hardware testing, especially with rain, wind and colder temperatures.    We know there is an urgent need for more effective signage and are excited to roll out the new customer information system later this year.  The new LCD signs will eventually replace all existing NextBus Light Emitting