Tag Archives: municipal

Thank a DPT traffic control officer today.

Posted on May 9, 2008 by kfarr

DPT officers get a bad rap. Everyone seems to despise them, yet they are a crucial element necessary to help all of us to effectively share our City streets. Here are a few of the ways they make our lives … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, politics, transit | Tagged authority, california, charge, cleaning, curbed, department, double, double-park, dpt, fee, fine, generate, income, mta, municipal, municipality, officer, park, parking, parking ticket, revenue, san francisco, sf, sfmta, street, street cleaning, ticket, traffic, transit, transportation, wheels | Leave a comment

Driving highlights

Posted on May 2, 2008 by kfarr

I had a beautiful set of days to drive a cab in the City. Sunny and 60s is the perfect weather. Above 60s and the greenhouse effect of the car windows makes it a bit too warm. I picked up … Continue reading →

Posted in happiness, politics, taxi, work | Tagged buddha, buddhism, bureaucracy, bureaucratic, bureaucratic unit, cab, cabbie, city, creative, driving, entity, for-profit, forum, governing, government, graveyard, kqed, management, morning, municipal, non-profit, officer, operated, organization, organizational, owned, police, profit, rush, san francisco, sf, sfpd, shift, strategy, structure, taxi, taxicab, tree, unit, zen | Leave a comment

Something Muni does well: Trolleybusses

Posted on March 21, 2008 by kfarr

I am so fond of ragging on San Francisco’s poorly managed Municipal Railway that I often overlook Muni’s remarkable, world-class achievements. (Yes, they really do have some remarkable, world-class achievements.) This post is a first attempt at fixing my glaring … Continue reading →

Posted in transit | Tagged bus, busses, california, coal, dam, diesel, electric, electricity, generation, hetch, hetch hetchy, hetchy, mta, muni, municipal, nuclear, o'shaughnessy, power, railway, san francisco, sf, transit, transportation, trolley, trolleybus, trolleybusses | Leave a comment

Hey, SFMTA, please double residential parking fees and introduce traffic congestion fees.

Posted on March 19, 2008 by kfarr

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a bureaucratic whale, containing, in separate stomachs, the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) and the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit system. Recently, the SFMTA crunched some numbers and said, … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, politics, transit | Tagged bus, busses, congestion, department, dpt, econ, economics, empty, fee, fines, macro, meter, micro, mta, muni, municipal, neighborhood, parking, parking and traffic, permit, pockets, pricing, railway, san francisco, sf, sfmta, shortfall, spot, traffic, train, transit, transportation, user, user fee, variable, variable pricing, yearly | 3 Comments

TEP proposes good things for Muni. Is this good news?

Posted on February 29, 2008 by kfarr

A week ago the Chronicle reported on some promising preliminary recommendations based on findings from the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP). These recommendations are great. In many ways they are in line with common sense: improve highly used lines using BRT, … Continue reading →

Posted in happiness, politics, transit | Tagged board, brt, bus, busses, effectiveness, ford, francisco, gavin, gavin newsom, heavy, light, lrt, mayor, muni, municipal, nat, nat ford, nathaniel, newsom, project, public, rail, railroad, railway, rapid, san, san francisco, sf, supervisors, TEP, transit, transport, transportation, union, workers | Leave a comment

Muni’s Nat Ford doing good things?

Posted on February 21, 2008 by kfarr

Wow, it looks like Nat Ford might actually know how to run a municipal transit agency. Let’s hope the Board of Supervisors gets off his back and lets him do it right. Link

Posted in politics, transit | Tagged board, bus, busses, city, county, effectiveness, ford, gavin, mayor, muni, municipal, nat, nathaniel, newson, overhaul, politics, project, public, railway, san francisco, sf, supervisors, TEP, transit, transportation | Leave a comment

Mayor spends thousands of dollars to learn transit user fees are necessary.

Posted on January 31, 2008 by kfarr

Dear Mayor Newsom You didn’t have to spend City taxpayer money on private consultants. Anyone could have told you: Just like any other shared and limited public resource, public transit needs user fees. Offering ‘free’ Muni is a destructive proposal. … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, politics, transit | Tagged brt, bus, busses, gavin, gavin newsom, light, lrt, mayor, muni, municipal, newsom, politics, pricing, public, rail, railway, san francisco, sf, train, transit, transport, transportation | 3 Comments

Will another gruesome Muni death stir Nat Ford to action?

Posted on January 17, 2008 by kfarr

The Examiner and the Chronicle both report on a disturbing incident which occurred Wednesday in the Sunset District. A man attempted to board the N-Judah around 9pm when the doors evidently closed on him. The train proceeded to drag him … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, transit | Tagged accident, bus, death, lrv, metro, muni, muni metro, municipal, pedestrian, pedestrian accident, railway, san francisco, sf | 4 Comments

Sign of Muni progress: rear boarding (beta)

Posted on January 16, 2008 by kfarr

Kudos to Muni for trying to address one of the two main causes of Muni’s notoriously low system-wide average speed: DWELL. (Dwell is a geek transit term for the time for loading and unloading of passengers.) The other cause? Busses … Continue reading →

Posted in transit | Tagged average speed, boarding, bus, busses, dwell, enforcement, muni, municipal, payment, pop, proof, proof of payment, railway, rear, rear boarding, san francisco, sf, speed | Leave a comment

Muni Chief Nat Ford on KQED’s Forum

Posted on December 14, 2007 by kfarr

Above: San Francisco Muni Chief Nathaniel “Nat” Ford (left) chats it up with Mayor Gavin Newsom. KQED’s amazing community affairs program “Forum” featured Muni Chief Nat Ford Thursday. Michael Krasny asks some hard questions but didn’t always get great answers. … Continue reading →

Posted in transit | Tagged 88.5, brt, bus, buses, ford, kqed, lrt, michael krasny, muni, municipal, municipal railroad, nat, nathaniel ford, railroad, railway, san francisco, sf | 4 Comments