Category Archives: transit

Thank a DPT traffic control officer today.

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

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Cab earnings update: seasonal rise in demand for taxis offsets increased fuel and gate costs.

San Francisco cab drivers face two recent cost pressures: a recent gate fee increase combined with the recent climb in gas prices. Fortunately, these cost pressures come at a time when aggregate demand for taxis in the City is increasing. … Continue reading

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Driving the day of the Olympic Torch run

I was not originally scheduled to work today, but I had to make up for a missed shift from earlier this week. More to the point, I wanted to experience San Francisco during the historic procession of the Olympic Flame … Continue reading

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Sad news: New York City congestion fee proposal killed by New York State.

The NY Times reports on the sad news that the New York State Assembly vetoed New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to charge drivers to enter Manhattan during peak times. While I do not understand the legal wrangling between agencies … Continue reading

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News flash: Livable cities are sustainable cities.

NPR’s Morning Edition recently featured an excellent two part series on the aggregate effects of our living decisions on the environment. The stories hit hard from the angle that suburbia increases per capita carbon footprint while denser, urban living offers … Continue reading

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Website highlights financial stress of driving a taxi in the City

I point your temporary attention to a Flash website produced by UC Berkeley j-school grad students Eric Zassenhaus and Amy Jeffries. The video clips thumbnailed along the bottom are accurate and colorful paintings of a typical taxi shift. Well worth … Continue reading

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Something Muni does well: Trolleybusses

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

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

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

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The headline should read, “Mayor signs taxi gate fee increase, lowering pay for City workers.”

Mayor Newsom signed a bill last week that increases gate fees for most cab drivers by $5 (effectively a $.50/hr paycut) and increases the gate fee for Compressed Natural Gas and hybrid cab drivers by $13.50 (effectively a $1.35/hr paycut). … Continue reading

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Driving highlights

There’s a new traffic light at California and (upper) Stockton. It’s a real buzz-kill when you’re flying up or down California Street, but it’s a wonder there was never one before. This intersection splits 2 segments of California which both … Continue reading

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