BREAKING: TransLink Now Accepted on Muni Cable Cars (Passes Only)

A big step for TransLink to finally get away from being called a 'pilot' or a 'test!' TransLink cards are now accepted on San Francisco's cable cars!

Well... sort of...

All adult fast pass ("A"), Muni only ("M"), and discount passes (youth, senior, and disabled) are the only forms of TransLink media accepted on the cable cars. Passengers paying with electronic cash cannot ride at this time.

Whoo hoo! Who is going to be the first person?

FYI TransLink officials: Please fix your website to mention cable cars are OK with passes.

A little background:
Due to historic monument laws, Muni was unable to install TransLink devices on the cable car equipment, however conductors are permitted to carry card readers that is like a slightly bulky PDA. The readers are only set for "read only" and are unable to deduct out of the e-cash fund at this time. Muni has not made it official of when the "M" pass will be banned from cable cars, but for you cheapskates (like me), enjoy this moment while you still can.

Muni cannot technically be fully ready with TransLink until they do the following:
(1) Cable car conductors are able to deduct TransLink e-cash.
(2) Install card readers or have conductors use portable handheld TransLink readers on the "rare" fleet of F-Market streetcars (e.g. Boat Car, "Desire," and Melbourne).

Free Muni Rides for Golden Gate Ferry Passengers Ends Next Week

Sorry to tell you the the bad news Golden Gate Ferry passengers, your free rides on Muni is ending in a week.

For over a decade, Golden Gate Ferry passengers would get a two part transfer for a free ride on Muni to go away from the terminal (expired in 90 minutes) and one to return to the terminal (expired in 24 hours). It was an exceptional deal to get a free lift on Muni after paying about $4 (TransLink) or $8 in cash for a one-way ferry trip.

During the TransLink era, passengers who paid with their TL cards could decide to get the paper transfer or just use their TL card for their free ride away and back to the ferry terminal (e-transfer).

Starting April 1st, there will be two major things happening:

1. The Muni transfer will not offer free rides. Instead, passengers will get a 50 cent discount away from the terminal, and 50 cents off for the return trip. (Seniors, youth, and disabled will get a 25 cent discount)
   
2. No paper transfers will be issued from the terminal. A TransLink card is required to make the initial transaction with Golden Gate Ferry to be eligible for the discount transfer. A valid TransLink e-Muni pass will override the discount transfer.

Golden Gate Ferry passengers know they get a huge discount when using their TransLink card instead of paying cash, so do you have a card? Get a card at a retailer for a $5 fee (credited back if you register for autoload) or keep your eyes peeled for card giveaways at key locations within San Francisco. Next distribution will be at SF State this Thursday from 10:30AM to 2PM (I'm not sure exactly where, it's likely on 19th/Holloway or in the Student Center).

Remake of KTVU's "Bay Area People" Commercial?

If you lived here in the Bay Area since the 1980's, you should remember this video below...

That's right folks, it's the "Bay Area People" commercial that KTVU produced and something I consider to be a classic showing the brighter and happier days of our city and the Bay. Even if you have never seen this video, it should give you that warm and fuzzy feeling about our region.

The two decade old video shows a lady handling multiple dogs with many leashes, retired KTVU 10PM news reporters, Oakland Police, a couple at the Mel's Drive In at Lombard, a guy in a suit going to work in roller skates (yes, the classic kind), a lady with a flat tire with the 39-Coit bus passing by, a small dance crew at the port of Oakland, and an Asian lady with huge ass KTVU glasses. You can surely notice classic 80's stuff like the old Muni buses and the hairstyles.

I was thinking to myself, isn't it about time for KTVU to revive this old classic by keeping the classic "Bay Area People" song, but re-film all the video portions? For example, instead of the guy in classic roller skates, it's roller blades, and the lady with the "brick" cell phone is using an iPhone.

If you want to contact KTVU and ask them to remake the classic commercial, click here and you can decide to send it by snail mail, e-mail, or give them a call.

Is it Time to End SF's Recycling Centers?

I was thinking to myself, it is worthwhile for the City and County of San Francisco to have recycling centers at major grocery stores around the city? In my perspective, I believe it's time to end those centers for many reasons.

Regardless of any state or local laws that require recycling centers, just the sight of these centers makes me sick to my stomach because of the unsavory acts that happen.

• Ever ride Muni and notice some stinky guy with two garbage bags full of aluminum cans and plastic bottles while the damn bag is leaking? It makes me question if the guy is a druggie trying to get some more cash to get high.
  
• There are trucks that roam the city at night looking through your blue bins on the street (a.k.a. trash pickup day) to find valuable aluminum cans so they can haul it to their nearest recycling site and receive a wad of cash. But has the city really enforced it? No. But now with Newsom's new law about mandatory recycling and composting, we the garbage company customers can be financially penalized when it wasn't our damn fault since those "professional" thieves just rummage through the blue can and throw the newspapers into the black trash bin.
• Let's also remember that people stealing out of our blue trash bins are also making our garbage rates go higher. Sunset Scavenger (a.k.a. "Recology") makes money on the items in the blue bins and passes on the savings into your service bill. My home recycles so much, we asked for a bigger blue bin than the standard size most city residents get.
• I've always wondered just how these recyclers can really make that much money off of cans, bottles, and other stuff. I don't think spending an hour would make the city's minimum wage of about $10 (don't forget the new sick time laws and health care), so why not just find a real job?

I think the city should rethink about their options on recycling:

1. Outright close all recycling centers and setup only ONE center down at the city dump. It makes people choose, throw it in their blue bin, or haul it all the way across town where Muni doesn't go nearby to visit the city dump?
2. Instead of those shipping crate recycling centers, how about automated recycling vending machines? Here's a great example: Andronico's on Irving used to do recycling, but it wasn't some place to drop off a garbage bag and get it weighed. It was a place where there were three machines about the size of soda vending machines, and each machine was for each type of item (glass, plastic, and cans). The machine was made so that a user opens a door, inserts one bottle or can, and shuts the door to recycle the item, then repeat. For the person who just likes to get a few nickels and dimes for their soda drinking, sure, it was a fun thing to do. But... for those hardcore recyclers, it was a total pain in the ass because recycling more than 20 cans took FOREVER! Plus, you never got dollar bills or a check, it was just purely nickels, dimes, and quarters.
   

Akit's Injury Prone Weekend

It's Tuesday and I'm nursing a brand new foot injury. Crutches and plenty of Advil, I'm going to be limping for the next couple of weeks.

I thought I'd share with you my weekend adventures, which led to my foot injury.

Saturday...
It was an afternoon with the Asian American YouTube celebrities. They were part of a special panel discussing about the future of YouTube and hundreds of people were lined up in the rush line to see if they can score a ticket, but the event was sold out and seating in the theater was small. But still, it was really fun. The swarm was totally nuts after the event, with people outside the theater getting their photographs with all the celebs.

For more about the event, visit Wong Fu Production's blog.

From left to right: Kevin Wu, Wong Fu Productions, Ryan Higa, and Timothy De La Ghetto.

Sunday...
It was a day at the Cow Palace (no, not the gun show) for some professional wrestling. WWE was in town for a non-televised show and getting into the facility sucked. There was only one entrance to get inside and the line was literally the length of two football fields while everyone is being screened by less than a dozen security guards.. The program wasn't even sold out with plenty of seats available, but many paid the minimum $40 charge to get seats like the ones I got below, which was so close to the action.

Oh yeah, tons of people drinking and throwing crap onto the ring.

In the end, I had to go to the hospital on Monday. My foot still hurts today...

A Bay Area Gas Tax or Fee to Benefit Public Transit?

We all know the facts about buying gasoline, we are practically the most expensive in the country. But we also know that Governator Arnold has been taking away tax money earned through the taxing of gasoline that was supposed to fund public transit, but instead been used to offset the state budget deficit. Because of the siphoning, transit agencies took a big hit on their funding source from the state.

An interesting article came from the Chronicle this morning about the local transit officials getting back their transit funding from the state, but what really struck me was a regional tax or fee dedicated to transit.

That sounds like an interesting concept. Add a few more cents per gallon to allow more funds to be dedicated solely to public transportation for our region only. Regardless if you buy gas in San Jose or Marin, you know that just a few pennies per gallon is helping to provide much needed public transit for everyone.

But... the MTC did say that there is a difference between a "tax" and "fee." In order for a tax to pass by voters, it needs at least a two-third majority, but if it's just a fee, it only needs a simple majority (50% plus one).

I think there should be some big restrictions to the money being raised: They should propose that this tax/fee can never be used for other purposes than public transportation. There will be no siphoning it to fix highways or bridges, just for the transit agencies. Maybe also make a rule that the money cannot be used to pay for salaries. Just because you get an extra several million dollars doesn't mean employees and unions can abuse that money to their advantage by demanding higher salaries, bonuses, or expensive overtime.

Bad San Francisco DPW... Go to Time Out!

Since yesterday afternoon, the city closed down Upper Great Highway in both directions from Lincoln to Sloat. While I haven't heard any reasons why, it's likely due to the heavy winds from Sunday and Monday that caused the beach sand to pile up on the roadway. At this time, both directions are still shut down and most are taking Lower Great Highway.

As usual procedure, if DPW must shut down either direction (or both) of the Upper Great Highway portion, the city must always put Lincoln and Sloat on 4-way stop. They do this so drivers become aware of the steel barricades closing-off the road.

When the city fails to do their job and keeps the intersection signals on a three color cycle, it puts drivers at higher risk for collisions and cars making the left turn going west on Lincoln to go south on Upper Great Highway won't notice the barricade until it is too late (a huge blind spot).

I've warned the city multiple times of the dangers of not switching to 4-way stop when that road is closed, and it happened again. When it was closed yesterday afternoon, I called the DPT hotline and the call was forwarded to "public safety" where I informed the lady why I was calling and expected someone to fix it as soon as they can.

When I arrived at Great Highway & Lincoln at 8AM today, the signals were still running on three colors and many cars were running the red light to make the turn. I called DPT again and got someone from the signal shop to explain the issue. Even then, the guy didn't even believe me that both directions of Upper Great Highway was shut down and he said that DPW is responsible for fixing the signals in the event the road must be closed.

For the love of god, I've had to tell the city over a dozen times in just a year about this exact problem. This city government is an insult and there are no excuses for continuously screwing up.