Michael Rhodes
Michael Rhodes is a former reporter for Streetsblog San Francisco. He lives in the Mission Dolores neighborhood and is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning.
Recent Posts
SFPD Conducting First Citywide “Operation Safe Muni” Sting Today
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Ingleside Captain David Lazar briefs officers and the media on Operation Safe Muni today. Photo: Michael Rhodes For years, spotting a police officer on Muni has been about as likely as winning the lottery, even though officers are required to ride transit vehicles twice per shift. As a result, fare evasion, tagging, eating, and other […]
MTA Budget Shortfall Could Seriously Impact Muni Service
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The previous budget crisis, in May, brought Muni fare hikes and service cuts. Flickr photo: Steve Rhodes With memories of last spring’s budget battle still fresh in mind, the MTA announced in a mid-year budget presentation [PDF] today that it now faces a $45.1 million deficit and plans to cut 250 positions across the agency […]
MTA Announces Finalized December 5 Muni Service Changes
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Goodbye, weekend N-Judah service along the Embarcadero. Image: SFMTA The MTA today announced the specific Muni service changes it will make on December 5 as part of its efforts to close a $129 million budget gap. Half of Muni’s bus routes and one of its rail routes are affected, with changes including discontinued or shortened […]
Judge Busch Could Block New Bike Lanes Through March 2010
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Judge Busch could partially lift the injunction for now, allowing the city to paint sharrows but not bike lanes. Flickr photo: BikePortland.org The injunction that has hung like a pall over San Francisco’s efforts to improve bicycle infrastructure for the city’s growing number of bicyclists will remain for at least another ten days, and could […]
Eyes on the Street: San Francisco Gets First New Bike Lanes in Three Years
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Heading down the 19th Avenue mixed-use bike path (south) into campus. Photo: Randall Orr Surprise! San Francisco has its first new bike lanes in three years, five days before a scheduled court hearing on lifting the bicycle injunction. The new bike lanes are part of the 19th Avenue mixed-use path, Project 8.1 in the Bike […]
Bicyclist Injured in Collision at Market and Ellis Streets this Morning
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Twitpic photo: bfuller9 A bicyclist was injured in an apparent collision involving an automobile at Market and Ellis Streets this morning. Limited details were available about the crash, but Streetsblog contributor Pam MacLean reports that it took place just before 7:40 a.m. today: On my ride in today, I saw a cyclist down on the […]
Muni-Free Market Street: Serious Proposal or Mere Musing?
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The front page of today’s San Francisco Examiner. Are Muni’s days on Market Street numbered? That’s the gist of the front-page headline in the SF Examiner today, which suggests that Mayor Gavin Newsom has a bold plan to move all bus lines and the F-line historic streetcars onto side streets to make way for a […]
This Week in Livable Streets Events
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This week, learn about the future of the planet, the history of transit in San Francisco, and present-day bicycle culture in Copenhagen. Here are the week’s highlights. Tuesday: SPUR Evening Forum: New residential architecture in Southern California. Sam Lubell will talk about his book, Living West: New Residential Architecture in Southern California, which book explores […]
Bicyclist Killed in Redwood City Was a Fixture of Peninsula Bike Paths
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Mary Yonkers, right, with a bike trail friend. Photo courtesy Barry Grossman. Mary Yonkers, 58, of San Mateo, was killed by a truck driver while riding her bicycle to work on Shoreway Road in Redwood City last week. That stale description of her death belies the incredible impact she had on a countless number of […]
Could Off-Peak “Bargain Fares” Bring More Revenue to Muni and BART?
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Could cheaper fares fill these seats? Flickr photo: 24thcentury The new head of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Jay Walder, is considering a novel approach to attracting more transit riders: lowering fares during off-peak hours. In an interview with the New York Times he outlined his ambition to get more out of a system […]
Muni May Convert 2-Clement to Electric Trolley Bus
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The Clement Street stretch of the 2-Clement may be moved to California Street, if the line is converted to an electric trolley bus service. Image courtesy SFMTA. After two MTA board meetings filled with passionate though civil debate over the alignment of the shortened 2-Clement, the MTA has finally settled on a terminus for the […]
To Reduce Delay and Fare Evasion, Muni Considers All-Door Boarding
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Source: National Transit Database. There are plenty of eye-popping statistics in the MTA’s new proof-of-payment study [PDF]: 9.5 percent of Muni riders don’t have valid proof-of-payment, costing the agency $19 million in missed revenue annually. The fare-evasion rate is even higher among riders who illegally board buses through the back door: 55 percent don’t have […]