Caltrain fare overhaul

I'm really interested in Caltrain ridership getting together and pushing Caltrain for a fare system overhaul.

See - SF Weekly's criticism of fare enforcement with respect to Clipper follies. Most of the issues are - as has been discussed ad naseum - a function of the fact that Caltrain's fare structure does not work well with the limitations of Clipper, nor does it exploit the huge advantages Clipper should provide.

My primary interests are
1) Removal of 8 rides and replacement with a 15% discount for Clipper users
2) Removal of zone structure and replacement with distance based fares - at least for Clipper users (relieving Caltrain of the burden of overhauling their ticket machines).

See also Aaron Kitashima on 8 rides

And a previous writing on the topic

If people are interested, please join the Caltrain (JPBX) Google group for an open discussion that I hope will result in a proposal we can bring to the Caltrain Staff, JPB, and MTC.

The google group is here

Dan Savage, Violet Blue, Rob Anderson...

From Streetsblog

Most hookers in SF now use the internet and cell phones to do business. No need to stand around on street corners any more.

-Rob Anderson

Guy knows nothing about how we should be dealing with our streets, but I can totally see him being an expert on hookers.

just because of the now...

From: John Murphy
Sent: Jul 11, 2011 4:26 PM
To: "'rgerharter@igc.org'"
Subject: photo usage


Rick –

Are your photos available for use for free as long as they are attributed?

http://district5diary.blogspot.com/2011/07/gays-in-city-just-another-special.html

From: Rick Gerharter [mailto:rgerharter@igc.org]
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 9:23 PM
To: John Murphy
Subject: Re: photo usage

Absolutely not. Why do you ask? And no, Rob Anderson did not ask my permission before he stole my photo and used it. He complains (and rightly so) about UC's bad faith, but he has no problem stealing a photo from a working photographer. Is that bad faith? I've asked him to show some good faith and remove the photo now.

Rick

From: John Murphy
Sent: Jul 11, 2011 9:26 PM
To: "'rgerharter@igc.org'"
Subject: photo usage

I ask because that guy is an asshole.

Why I might get a bit defensive on the whole "cyclists do blah" thing

Alex Zapeda, a.k.a. zippy_monster got into a tet-a-tet that was somewhat spurred on by the last post. He must see a lot of things I never see - I walk around Noe Valley quite a lot and rarely get buzzed by a cyclist. Yes, I've seen a couple coming down 23rd or 24th take some questionable passage through a stop sign, but never felt put at risk. Can't say the same for the skateboarders who come zooming down the same streets - those guys are nuts and I keep waiting for a catastrophe. Fortunately as a pedestrian I can usually hear *them* coming.

Alex apparently spends a lot of time at Dolores Park - I wish I could spend more time there myself - and that area certainly attracts a different breed than the Freds like me riding down 24th Street to the Whole Foods with our trailers and extracycles. He complained about riders buzzing him on the sidewalk and (I think) on the lawn itself. I can envision that and it's certainly untoward. But not nearly as untoward as what I saw this AM...

Today at the top of Old La Honda, we were waiting on the right side of the road for the last cyclist to arrive before heading to 84. A pickup truck came screaming down from the North, laid on his horn, and made a sliding left turn onto Old La Honda, almost taking out one of us and the mailboxes on the other side of the road. Clearly he saw us and was not going to be bothered to be taking the turn with care.

Now, it turns out there is an Oak tree that has fallen over on Old La Honda and the road was closed, near the top. So it was fairly safe to assume we'd see this guy again. And we did. He was driving back up twisty Old La Honda Road at high speed - in REVERSE and came screaming into the intersection again, knowing full well that there were a half dozen cyclists standing at the edge of the road.

I just don't see how a PBR toting hipster riding down the sidewalk of Dolores Park compares.

Experimental data on cars vs bikes at stop signs

A few months ago, there was a story in our neighborhood paper, the Noe Valley Voice regarding the intersection of 24th and Church. This intersection is a mess, a four way stop with a streetcar running down Church Street, and platforms for the street car in the middle of Church in both directions, resulting in a strange split in the lane. This also means that train riders are dropped off in the middle of the street and must negotiate their way to the curb as the train is departing.

Not surprisingly, this sometimes results in accidents, as the Voice reports in a story where resident Kevin Daniels has taken it upon himself to try to get something done after witnessing a pedestrian hit by a car - while walking with her two young children.

Checking the letters to the editor for the following month, we see some responses from the community.

Two local residents recount stories of being hit by vehicles at that intersection. Both drivers indicated that they hadn't seen the pedestrian, at least one was not cited.

Then, there is this...

Editor:

In response to Kevin Daniels’ request to Captain Greg Corrales for stepped-up traffic enforcement, the police have conducted a targeted enforcement of the 24th and Church intersection on the mornings of May 4 and 5.

The results have been forwarded to Captain Corrales and to the engineering division of the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA).

Of the 16 people cited, 14 were San Francisco residents. Nine were cited for failure to yield to pedestrians, three for being on cell phones, two bicyclists for failure to stop at the stop sign, one motorist for failure to stop at the stop sign, and one for not wearing a seat belt. One of the violators had a suspended license.

We will continue to conduct targeted enforcement at that location as staffing allows.

Captain Al Casciato
Traffic Company
San Francisco Police Department

There's the anecdotal proof. Two of those vicious scofflaw cyclists were cited for running a stop sign, but only one car! Aha!

However, 9 motorists were cited for "failure to yield" - also known as "running a stop sign with a pedestrian right in front of you". It's illegal to run a stop sign no matter what, running one with someone in the crosswalk is dangerous. As three pedestrians mentioned in just these two issues can attest to.

Rec and Park Commission hearing - Noe Valley Town Square

Hi All,
From Todd David -

I received a phone call from Rec and Parks yesterday informing me that the Commission is holding a meeting on Wed, July 6 at 2PM.

The Noe Valley Town Square is going to be mentioned as one of the projects Rec and Park is pursuing/investigating. It would be fantastic if 5 or 6 people could join me for Public Comment.

Please let me know if you are available.

Todd

PS I will be sending out another email as soon as I get the exact location of the meeting

Contact Todd at noevalleytownsquare@gmail.com