December 11, 2004
A Story Problem
Anna, Max, Jen, and Salim want to get from Holloway and 19th to Bernal Heights on a Friday evening. They have amongst them a credit card, a debit card, a $5 bill, four $1 bills, and a pocketful of change (about 75¢, not including pennies). Find the best route. 10 points. Bonus:Find the cheapest method, considering time at $8.50 per person per hour. 5 points.
We are standing at a major intersection, where a bus and streetcar stop.
Possible Solution A
Take the streetcar to Balboa Park BART ($1.25), and buy separate tickets for BART to 24th Street ($1.25). Walk six blocks to the party. Travel time: 30 minutes.
Possible Solution B
Take the bus to Daly City BART ($1.25), and buy separate tickets for BART to 24th Street ($2.15). Walk six blocks to the party. Travel time: 45 minutes.
Possible Solution C
Take a cab. About $3 per person (not including gratuity; cash, credit cards accepted), and 20 minutes.
Possible Solution D
Take the M inbound to Church and Market ($1.25), transfer to the J (free) to 24th Street, walk 10 blocks. Travel time: 45 minutes.
The solution?
We spent several minutes rassling with getting the $5 bill into the MUNI ticket machine, although we realised that it wouldn't conveniently dispense four single-ride tickets. We needed the change, as we didn't have four singles and quarters per rider. We finally wrangled change and tickets from the second machine (the first was ornery about our singles), but in the process of doing so missed the first M that came to the platform. We waited for the next train, and were alarmed when the "End of the line!" call came as we looked out onto a dark, busy street. The MUNI streetcar stopped in the middle of the roadway, so we had to cross a lane of car traffic just to get to the sidewalk -- a sidewalk which had a PCC eerily parked across it (which turned out to be live, although the interior was darkened; just after we walked in front of it the car began rolling into the intersection). We made our way to what seemed like the crosswalk, but were still on the diagonal from the BART station. Why doesn't MUNI have a more formal terminal at the end of its line? Or connect conveniently with the BART, with which it shares a nominal destination ("Balboa Park")? Instead, the M and L lines abandon riders on the far side of their only possible destination, the BART station. We walked to the station and descended to the ticketing area, and bought four single-ride tickets (non-refillable; does BART somehow re-use or re-cycle these tickets?) to ride three stations to 24th Street.
I was impressed to learn that BART vending machines issue multiple tickets in a single transaction; dismayed that MUNI's cannot; irritated at the difficulty of transfer between systems; and satisfied, although not impressd, with the economy of public transit in the Bay Area.
December 10, 2004
Round-up
What's what in the neighbourhood:
The turbulent bulan modern live-work space on Haight Street now contains several beauty-parlour chairs. This 'hood needs another beauty salon like it needs another marijuana dispensary.
I'm ready for my tombstone: as I was heading out of the office last night, one of my colleagues hollererd down the stair after me: "Hey, Salim, how do you say 'bike path' in Latin?" and I yelled back "Via velocipedis!". I can see it now: RIP. He knew Latin and bicycles.
December 09, 2004
F Market loses control, smashes cars
The F Market lost control on Market Street at Valencia, careening into five cars.
Traffic was snarled around the area for hours afterwards, exacerbating the Market Street / Hayes Valley congestion problems.
A Natural Experiment
This study published in the Journal of Public Transit describes a natural experiment in which transit users were able to set the value of headway and wait-time for bus service.
"Transforming milk into milk"
Wm Carlos Wms was Allen Ginsberg's paediatrician; AG took this photo of Harry Smith;
December 08, 2004
Here's what's for dinner. Yo.
Have I mentioned how excited I am that the impossibly influential Slint are playing a reunion concert in San Francisco? Very excited.
And O'Farrell Street is closer than Camber Sands.
The strength
Ironically, Kryptonite locks, long the emblem of the urban cyclist, had a flaw: they could be opened with a common-or-garden ballpoint pen (biro to you!). They set up a RMA process for consumers to exchange vulnerable locks for a new model.
I got my long-awaited return label from Kryptonite yesterday, entitling me to 9 pounds of locks. I'm returning the two New York short-shackle locks, the sort you see messengers tucking into a back jeans pocket) and the longer U-lock I bought when I got my first bicycle in Chicago.
On the interpretation of (parking) signs
This morning the duallie white pickups were double-parked thick and deep on Scott St. A policeman stopped by and said that he had a mind to tag the cars, so I called the DPT. The contractors' pickups were double-parked because the curb spaces reserved for their use were taken, despite the No Parking easels and work permits which have been outside since August.
A dutiful DPT officer (the local chief, he proudly informed me) came out, tagged the two cars, and called for a tow. He checked the plates on the cars, and told me that the first one belonged to someone who lived nearby; would I mind if he tried ringing their bell? Of course not -- as long as the cars moved soon, I didn't care how he did it. (Aside: I remember being woken up early one morning when Arshad's car alarm almost had cutie towed from a spot next to Brother-in-Law's; I was impressed that the police were so diligent.)
A few minutes later an angry woman stormed up, steamed because she said that she's seen people parking there for the past several months. I could hear her arguing with the DPT officer outside; he told her on no uncertain terms that she needed to move the car before the tow-truck showed up. He reminded her that other people's behaviour is no excuse for her not heeding signs.
She walked into the basement, where I was reviewing some work with a HVAC contractor. Things got worse: she refused to leave the basement, and I tried moving towards the door but she wouldn't budge. She suggested that I have more respect for my neighours; I reminded her that a city-mandated mailing had gone to all property owners and tenants in May, when we applied for the DPT permits, and that the permits themselves, along with standard warning posters, had been posted since August. This didn't carry water with her. I kept moving towards the door, and she had to step backwards.
She railed against the ticket; I pointed out that the signs read "Tow Away No Stopping". She said that she couldn't read signs. The DPT guy calmly told her that if that was the case, she shouldn't be driving.
The car that she moved was filled with trash bags and miscellany: even the driver's seat had a rubbish bin on it. I didn't recognise it (this woman usually drives a blue minivan), but know the woman. I even believe that she can't read the No Parking signs, but also know that the signs are visually useful, even if they're not literally understood.
Everyone understands getting towed, though. I was looking forward to seeing at least one car up on a tow, but the other driver came along just as the first woman left. He was all in a hurry to have the contractors move their trucks, so that he could leave. The contractors gave him hell, saying "If you knew how to read a sign, this wouldn't be a problem."
December 07, 2004
Pizza (for your) pocket
Slice (which touts itself as "America's Favorite Pizza Weblog!") is available for your iPod.
Characteristics of a good slice:
- available within 3 minutes
- available as close to 24-hours-a-day as possible
- within a five-minute walk of where you happen to be (home, bar, school)
- pepperoni
- foldable
MUNI II: Fiscal boogaloo
You've got a small car? Perhaps even a fuel-efficient model? Contra Costa County sez 'Bollocks' to you. Meanwhile, San Francisco's MUNI has declared a second fiscal emergency, and prepares for service cuts, another fare increase (the base fare increased 25% in September 2003).
I am writing to MUNI's Michael Burns, the Board of Supervisors (who oversee MUNI's authority to institute fare increases and service cuts), my Supervisor (incoming: Ross Mirkarimi; outgoing: Matt Gonzalez), and the Mayor's office with my recommendation that the city impose new vehicle fees, increase downtown parking rates, and otherwise make life difficult for private drivers during commercial hours.
Some service cuts to MUNI, especially in older, neighbourhood lines, may be inevitable; however, a second fare increase will only further weaken our public-transit infrastucture. For crying out loud! This happens for want of, what, $60 million? Transportation for a Liveable City has posted their recommendations.
The economist Charles Komanoff, writing in today's NYT, says,
Getting the United States off oil and other fossil fuels is nothing like the Apollo program. No rocket science or new technology is needed. What's missing is the political will to internalize the huge social costs of energy use in the prices of fuels and electricity through fuel taxes.We know how to make windmills and bicycles, compact cities and compact fluorescents. Choosing them instead of gas-guzzlers and sprawl development requires market incentives that only higher energy prices can create.
December 06, 2004
Apropa't
I have long felt a kinship to Barcelona, and was happy to find in today's mail a copy of Robert Hughes' recent study of the city, sub-titled "The Great Enchantress".
Follow, follow, follow
Read a handful of L. Frank Baum's Oz books over the weekend, in the Del Rey reissues from the '80s. The trade paperbacks unfortunately don't do justice to Jno R. Neill's beautiful line illustrations: reduced in size and on inferior paper, one can't make out a lot of the detail.
Was Baum describing a Socialist paradise in his books?
Another question: where does the abbreviation "Jno" for John originate? It's how Neill signs his ornate illustrations; it's also painted on the station-cab in Market Blandings, where many an interloper alights for hijinks at Lord Emsworth's estate.