Rescue Muni

You don’t want to sit in traffic with a bunch of drunk out of towners on New Year’s Eve, do you? Take mass transit instead! Muni will be offering free rides after 8 pm and extra service until 4 am, and BART, Caltrain, AC Transit, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit, and other services will be offering extra service throughout the evening.

Want to know if you have time for a nightcap? Check NextMuni for arrival times at the stop nearest your celebration venue of choice. iPhone users, try the $3 Routesy application (cheaper than a cab ride) which automatically checks your location (assuming the GPS is behaving that day).

SF Bay Area transit operators are hoping for new mass transit investment from the feds as part of the upcoming stimulus package as well as reauthorized transportation spending bills. Among the proposed projects are big BART expansions, Caltrain electrification, and Muni projects as small as upgraded fare gates and as large as the Central Subway. But will the new secretary of transportation share these goals? We shall see.

We too have entered the 140 character world of Twitter. Sign up for blog updates and other miscellaneous Muni related items at twitter.com/rescuemuni. No spam, we promise!

Update: Muni Diaries is twittering too. And so is BART, and (unofficially) Caltrain. Will Muni or MTA be next?

Today’s Chronicle has more details on the long-delayed, but now almost fully operational, Translink system for Muni and regional fare payment. Muni is looking for more riders to test the system and provide feedback. You can sign up now at the Translink website.

Note that you can’t use it on cable cars or BART, so if you use your fast pass to ride either of these, you’ll need to wait. But if you normally pay cash or just use your fast pass on Muni buses and light rail, it’s well worth joining the trial as boarding is a lot faster with the Translink card.

Even though gasoline prices are dropping, the Washington Post reports that mass transit ridership continues to grow, setting a new record in the third quarter of 2009. Perhaps Congress and Sen. Obama should take this into account when thinking about where to spend the proposed stimulus package – more on mass transit and less on highways?