All right, here’s the new side-of-the-bus ad from our SFMTA, the slowest large transit agency in American history (And I’m srsly on that one. Can you name me one slower? OK then.)
“Do You Know What You’re Getting Into?”
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By the numbers:
1. Trained drivers with extensive training [And people say bloggers talk funny!]
2. Proper insurance [A low blow! But yes, SFMTA, you have a valid point here.]
3. Your support of local San Francisco drivers. [Some yes, some not]
4. Driver background checks. [Meh.]
5. Safety and meter inspection [Meh.]
6. Formal process for dispute resolution [Meh.]
OK, now how old are you, SFMTA? Not too old but old enough to have been in charge of this:
Was this SFMTA-licensed driver trained with extensive training to, IDK, investigate fires before people die?
Apparently not. How many fares have Lyft drivers killed?
Speaking of which, what about the sad case of Julie Christine Day, who was last seen alive leaving the Bubble Lounge on Montgomery?
One of your vaunted, extensively-trained, fully licensed and insured drivers started up his fully-inspected meter and then immediately set about murdering his fare, right, SFMTA?
So, what the Hell?
All right, SFMTA, you might have some good points about Lyft and Sidecar and Uber (look for the orange rear-view window cozies, I’m srsly) and the illegal limos and the out-of-town taxi drivers making illegal pickups in the 415.
But you are biased by your 50% tax on taxi medallions, among other things.
So let’s mark this effort as yet another failed initiative from the SFMTA.
[UPDATE II: The Twitter-stream of one @kylekirchhoff just went private. C'mon, Bro! You gotta engage with the peeps. Today is your big day. It's not that incrimernating, is it? Bro discusses how much he doesn't like Twitter, McAfee Antivirus Inc, and how many people got shot on a MUNI #14 last year. You know, all the usual stuff. But I'll tell you, withdrawing from Web 2.0 is what criminales do, right? You're just a bro with a bus. Nothing wrong with that.]
John Avalos, a supervisor who has fought against private companies use of Muni stops, called Kirchhoff’s comments “very disingenuous.”
“What a crock of s—,” Avalos said. “How does blocking a Muni stop make the city more efficient? You’re trying to make money, and you’re creating a two-tiered transportation system in San Francisco.”]
I’ll tell you, I’ve been waiting years for a MUNI alternative to pop up and look, it’s here.
Now I’m not talking about the corporate buses (like Google, Apple, FaceBook and so on) that have been around for a decade or so, and I’m not talking about Uber, Lyft, Sidecar and the like and I’m not even talking about the private version of the taxpayer-subsidized Twitter Express, the 83X.
See that? The bus comes with WiFi and leather seats, but they cost three times as much as MUNI. And I’m supposing you and your wheelchair would be better off on MUNI, just a guess. And, oh yes, you pretty much need an Apple iPhone (or as close an iOS device as possible) to climb aboard.
Now you’d think the MSM would be all over this new company, but no. So far, Leap has escaped notice, except from this bloke called Stilgherrian from Down Under. (Uh, he’s _not_ a fan. I haven’t seen a booting like this since Bart vs. Australia)
I don’t know, if the 30X just passed you by ’cause it’s raining and you see a Leap bus coming at you and you have an iPhone and you’re already signed up, well then Leap just might be worth the six bucks.
Here’s what you can seen across the street from the former Bank of America World Headquarters at 555 California betwixt Kearny and Montgomery in the Financh.
The postmodern, 107 m (351 ft), 23 story tower is … is topped with twelve statues described as “The Corporate Goddesses” by Muriel Castanis on the twenty-third floor.”
“With huge numbers of people biking to work on a daily basis, it may be time to look into licensing commuter bicyclists so they must take the same DMV tests motorcyclists and motorists take to ensure that they know the laws. It also seems that offenders should face some of the same punishments motorcyclists and motorists face, like points against their license. And if they’re going to be commuters, thus increasing the chances of accidents on city streets, perhaps they should also have to carry insurance. I’m not advocating these measures for the person who bikes through Golden Gate Park recreationally, one or two Sundays a month; but for everyday commuters, I think it makes sense.”
Oh, hold on, this post will need a photo.
Type Marina District into the Google, and this is what you’ll get:
Hair lightened and teeth whitened – I’ll have to try that one of these days.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, uh, I seriously kind of don’t think you can require licensing and insurance for people who go to work on a bike and not for the people who go about solely in Golden Gate Park.
And points at the DMV, well, that would seem to penalize those with driver licenses more than those without, capiche?
And Davis, CA? Is that our lodestar now, law enforcement-wise, rich white Marina Lady?
There I was monitoring recent Zeppelin activity over the 415 and what do I see but an old-school Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas DC9 / MD80 / MD85 / MD90 / whatever flying out of OAK.
See?
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You can buy a used jetliners with ancient low-bypass engines for as cheap as $4,000,000 and then start up an airline? Did not know that.
Well, maybe not a tree, but how about a big old branch of a eucalyptus [See Comments] cypress(?) tree what’s stood in the Golden Gate Park for a century or so?
The branch comes down and hits this van, straight outta Indiana. So out pop two hippies, who just happened to be inside smoking weed.
The clear-headed one is all, “We gotta get out of here, man,” but the other one just couldn’t understand the urgency, he didn’t appreciate the danger.
See?
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So they worked together to move the branch as much as they could and then sped away with a quickness. The SFPD showed up five minutes later to fix things so that the branch no longer blocked a lane of Fell during the evening drive.
(Later on, another nondescript white van took over the same space, which, as you can see, is just behind yet another nondescript white van. It’s like people from all over the country just decide to Go West, and then they end up in the 415…)
Actually, something in the Golden Gate Park Panhandle is probably falling next to some pot-smoking hippie pretty much all the time.
So let’s be careful out there.
And now, let’s remember the time when Gaia struck back at a forester, a Subaru Forester:
Ben Davis-wearing members of Laborer’s local 261 + giant Swedish buzz saws = problem quickly solved.
Excepting for Caroline’s Subie, that is.
The City crew failed to leave a note, but I think the driver will figure things out for herself after seeing the flat tires and all the sawdust.
Just as politics is the reason why the feds are about to spend a billion dollars on the oh-my-God-wouldn’t-we-be-better-off-without-it Central Subway, politics is the reason why it’s hard to get a taxi cab in San Francisco.
I mean, what kind of world do you want to live in – one where we have a lower number of higher-paid drivers or a larger number lower-paid drivers? (That’s a political question, of course.)
For whatever reason, it’s relatively easy to catch a cab at certain times and relatively hard at others. That’s the system we’ve had, that’s what’s been chosen.
And that means it’s awfully tempting for illegal cab drivers to hit the streets during the busier times.
As here, at the foot of California Street, right near the foot of Market, right in the Financial District in front of the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. See? A quick price quote/negotiation convo and then she hopped in:
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Do you think this woman would have preferred to take her taxi ride in a taxi? Probably as it would have been much cheaper, but she didn’t really have all that much of a choice.
Do you think the SFPD generally knows what’s going on here. Sure, but they don’t really want to deal with this sitch.
Now, how about making money instead of spending it this coming New Years Eve? Simply rent a car and then drive it around all night taking people where they want to go. You’ll see thousands of people waving their arms around all over the City, so you’ll have no problem finding customers. Be sure to quote an outrageous amount when they ask you, “How much?”
As long as you don’t get in an accident, and don’t get pulled over by the police, and don’t run into a few other hazards I can think of, you should be good to go. (But if the cops figure out what you’re doing and they’re motivated to throw the book at you for not having permits and stickers on the outside of your car and whole bunch of other stuff, then you’ll be in trouble with a capital “T.” That’s just one reason why I don’t recommend you to do anything like this.)
Or don’t dump your ZipCar, I don’t care.* Anyway, the news of the day is the arrival of RelayRides, straight outta the Boston, Mass 02134 area. So, next time you need a car, you just use your RelayRides card to rent your neighbor’s ride.
So it’s like ZipCar but a little different. And actually, it’s just like San Francisco-based GetAround.
Max here, with the biggest Apple monitor in all Christendom, wants to tell you all about. She realllllly wants to. Check the video
Uh, Max honey? You’re giving us about a 9 – could you drop that down to a 4 on the next take? Oh there is no second take? Oh, O.K., well, that’s a wrap.
I’ll tell you, I could sign up my giant Toyota for this program but:
1. It’s probably too old;
2. You’d need to baby it, you can’t just floor it to go up a hill with a quickness; and
3. Don’t like the idea of leaving the keys inside the car(!). Baby, if you want to pimp my ride or whatever the kids call car theft these days, you’re going to need a big tow truck or a good way of getting my keys from me. I’m thinking that leaving my keys in my car along with a little sign on the windshield telling tout le Monde that I left my keys in my car, well that’s one step removed from Gone in 60 Seconds followed by a Midnight Run for The Border. The 415 is full of vultures, vultures everywhere, everywhere, non?
But you, you have a brand new Mini Cooper or Toyota Prius with an automatic, right? Or, conversely, you want to rent one for an hour to make a TJ’s run every now and then, right?
Well then, get all the deets, below.
*ZipCar is a little sneaky about how they automatically renew your membership, IMO. I mean, really, they’re just another rent-a-car outfit, right? If I were a cheesy MBA-type running ZipCar, at least I’d have a reminder email go out to people before membership renewal, but that’s why I’m not a cheesy MBA-type running ZipCar. The same thing with NetFlix, when they keep your money when you cancel. The 415 is full of vultures, vultures everywhere, everywhere, non?
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 14, 2010 – RelayRides, the world’s first neighbor-to-neighbor carsharing service, is launching in San Francisco on December 14, powered by funding from August Capital and Google Ventures. RelayRides provides car owners a user-friendly platform to safely lend their cars to their neighbors – and make money while providing convenient, affordable access to neighbors who need the occasional use of vehicles. Rather than putting new cars on the road like other carsharing services, RelayRides goes the eco-friendly route by leveraging existing, often idle autos. Neighbors help each other as car owners recover some of the costs of owning an expensive asset while providing a new, convenient transportation option for those in need of a car.
Effective today, car owners in San Francisco can set their car’s hourly and daily rates and make them available to pre-screened RelayRides members. For those who need occasional access to a car for errands or a day trip, RelayRides offers competitive rates, and is free to join. Rates start at just $6 per hour and include gas and insurance. A $1 million insurance policy is in effect during each reservation to provide peace of mind for car owners. RelayRides provides in-vehicle technology and an online reservation system that enables independent access via smartcard to borrowers. The in-vehicle technology tracks usage and provides vehicle security.
“Consumers are increasingly rejecting traditional forms of ownership, preferring to borrow rather than buy. RelayRides builds on this changing consumer behavior by enabling neighbors to support each other, both financially and practically,” comments Shelby Clark, founder and CEO of RelayRides.
When RelayRides launched in the Boston area earlier this year, its rapid adoption by auto owners and those in need of a car demonstrated its viability. The company has successfully recruited owners with basic vehicles such as Honda Civics as well as higher-end Porsches and Jaguars. “It’s the perfect thing for me,” says Anthony Burdi, a 2009 Prius owner in Boston. “It’s a good way to earn revenue from my car when I’m not using it, which helps me pay for gas, insurance and other running costs. At the same time, I’m helping a neighbor by providing them access to a car. I never thought of it and kind of wish I had, because it’s a great business to be in.”
“Car sharing between neighbors is great for San Francisco, as it will lead to fewer new cars on the road, which will help decrease congestion and pollution. That’s why I’m delighted to make my Prius available via RelayRides – it’s good for me, for my neighbors, and for my city,” comments Caterina Rindi, owner of a Toyota Prius, of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood.
“Carsharing is a $12.5 billion global market that is thriving in both the U.S. and abroad. RelayRides is the first to bring this global trend to the hyperlocal level,” says Joe Kraus, Partner at Google Ventures and Board Director of RelayRides. “This growth is driven by the fact that carsharing is now a convenient, affordable and sustainable alternative to ownership.”
RelayRides is the world’s first neighbor-to-neighbor carsharing service. RelayRides enables car owners to make money while providing those in need of a car with affordable access to one. RelayRides is a venture-funded company backed by Google Ventures and August Capital.
