Closed for business

​What better way to celebrate the founding fathers than with hair-pulling traffic and even more of a clusterfuck than usual for Bay Area commuters?

The westbound deck of the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco will be closed at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21 with a possibility of postponement or delays, depending on weather. The lower deck toward the East Bay, however, will stay open.

More >>

Muni is working ... until it's not

​There's no better way to start the weekend than a smooth commute into work. Muni is reporting that all trains are running on time after yesterday's damage to overhead wires forced several lines to come to a screeching halt.

Paul Rose, spokesman for Muni, tells us that crews worked through the night to repair damage to the wires at the Church Street station after a car knocked the overhead wires shortly before 2 p.m. on Thursday. The K,L, and M lines were taken out of service, and passengers had the miserable option of being bussed between the Church Street station and West Portal.

More >>

If only it were that simple

​Muni is warning some commuters to find another route home tonight after a car pulled down the overhead wires, forcing three lines to go out of service.

According to Paul Rose, spokesman for Muni, the K, L, and M lines between West Portal and the Church Street station are currently out of service. Passengers have the option of being bussed between the two stations, with stops in between.

"If you have an alternate route of transportation to get home tonight, that would be something to consider," Rose said.

More >>

SUV's aren't suited for everything

​Update (11:50 a.m.): Officer Albie Esparza tells us they arrested the driver on suspicion of drunk driving.

Original story (7:50 a.m.): Don't count on Muni to get anywhere this morning. The entire underground system has been shut down after an SUV drove into a Muni tunnel and -- not surprisingly -- got stuck.

Paul Rose, spokesman for Muni, tells us that at about 6 a.m., for unknown and not-so-bright reasons, someone drove their SUV down a ramp at Church Street and Duboce Avenue into the underground tunnel.

The driver traveled east all the way to the Van Ness station before getting stuck, Rose said.

There were no injuries; however, this news will make commuters sore: The L-Taraval, M-Ocean View, N-Judah, K-Ingleside, J-Church and T-Third Street lines are completely shut down.
More >>

Riding Muni is no picnic

​Anyone who has ever boarded a Muni bus already knows the great risks that come with riding. You will likely at some point get your iPhone snatched right out of your hands, or perhaps you might get stabbed or shot. Even worse, you might wind up sitting next to a dude jerking off.

Nevertheless, it's well documented that a jaunt on Muni isn't exactly a trip to the spa.  

And last night was no exception. According to police, one rider's tip through North Beach ended in a trip to the hospital after two drunk men got into a brawl, which involved, of all things, a dinner fork.

More >>

Think of it as a guidebook...

​In June, your humble narrator traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles via public transportation. This journey, as explained in the ensuing cover story, was undertaken for the same reason George Mallory sought to climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there." Mallory's journey was fatal. Mine involved 32 hours spent largely on buses, trains, and subways.

In other words, it was far from traumatic -- but also far from a holiday. Yet one person's nerve-wracking assignment is another's vacation. I received this week a letter from a woman who, inspired by our article, retraced my steps -- and then some.

Adrienne Leifer is a 47-year-old computer programmer for the San Francisco Unified School District. Her reaction after reading of my two-day journey from downtown San Francisco to downtown L.A. was unusual -- "Darn it, I'm gonna do that." But instead of a 32-hour trip to L.A., Leifer plotted out a five-day public transit caravan to Pasadena, where she would join her family for Thanksgiving. Her plan was to walk up her sister's driveway at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22. She left her home in Laurel Heights five days prior at 9 a.m.

More >>

Free and clear

​Johannes Mehserle, the former BART cop who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the emotionally charged shooting death of Oscar Grant, remains free and clear. A San Francisco federal jury rejected separate charges that Mehserle and four other BART officers beat and hog-tied a man at an Oakland BART stop two months before the Grant shooting.

Kenneth Carrethers filed his claim two years ago, seeking $1 million from BART for his injuries. But the jury wasn't buying Carrethers' story. Jurors acquitted the officers, who said they arrested Carrethers after he reportedly called them lazy and walked behind one of the officers with his fist clenched.

The jury gave more credibility to the officers' version of events, explaining that they had followed proper procedures. In the end, jurors awarded nothing to Carrethers, according to media outlets.
More >>

davitydave via Flickr

Watch out behind you!

​We read about crooks snatching cellphones from the hands of Muni riders all of the time, but 26-year-old Ronnie Morrisette isn't one of those thieves.

After spending more than three months behind bars, a jury acquitted the San Francisco man on charges of robbery, assault, and false imprisonment.

On Aug. 11 around 2 a.m., Morrisette was standing on the steps of the 14 Muni bus waiting to exit when another man on the bus snatched an iPhone out of the hands of passenger Rebecca Olarte, and ran off of the bus. As he rushed out, the thief knocked Morrisette's phone and iPod onto the ground. As Olarte ran after the thief, she crashed into Morrisette as he was picking up his own belongings from the ground, according to the Public Defender's Office.

Amid the chaos, Olarte grabbed Morrisette's iPhone, presumably thinking it was her own. The chaotic scene became more confusing being that Morrisette had no idea her phone had just been stolen -- she thought Olarte, who was holding his phone, was the thief, so he struggled with her to get his phone back.

Meanwhile, the real thief had escaped into the night, cellphone in hand.
More >>

Man killed by BART

​The San Francisco medical examiner identified the man who was killed by a BART train over the weekend as 81-year-old David Lee.

Lee, whose residence is unknown, was killed at about 3:30 p.m. after he reportedly laid down on the tracks at the 24th Street BART station Sunday. The station was closed for more than two hours and delays were systemwide while BART officials investigated.

The cause of Lee's death has not yet been determined; however, witnesses told police that they saw Lee get onto the tracks and lay down before the train reached the station.
More >>

No longer the face of BART

​After a curious three-month hiatus, BART's Chief Spokesman, Linton Johnson, is back today -- but he has a new desk and a different title.

The veteran spokesman has been reassigned to work on special projects while still bringing home the $170,000 pay package he made as BART's senior flack, according to board members. BART officials say the move was not punishment for the Aug. 11 controversy where Johnson initiated a systemwide shutdown of cellphone service to thwart a planned protest.

Calls to Johnson have not been answered.

However, inside sources at BART told us that Johnson -- who initially went on leave for personal reasons  -- is not  exactly happy about the shakeup.
More >>