(San Francisco – KALW) The Bay Area had a tumultuous year in transportation, a more acute example of many trends taking hold around the nataion. (See other year in review posts here.) In 2011 we watched a still a roller coaster ride for California’s high-speed rail plan, covered the perils of being a pedestrian in one of the most walkable cities in America, examined the state of California’s crumbling bridges, and reported on a safety technician on the new Bay Bridge who was fired after falsifying test data.

We’ve met the new SFMTA chief, who doesn’t own a car, and tried out new technology that helps find parking in a city where looking for a spot can literally make you cry. We’ve learned about the biological hazards found in BART seats (eew), and reported about First Amendment rights on public transit after officials shut down cell phone service on the trains during protests of a BART police shooting of a homeless man in San Francisco.

It was hard to choose our top five, but here’s a selection of some of our favorite stories of the year.

 

High Speed Rail

California has one of the only high-speed rail plans left in the country.  But it’s been more like a roller coaster ride than a train trip this year. The year started with a rail-supporting governor, leading advocates of the $9+ billion plan to sigh with relief that the Golden State’s bullet trains wouldn’t die a premature death like in Wisconsin.  Still, tight budget times were a threat to the more than multi-billion dollar plan. When Florida’s governor killed a $2 billion high-speed rail plan in his state that meant more federal money for California.

As scrutiny increased, some evidence showed that the towns along the route might boom as a result, while critics argued this was a train to nowhere. A revised business plan released by the California High-Speed Rail Authority in November projected costs for the rail system of almost $100 billion dollars—three times the total amount put before voters in 2008 when they approved a $9 billion bond measure to finance the project.

That didn’t make voters happy—a recent Field Poll shows that 64% of California voters want a re-vote on the project, and that 59 percent of those voters would now oppose funding the project. The project remains the most likely candidate to become the nation’s first, and only, high-speed rail line.

 

Parking in San Francisco: There’s an app for that

The city of San Francisco is leading the way in using technology to try and tackle the age old urban frustration of finding a parking spot. After putting censors in each public metered parking space, the city released an app telling drivers the easiest places to find a free spot. The most popular streets get more expensive and the least get cheaper.

According to Jay Primus, the manager of the program, “It’s a little bit like the Goldilocks principle. We don’t want it too hot, we don’t want it too cold – we want it just right. In this case, prices not too high or too low, but just right for the demand we see.”

The city is now making its first round of changes to parking meter costs based on data gathered from its street sensors around town. The idea is for meter and garage rates to be based on demand as well. Since rates change slowly, it’s too soon to draw any conclusions, but tech-minded transportation policy makers are watching this project closely.

 

BART protests

In July, demonstrators upset about the BART Police killing of a homeless man named Charles Hill filled downtown stations in San Francisco, crowding platforms and at one point attempting to climb on top of a stopped train.

The BART Board decided to disable cell service on several platforms in early August in order to disrupt a planned protest that was to be organized in part, via mobile communications among the participants.

According to the Washington Post, this decision made BART “the first known government agency in the nation to block electronic communications as a means to quell social unrest.”

In addition to First Amendment issues, the intentional disruption of cell service raised questions from the FCC about the legality of shutting down an entire communications network, even if only temporarily. On December 1, the BART Board approved a policy authorizing police to shutdown wireless communication in stations under “extraordinary circumstances.”

 

Rent my Car

When you really think about it, you probably don’t use your car all that much.  You drive to work – then leave your car in the lot all day while you’re inside. Or you leave town for a few days – then don’t use your car for the next three weeks. Meanwhile, plenty of other people don’t have cars, but sometimes need them.

Three new companies in the San Francisco Bay Area – Getaround, RelayRides, and Spride Share – are trying to match those idle cars with people who want to drive them. Each model is a little different, but the basic idea is the same: when you’re not using your car, you can rent it out to anyone who needs it. And if you need a car? You can rent anything from your neighbor’s station wagon to a brand-new Tesla Roadster. Or, you can rent KALW reporter Casey Miner’s beater for a bargain. (Listen to how that worked out here.)

 

 

How I learned to stop worrying and love the 880 freeway

The first real freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area was the 880. Completed in 1957, it connects the Port of Oakland with San Jose. Today it’s a major trucking route, and the most direct way to get to the Oakland Airport, or to an Oakland Raiders game.

But those things aren’t what set it apart from other freeways. Of all the Bay Area’s roads, the 880 — also called the Nimitz freeway — is arguably the one that gets the most people the most worked up.

AAA once named the “Nasty Nimitz” the “rudest road” in the region. And as far as we can tell, it’s the only highway with Yelp reviews, which say things like, “880 is like the backwards bigotted (sic) relative in the family that everyone is ashamed of.” And, “Dammit 880, why can’t you be nicer and more manicured like your East Bay cousins 80 and 580?” And, “There is a stretch around Downtown Oakland that is sooo freakin’ bumpy it’s like ridin’ in a horse-drawn buggy down the Oregon Trail. You have died from dysentery.”

Why so much distaste for one stretch of pavement? KALW’s Julie Caine takes us on a tour of one of the Bay Area’s most maligned roads.

http://transportationnation.org/2011/11/18/audio-tour-how-audio-tour-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-880-freeway/