Tag: San Francisco
Parking apps turn driveways into hot property
Driveways are a woefully untapped asset — at least that’s what certain parking app creators are betting on, as they launch apps that let users rent out their drives and other car-sized spaces. The idea isn’t new — and in many markets Craigslist may still be the best spot for finding, well, a spot — […]
The poverty-public transit connection
Seattle, which last year upped its minimum hourly wage to $15, just launched an innovative concept in public transit: income-based fares for its impoverished population. While fare hikes always make the news, Seattle’s King County Metro and Sound Transit has begun offering transit riders income-based discounts, which can drop fares by more than 50%. As […]
How San Francisco & other ped-friendly cities are expanding sidewalks
The lunar New Year yesterday brought attention to an issue plaguing San Francisco’s crowded Chinatown: overflowing sidewalks. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, city officials are working with Chinatown business owners to develop a plan to add much-needed space for pedestrians. “The challenge is that when you change one thing, there’s a ripple effect,” recently appointed […]
How construction permits affect San Franciscans’ parking
Street parking is becoming an even hotter commodity in San Francisco, a city known for its scarcity of spots, reports SFGate. Why? A construction boom is the city is responsible for eating up parking spaces, as stretches of curbside parking are blocked off as tow-away zones for weeks and months at a time so that […]
Paint job boosts transit efficiency in San Francisco
A mere fresh coat of paint has led to significant improvements in San Francisco’s public transit service. While the city has long designated transit-only lanes, the city’s buses and light rail are frequently plagued by cars entering their designated lane. Until recently, many of the lanes featured simple stencils noting this transit-only restriction. But since […]
Seattle adopts demand-based parking prices
Seattle may soon join the ranks of San Francisco and Los Angeles: cities that have dynamic or time-of-day pricing for its parking network. The idea stems from Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. According to his research on the economics of parking, drivers won’t park at spaces […]
Growing pains for San Francisco’s car-sharing initiative
The parking-lot business is feeling the heat of San Francisco’s real estate market: private lots are being sold for new development, lowering the number of parking spaces in the city. That trend is affecting the public’s view of San Francisco’s car-sharing initiative. Announced in the spring, the program reserves 900 on-street parking spots for three […]
SimCity for pros? Transitmix fosters fantasy transportation
You’ve heard of fantasy football. But for urban planning junkies like ourselves, what could be more thrill-inducing than fantasy transportation? A new mapping tool, Transitmix, provides exactly that. Particularly useful for urban planners – but open to all transport aficionados — Transitmix allows users to create bus routes across certain cities by clicking on different […]
How hearing impaired drivers work at Lyft
Out of the ongoing hubub over regulating rideshare companies emerges a positive new trend at ridesharing service Lyft: The company, recognizable for the giant pink mustache logos attached to its cars, is seeing an uptick in deaf hires. A number of sources have reported that deaf drivers using the app are on the rise, and, […]
Apps point the way to higher prices for public parking
Four apps — MonkeyParking, Sweetch, ParkModo, and Haystack — aiming to disrupt the parking industry may reach their goal, but in the public sector, not private. Each app allows drivers to advertise the metered spots at which they’re currently parked. Other motorists then bid for the spots to avoid having to look for parking, a […]
U.S. engineering standards open door for new bike lane designs
Last month, a little-known group with a gigantic acronym — the Bicycle Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD-BTC) — voted to endorse a set of 11 devices that include bike boxes, contraflow bike lanes, and bike lanes through intersections. Cyclists nationwide cheered the vote because of its long-term implications. […]