Back Door!

New Hybrid Doors, via sf.streetsblog.com

As a regular rider on SF Muni, all too often I see people confounded by the multitude of door opening mechanisms.  Several times a week I see people unfamiliar with the various systems, and either have to watch them struggle, or yell out at the driver to open the door.  The familiar chime of “Back door!” should never be this prevalent.

The busses have three different methods of egress, plus the simple use of the front door.  The oldest system is the ‘step down’, another chorus you may hear when unfamiliar with that trigger.  Seeing as this is rather difficult for elderly or disabled people to do quickly, or if the driver is in a hurry, newer busses feature the press bar.  This mechanism works well enough, unless your hands are full.  The newest method is the ‘touch here to open’ strip, which is really just an optical sensor.  The sensor doesn’t open the door unless you correctly hover your hand in the right place for about a second, which was nothing to do with touching.  Clearly tiny signs aren’t very helpful in instructing people how to operate doors.

Muni trains, on the other hand, are at least standardized.  The problem here is that the press bar is located well too low to actually be reachable.  Half of the people I see simply kick the bar, which can’t be good for maintenance.  It’s either that or bend over, and hope that you’ve pressed it in time to activate.  If you’re in the rear train, there’s no option of yelling at the driver that you wanted to get out.  My personal favorite is when the door is out of order, and they simply apply a barely visible sticker, about 6′-0″ above the floor.  How hard is it to put some red tape across a door to show it’s broken?  And I would be remiss if I didn’t harp on the piercing squeal the doors make if held ajar.  I’m sure everyone recognizes when a door has been held open, so why subject the entire train to that awful sound?

Any one of these mechanisms would be totally fine if they were uniform across the system.  Of course this would cost too much to happen in my lifetime.  Naturally the best option would to simply open the doors automatically at each stop.  With the increasing usage of Translink and monthly passes, we should encourage people to enter through the rear door anyways (of course with more fare enforcement).  And if that doesn’t work, try considering a system like Seattle, where you pay while boarding for inbound, and pay upon exiting for outbound stops.  Overall it would decrease the dwell time, and help get people smoothly home.  Certainly our ears would be all the healthier for it.

Running on our streets

Lyon St Stairs, via crossfitsweatshop.com

It’s time to discus the combination of two of my loves, exercise and city design.  San Francisco is often considered one of the most fit cities in the US, and we have an amazing climate for running.  Many bike commuters make great use of these traits, but don’t have to worry about one key issue: where to go?

Sure, we have Golden Gate Park with its miles of roads and trails.  The Presidio is rebuilding their extensive off road network.  Ocean Beach, the Embarcadero and Crissy Field all have great linear paths.  The problem is that so few of these peripheral trails are located near people, and are not interconnected.  For me, the thought of driving to exercise is one of the most hypocritical things in our culture.  It’s time to design streets that would actually make people want to get out and move.

The easiest way to see this at work is the Sunday Streets series, reintroducing many San Franciscans to the wonders our city has to offer.  This easily overcomes two of the three largest problems – hills and sidewalks.  Traffic is still abundant in the people dodging sense.  If you were starting from scratch, there are many things you might want to think about, but how can we take our existing grid and make it work for us – and make people want to get outside?

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  Safe sidewalks? via Streetsblog

  Stairs: often necessary to overcome our hills, stairways can either be the public right of way, or merely accompany the steep streets.  As much as cyclists try to avoid steep hills, runners often flock to them for speed training.  If you’ve ever been to the Lyon St steps adjacent to the Presidio, you have seen the teams of runners endlessly going up and down.  This type of civic construction not only increases our circulation possibilities, but it makes it fun and desirable.

• Sidewalks: As many of us can attest, all of out infrastructure is failing.  Seldom it’s less obvious than a crumbling sidewalk, which poses a great threat to pedestrian safety.  Naturally when running, uprooted pavement comes at you much faster.  But for me, the bigger problem is the width of the sidewalk.  With the combination of new street trees, warped sidewalks for driveways, and other pedestrians I often find it safer to run in the street.
• Traffic: Contrary to my experience on a bike, occupying the road seems the surest bet.  Traffic on the sidewalk from other pedestrians is often more indignant than from cars on the street.  I stay out of traffic by hugging the cars, but don’t fear a bicyclist’s fate of being doored.  Surely this could all be alleviated by wider sidewalks, but that’s a future project.

Our streets, sidewalks, and other right of ways are resources that should be a large part of our civic pride.  Everyone knows about Lombard St, but it isn’t even the steepest (Filbert St and 22nd St at 31.5%) or curviest (Vermont) street in San Francisco.  But what about these other famous streets or stairs?  The truth is, unless you are an amateur detective or a bibliophile, you’ll probably never find some of the more interesting areas of our city.  These make for great running/hiking, and also great sightseeing for tourists and our economy.  I love going for a run and discovering a new stair or path, but I would love all running to be so accessible and exciting.