Bay Area

Terrible accident. Take it slow and safe driving through those toll booths y'all..

Unlike previous reporting, it seems the illness affecting this unfortunate woman is as of yet unexplained.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/clipper-card-bart-muni-18353828.php

Ricardo Cano Sep. 11, 2023

Starting next year, Bay Area transit riders won’t need a Clipper card to ride a train or ferry, and instead will be able to pass BART turnstiles or board Muni buses with the simple tap of a credit card.

The new contactless debit or credit card payment option launching in summer 2024 realizes a perk for the region’s riders that’s already enjoyed by New York and London riders. It’s among several new functions that will be included with an upgraded Clipper system most regional transit agencies use to charge fares.

The new payment option will be available across 22 Bay Area transit agencies, including AC Transit, Caltrain and the San Francisco Bay Ferry, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region’s transportation planning agency.

Credit card payments will give Bay Area transit riders more choices for how to pay for fares. Last decade, most agencies switched to Clipper, the region’s universal transit card that allows users to tap card readers on buses and turnstiles to pay for trips.

The upgraded Clipper infrastructure is expected to work the same for contactless credit cards — simply tap a card reader to pay. The current blue Clipper cards will continue to work with the new system, as well.

Clipper cards have become the dominant way to pay transit fares in the region after BART in 2019 ditched the thin paper tickets that it utilized for decades. The Clipper system boasts a 95% customer satisfaction rating, according to the MTC, because it streamlines fare payments for an otherwise fragmented network of transit agencies.

Still, Clipper can be unintuitive for tourists or infrequent riders who aren’t aware that they must either pay a $3 fee for a physical card or download the Clipper app, and then use a personal credit card to load money into the card or account to ride BART.

“I often hear from people, ‘Oh, hey, I was just in name-your-European-country or New York City, and I didn’t need to get a (transit fare) card at all. It was fantastic,’ ” said Carol Kuester, MTC’s director of electronic payments. “Well, that option is coming here, too.”

Kuester said that riders who use credit cards to pay will “have all the benefits of a normal Clipper adult fare, including transfers and fare capping.”

Beyond the credit card payment option, other functionalities accompanying the upgraded Clipper will allow families to manage their Clipper cards in a single account. Transit agencies will also be able to offer discounts and promotions — such as, say, $1 rides or discounted rides during special events — that they can’t do under the current Clipper system.

Much more is riding on the new Clipper system.

The upgraded infrastructure is part of a broader effort by transit agencies to eliminate barriers to riding their buses, trains and ferries as they struggle to recoup their pre-pandemic ridership. At a time when some elected officials want the region to pursue consolidating transit agencies, the upgraded Clipper system will also be pivotal in transit officials’ push to integrate their varying fare structures.

An upgraded Clipper system is also necessary for BART to move forward with its board’s decision to institute a grace period before paying an “excursion fare.” Also known as the tourist fare, this $6.70 fare tends to catch BART riders off guard after they tap in at a station, discover delays, and then tap out to take other transportation modes.

Huge arcade to replace Nordstrom at San Francisco mall

So glad to see this horror show finally failed as it should. Hopefully the space gets used for a restaurant more accessible to the general public, and not related to dying tech fads like blockchain.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/6100564

My instance does not allow image uploads due to CSAM so I'm linking to reddit.

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/ZmDP2

If you grew up in the Bay Area you'll remember the slew of DJs that were on WiLD during the 90s and 00s: Jose Melendez, Greg Lopez, Strawberry, Jazzy Jim, Majestichris, and so forth. Not sure how many CDs were made, but there's plenty here to get a feel for the era. Mixcloud won't link to searches, so head up the the search bar and type in wild 107.7 or 94.9 if you want a trip down memory lane or experience an piece of Bay Area radio history for the first time.

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/fbGIR

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/ip2yN

The Salvation Army has applied for a permit to build an eight-story drug rehabilitation center in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood for people who are recovering from drug addiction.

The charity aims to demolish its property at 850 Harrison St. and replace it with a high-rise that would serve up to 220 people who have completed the first step of drug treatment.

Currently, the lot houses a one-story commercial kitchen and parking lot where the Salvation Army trains homeless people in the culinary arts.

Part of the nonprofit’s the Way Out program, a fundraising initiative and treatment apparatus with the goal of expanding drug treatment access in San Francisco, the planned treatment program in SoMa is geared toward providing job assistance and eventually transitioning clients into independent living.

The charity is lobbying the city to help fund the programs and others that it believes can help people recover from addiction.

Darren Norton, a divisional commander with the Salvation Army, said the Harrison Street project project is in its very early stages.

“We’re exploring things with the city to see if it's something they would approve,” he said. “We don’t want to go to our donors and get them excited if it's not going to meet the city’s requirements for housing.”

Fatal overdoses are occurring at a record rate in San Francisco, with 473 people dying due to drugs over the first seven months of this year, according to preliminary data from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

The planned rehabilitation center will not take people directly from the street who are homeless and suffering from addiction, Norton said. Rather, these will be people who have graduated from a treatment program and are now moving to extended supportive, transitional housing.

If approved and constructed, the facility will feature support, training and amenity spaces on the first two floors and the eighth floor. Floors 3 through 8 will feature five-bedroom, five-bathroom suites that can house 10 participants each. The participants will also share kitchen, dining and living spaces.

The planned complex will also include a two-bedroom guest suite, shared lounge and classroom space for the Salvation Army’s programs.

There will also be a commercial teaching kitchen on the ground floor, which the Way Out plans to use for its culinary program. Most of the building’s roof will feature solar panels.

The SoMa neighborhood is home to a large number of drug treatment, homeless services and low-income housing complexes.

This has led to pushback from some locals who believe the neighborhood is being forced to shoulder too much of the burden of addressing San Francisco’s most pressing issues.

At the same time, the proposed project would be located just a stone's throw from other Salvation Army facilities, including its South of Market Corps Community Center and the Silvercrest Residence, an affordable apartment complex that reserves 40% of its units for low-income seniors.