MUNI to get new bus operations director
David Hill is coming to us from Birmingham, Alabama:
The executive director of the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority said he will resign this month to take a position in San Francisco.
David Hill will leave his Birmingham post Oct. 17 to become deputy director of bus operations for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority.
Hill, who has led the system almost five years, leaves Birmingham frustrated that mass transit continues to struggle yearly and lacks unified financial support.
The rest of the article details some of the ups and downs David experienced as the ‘ED’ of the Birmingham Transit Authority. Not sure what to make of it all.
Birmingham is about a third the size of San Francisco.
I think it’s kind of cool that we’re getting someone from one of the central locations in the battle for Civil Rights. Lessons learned during the Montgomery Bus Boycott were applied a few years later in Birmingham - just 90 miles away.
With talk of BRTs (wiki) (and their alternatives) all over the world, and initiatives aimed at making transit run more efficiently through downtown San Francisco, it is likely that we’re going to be working with David a lot.
David, in case you’re reading:
I want to put in my vote for some collision-detection technology. This is one of the technology capitals of the world - let’s make it happen.
And how about some wheel well covers for the buses? As you probably know, San Francisco is huge on bicycles, and it can be dangerous out there for us - getting snagged and then caught under a bus wheel is every cyclist’s nightmare. Even if we make cycling feel safer, we’ll have more cyclists. Not directly your job, but more cyclists on the road (and fewer private cars) can make your job a lot easier. And, of course, we want cycling to actually be safer, as well.
‘Bikes on Transit’ info from the Bike Coalition can be found here. And the Coalition has already done some important work with MUNI on safety.
‘Bikes on MUNI’ info can be found at the SFMTA site, here.
Let’s work together and make San Francisco the premiere transit destination in the world. Second highest density in the U.S. - the possibilities!
We’re big on safety, and we want to help you maintain a perfect safety record - at least in the ‘Deaths’ department. We can’t have any more deaths of pedestrians or bicyclists. Ever. We’ll help you get there. Running on time is a brilliant idea, but let’s float the idea that safety is going to be our new number one priority. Even more important that running on time. Safety takes precedence over running on time. Safety gets priority - not just in words, but in deeds. No more deaths.
Join the SFBC - between them and the gentle prodding of the bicycling community, I’m sure we can get you on a bike at least one day a week.Â
Welcome to San Francisco!
What else do we want, biker people? And how else can we help David?
Leave comment (4)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
September 30th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Hi Peter
You have nowhere on this site to contact you, and peter@bikeblogs.org doesn’t accept mail
October 1st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Thanks Julie - that would explain why I’m not getting some mail I might otherwise expect to get. Sorry.
peter@googlemapsbikethere.org
That one definitely works. And I’ll try to figure out what’s wrong with the ‘peter@bikeblogs.org’ address. I did confirm that it is broken at the moment. Thanks for the heads up.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
think i figured it out. a week or so ago i did something really dumb - i deleted the entire domain - and i forgot to re-setup that email account after i got this blog back online. should be fixed within an hour.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
ok - confirmed that the email address is now working again. sorry for the drama!
