muni stops: in need of better signage

The other day I was standing at the Muni N-train stop at Carl & Cole.  A girl in her 20s comes over to me and asks "Does this train go to downtown?".  Good question.  You'd never know that this train goes downtown because it doesn't say it anywhere on the sign...

This sign only says "To Caltrain".  If you do not know the system like the back of your hand, you will have difficulty understanding where "Caltrain" is, and whether or not that is through "downtown".


The fact remains -- we need better signage with better information at Muni stops.  I would suggest (especially at Muni train stops) to have a line with dots on it showing where the stops are, which stop you are at, and in which direction this train goes.  This is the same problem that I experience with BART too (lack of good signage with useful information).  This is basic signage which I've seen in other cities all over the world.  Perhaps I can make quickie magnets displaying this information and slap them onto the metal poles or on the Muni shelters....  I think this would be a cheap and easy fix to this lack of easily digestible information.

Update -- SFMTA's "Polk Street Improvement Project"

In addition to my previous post, I wanted to mention the upcoming SFMTA community sessions on the Polk Street Improvement Project:

1) They are doing an additional walking tour!  It's a great opportunity to chat with your neighbors and SFMTA staff about what really matters to you in improving our street.

Walking Tour
Friday, November 16th at Noon
Meet at the Northwest corner of Polk and Golden Gate (in front of the Golden1 Credit Union)



2) The next community workshop is going to be held on December 1!  Mark your calendars and come on out to participate in making our neighborhood even better.

Open House Workshop
Saturday, December 1st, drop-in from 10a-2pm
1300 Polk Street (at Bush)

Polk Street Design Charrette

I went to this SFMTA design charrette regarding Polk Street last weekend.  It was really interesting to see the community involvement process in this project.  As an urban planner and a resident of the Polk Street community, I am very interested in both the process and the end result (i.e. how the street will be improved).  

I never would have known about this project, however, if I had not been so interested in this topic.  I never heard a word about this project from the SFMTA (even though I live in an apartment building on the corner of Geary and Polk), but rather through a Facebook post by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.  It seems to me that if the city has a community meeting, that everyone within 300 feet of the street which is undergoing changes, should have been notified.  That's just my little grumble about the lack of information on such an interesting project.  I'm sure that more people in the neighborhood would have attended the community meeting, had they known about it (it was a very poorly attended community meeting).  We live here, and safety with regard to pedestrian and bicycle transportation is important to us.  Furthermore, given the fact that we already have 2 parklets along Polk Street, and it is already a destination place for evening outings, and a great bicycle route, it is absolutely necessary for us to be involved in planning for a better pedestrian and bicycle environment.

Below are some photos I took at the event:

SFMTA folks in discussion with a community member

examples of playing around with street design:

some things you can't plan... but the community will make it happen...

While on my trip around Europe recently (visiting friends and attending a wedding), I noticed a lot of interesting urban interaction examples that grow and develop from the involvement of the community in a very natural way.  Below is an example of one of these instances....

an example: lover's bridge in paris.  right next to the notre dame.  it is said that lovers come here to put a lock on this bridge to symbolize their love being forever together.  i found it to be very beautiful and hope to participate in this tradition with my future love.

voting

one of the ways that we can affect change in our local communities (not just federal policies and the prez), is to VOTE!    So, this is my little 2-cents for voting....  it's so easy nowadays.  you can register online, now.  no more going to the post office to pick up a voter registration card.  AND you can vote by mail now.  YAY!   i actually first voted by mail when i lived in portland, oregon in 2002.  it was so easy and i loved being able to study up online on who i was voting for, then fill-in the line, vote, and put it in the mail.  done.  so so easy.  no more worries about "will i have enough time to go vote before work?".  it's amazing.  i love voting.  and i love voting by mail.  i keep wondering if (or when) we'll ever be able to vote online. 

up: urban prototyping festival. sf.

That was a lot of fun!  the sf urban prototyping festival was held on October 20.  I went down there to check it out and ended up getting into some very interesting conversations.

I'm especially excited about this "DIY Traffic Counter" that these guys in NY made.  It was so awesome.  I was already thinking of doing a little project in my hood to track car speeds in certain areas where pedestrian casualties have been high over the years (the SFMTA has a great online map that shows you were every pedestrian injury/death has occurred in the city from 2005 to 2010). (and good information is necessary for good planning).  Perhaps, better information on car speeds in these high-casualty areas will be the impetus for further enhancements for pedestrian and bicycle safety.  Now, with this DIY device, I can easily conduct my little study project!  Yay!

the DIY Traffic Counter

Another nifty project that I encountered was SmartStop (below pic).  For SmartStop, while at a bus stop, you can text any question you want to this one phone number and get a response.  Sounds pretty neato, and forgoes the need to have 10 different location-based apps in your smart phone.  However, I'm still trying to figure out just how useful it is because of the need to use text message rather than just an app...

SmartStop: smart bus stop

I am now inspired and fired up to start up some of my own projects.  Likewise, I'm starting to get more serious about starting my own organization (like an LLC).  I need some engineers on my team and perhaps a few web or mobile designers to do the bigger stuff -- but I can already start it out now with the little things.  Time to gather like-minded urbanists that want to DO good work for our communities in a variety of ways!  I'm really interested in the "do-tank" (instead of "think-tank") organizational layout (from my conversation with one of the guys at "Tomorrow Lab").  Think-Design-Do.  Or, Think-Plan-Do.  2dees.  d-squared.  Anyways, this is starting to ramble as I continue to ponder...

so fascinating!

sign street art : "haul it away"

This was one of my favorite recurring street art applications to an existing sign.  As you can see below, I saw these all around Paris and Rome.  It is an existing "do not enter" type of sign (red sign with a solid white bar in the middle).  The "street art" application appears to be a sticker of a shadow person (black image) lifting the white bar and hauling it away.  I thought this was awesome.  I especially loved that I saw these in different cities around Europe.  I wonder how many people actually notice this, and think about it (regardless if they think it is good, bad, or whatever).  For me, it made me smile.

:)

Paris

Paris

Rome

~d