![\"IMG_4949\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_4949.JPG\" "\\"IMG_4949\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHills and Grids: <\/strong>Gridded streets have plenty of benefits, to be sure – but the downside is that they do not react to topography.\u00a0 San Francisco provides the extreme example.\u00a0 The city has even preserved the right of way where topography makes streets impossible.\u00a0 My own adventure to the top of Telegraph Hill included ascending the Greenwich Street stairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Surely, relaxing the grid would offer opportunities for a more understanding development pattern.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the spaces along the staircases are certainly interesting, as are some of the extremely steep streets.\u00a0 Such a pattern would not work in a colder climate that has to deal with ice and snow on a regular basis, however – lest you end up like these poor folks in Portland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trucks and Buses not advised.\u00a0 Um, yeah.<\/p>\n Trolleybuses: <\/strong>As a direct response to the city’s grade issues, the electric-powered trolley buses are a great solution.\u00a0 The overhead wires for the buses can be a little obtrusive – but they are not nearly as much of a visual blight as the broader patchwork of utility wires strung from house to house and pole to pole.<\/p>\n Zero emissions, but the wires (like rails) do act as a visual cue for a newcomer to the city (like myself) to find a bus line when I need one.\u00a0 That’s a plus.<\/p>\n Signage: <\/strong>Actual signs telling you where you are or what transit line to take, however, are sorely lacking – particularly for Muni and BART.<\/p>\n We can do better than this – the BART platform at Montgomery station.\u00a0 The boarding signs for various train lengths is nice, but not all that intuitive – but actually determining which station you’re at when the train arrives is another challenge entirely.\u00a0 Similarly, on the Muni lines that turn into streetcar routes in the outer neighborhoods, signage at the larger stations is almost non-existent – certainly not useful for a first time rider.<\/p>\n That said – Muni’s route symbology is incredibly easy to understand.\u00a0 Each line is assigned a name (corresponding to the main street it travels on), a letter (as a single symbol) and a color.\u00a0 It’s something I think Metro could learn from<\/a> as its route structure becomes more and more complex.<\/p>\n Wayfinding signage around town, however, was much better.\u00a0 Kiosks offered maps, highlighted transit routes, and in general provided very useful information – even potential ferry routes, for example:<\/p>\n My favorite ‘signs’, however, where the ones doing double duty – the public toilets:<\/p>\n Granted, the actual map here is faded and hard to read, but the presence of a self-cleaning public toilet in a popular tourist area like this is priceless.\u00a0 Thanks to nature’s urges, I never had a chance to actually use one – but the process seems quite self-explanatory.\u00a0 If not, there are simple instructions:<\/p>\n This particular toilet is from JCDecaux<\/a>, the same outdoor advertising firm that operates Paris’ Velib<\/a> bikesharing system.<\/p>\n Streetcars: <\/strong>The F Market<\/a> line’s heritage streetcars are both interesting to see on the street and also an effective part of the transit network.\u00a0 They’re also quite popular:<\/p>\n One note about these old PCC cars – when you’re standing (as I was while taking this picture), it’s extremely difficult to see out the small windows of these old rail cars to determine where you are – especially with Muni’s aforementioned lack of quickly visible signage.\u00a0 The PCC car wiki page talks about “standee windows,” but these weren’t of much help to me.<\/p>\n From the outside, the diverse colors of the various liveries<\/a> from around the world Muni opts to use are fantastic.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n