Safe and Secure Restroom Access Helps Muni Run On Time

Safe and Secure Restroom Access Helps Muni Run On Time
By Adrienne Heim

For those working in the field and delivering transit service, restroom access is not as easy as you may think. Bathroom breaks are a human necessity and require advanced planning for our thousands of transit operators. This is particularly true during the pandemic, as the shelter in place guidelines closed many restaurants and offices that were previously available to our transit staff.

Muni operators provide essential transit service in San Francisco

As the city looks forward to reopening, the SFMTA wants to ensure that all San Franciscans will be able get around the city safely and quickly. This means continuing to invest in maintaining the infrastructure that makes it possible for transit operations to be carried out. And that includes ensuring our Muni bus operators have safe and secure restroom access at the beginning and end of their routes.

Seven years ago, SFMTA’s Operator Restroom Taskforce was formed with a single mission – to overcome obstacles and provide safe, clean and reliable restroom access for staff working in the field throughout the city. And that is exactly what the team members represented by nearly every agency division, including members of Transport Workers Union Local 250A have been doing.

Since 2012, the group has been successful in delivering additional access at key locations, bringing the total number of available restrooms location to 151. This includes securing licenses and free restroom agreements with businesses, buildings, and organizations, portable units and permanent SFMTA dedicated operator restroom facilities.

Completing A Refresh of Older Operator Restrooms 

Between 1990 and 2005, 17 standalone restrooms were constructed to kickstart supporting operators out in the field. 

Geneva Avenue and Munich Street Operator Restroom built in 1990

Throughout 2020, the Operator Restroom Taskforce sought out additional restroom facilities to compensate for those that had been closed. They also procured and located portable restrooms. Additionally, the group’s maintenance team members began updating 21 restroom facilities, which include the first set of operator restrooms that were built, as well as more recently-built facilities.

This refresh consisted primarily of replacing worn or rusted electrical conduit and plumbing fixtures. Repairing or replacing the Instahot Instant Water Heater was also a top priority because handwashing is essential to safety and hygiene. Paper towel dispensers are also being replaced with electric hand dryers in all of our operator restrooms.

Main and Mission Restroom Refresh October 2020

Powell Station Staff Restroom Refresh August 2020

The team also built a restroom trailer to support the 30 Stockton bus route to Crissy Field.

Restroom Trailer at the Sports Basement-Crissy Field

By providing reliable restroom access, the SFMTA is working to meet the health and safety needs of our transit operators and other agency field staff, an often-overlooked aspect of improving Muni’s reliability.

Learn more about the project and subscribe to project updates by visiting SFMTA.com/OperatorRestrooms. 

Published February 27, 2021 at 12:02AM
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Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager

Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager
By Jeremy Menzies

In recognition of Black History Month, we bring you the story of Gene Henderson, the first Black man to become the head of a Muni bus division, Muni’s Kirkland Division.

Henderson’s Background

Gene Henderson was born in Houston, Texas, in 1916. He married his wife Naomi in 1939 and then served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, Gene and his family moved to San Francisco where he began his career at the San Francisco Municipal Railway.

Early Career

On February 1, 1946, Henderson was hired as a streetcar motorman out of Sutro Division, which was located on the corner of 32nd Ave. and Clement St. He was hired just five years after Muni’s first Black transit operator, Audley Cole, had successfully fought to integrate the carmen’s union in 1941. In his early days at Muni, Gene worked one of the three lines running out of Sutro Division from the Ferry Building to the Richmond District on Sutter Street.

Gene Henderson, photographed in March 1951 for the Muni "Man of the Month" award.

 

Five years into his career at Muni, Henderson moved to Kirkland Division as a bus driver and was nominated by passenger commendations for the Muni "Man of the Month" award, a recognition given to operators demonstrating excellence in their work.

Moving Through the Ranks

Gene Henderson’s career was marked by a series of new assignments and promotional advancements within the organization. Moving from motorman to bus driver, line trainer, inspector, dispatcher and claims investigator before becoming superintendent, Henderson gained the skills and knowledge he needed to run a busy operating division first-hand.  He was appointed head of Kirkland Division in 1973.  In the June-July 1973 issue of Muni’s Trolley Topics newsletter, it was reported that on his first day in the position, he treated Kirkland operators to doughnuts and coffee along with a bit of advice from his years of experience.

Gene Henderson (seated, fourth from the left) is pictured here with Muni's Claims Department staff in 1979, just one year before his retirement.

Late Career and Retirement

After three years as head of Kirkland, Henderson was on the move again, transferring to Assistant Claims Agent in 1976. Shortly thereafter, he became Safety and Training Supervisor in 1977, overseeing operator training and safety programs. In 1980, Henderson retired from Muni after over 34 years of service.  In the Trolley Topics newsletter article from the time, Henderson noted, "I've given it my best shot."  An understatement for a man who began as a streetcar operator and ended up as an important contributor to Muni's operations management.  Henderson passed away in 1999 at the age of 83.

For more stories of Muni’s unsung heroes and others who helped break down barriers in San Francisco transit, check out this article from Muni preservation partner, Market Street Railway and our past blog on the topic.

Published February 24, 2021 at 10:37PM
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Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF

Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF
By Christine Osorio

Starting in the month of February, Muni buses and transit shelters will feature youth artwork illustrating Vision Zero traffic safety messages. The students are part of Youth Art Exchange (YAX), an arts-education non-profit based whose mission is to support San Francisco’s public high school students in becoming leaders, thinkers, and artists by sharing creative practices with professional artists. As part of Supervisor Norman Yee’s District 7 participatory budget process, YAX students consulted with SFMTA staff to develop traffic safety messages and artwork that reflect their experiences around traffic safety.

Themes highlighted through Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF include general traffic safety such as:

• Yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
• Slowing down.
• Understanding that traffic deaths are preventable.
• Watching for people biking.
• Not blocking the sidewalk with a scooter.

The student artwork also included Covid-specific safety messaging to wear a mask while riding Muni.

Using street signs as inspiration, the students worked with mediums including hand-carved block prints, cyanotype (a printing process that uses light to create a cyan blue color, while areas that do not receive light remain white), and digital illustrations to create the final compositions.

YAX focuses on serving youth of color and low-income youth, and is rooted in the Excelsior neighborhood, which has a high concentration of high schools and the largest population of teenagers in the city. Because [x]space (Youth Art Exchange’s public arts hub) is within walking distance of high schools, and many of the students walk, bike and take Muni to [x]space to attend after-school programs, the students are uniquely positioned to speak about their experiences and insights regarding walking and biking.

Given the limitations of after-school program closures due to Covid-19, Youth Art Exchange closed its in-person activities and pivoted to digital programming in 2020. Youth artists worked remotely and collaboratively, meeting weekly to develop and design this body of artwork around the theme of traffic safety.

Spot these Youth Voices? Post a photo and tag @youthartx, @VisionZeroSF, #YouthVoicesforVisionZero

Artwork by:

Jodi, Abraham Lincoln High School

Hannah MacDonald, Lowell High School

Casey Tang, Abraham Lincoln High School

Published February 24, 2021 at 03:20AM
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