Representatives from matrimony, dating, fintech, edtech and gaming sectors discussed the implications of the billing system, where Google said it would reduce the fee only by 4% if a user pays through an alternative billing system.We continue to celebrate Black History Month by sharing the stories of SFMTA staff whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for future generations of Muni riders. Today, we look at the incredible contributions of Dorothy Jaymes, who played a critical role in helping advance accessibility on transit in San Francisco at a time when little was being done.
Jaymes (left, holding tennis racket) with her assistant, Linda Westry in the Muni Lost & Found Department in 1977.
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jaymes started her career in Muni’s Lost & Found Department in the 1970s. According to a 1977 article in the department newsletter, Trolley Topics, she took her job seriously, accounting for every lost item no matter how small or large.
Around the same time, protests by local disability rights advocates exposed the issues of poor access to public transit to local officials. The city responded in part by seeking contracts for new buses with passenger lifts in 1978 and by establishing the Elderly & Handicapped Program, to which Jaymes was a foundational contributor.
Members of Muni Elderly & Handicapped Office staff in 1985, with Jaymes at center.
By October 1979, Jaymes headed up the E&H Office and was responsible for processing applications for discounted transit fare cards. An early version of the Free Muni for People with Disabilities Program, this program lowered the cost of transit for people who needed it most.
Jaymes’ role in the office played a critical part in improving access to transit for all San Franciscans.
Working out of a room in the Muni Photo Department, Jaymes wields an ID card camera in this 1979 photo.
She left Muni in 1990 and finished out her career with the City of San Francisco at the Planning Department, before retiring in the early 2000s. Jaymes returned to Louisiana in retirement and passed away in 2015 at age 89. One of her former San Francisco co-workers remembered her as “a wonderful woman who was strong and always stood up for the workers.”
So often, we only hear the stories of major figures and their brave breakthroughs in history. Capturing the full story begins with also celebrating and recognizing the contributions of our “unsung heroes,” whose daily work is still helping Muni riders today.
AI has emerged as a bright spot for investments in the tech industry, which has been struggling with slowing growth, and has cut thousands of jobs as well as dialed down on experimental bets to beat the downturn.
In-house platforms/institutes, facilitated trainings, gamification, group and individual coaching, self-paced learning offerings, tie-ups with skilling platforms and leading engineering colleges and B-schools are among the many options on offer to upskill and reskill employees in areas spanning everything from digital and sustainability to people management, and leadership.
The layoffs came after a week when the company made it difficult for Twitter employees to communicate with one another. The company's internal messaging service, Slack, was taken offline, preventing employees from chatting with one another or looking up company data, five current and former employees told The New York Times.
Telecom partners such as AT&T Inc , Ericsson, and Nokia Oyj will be able to benefit from Microsoft's new Nexus service, an all-in-one platform allowing operators to manage their networks from the cloud, and two different "AIOps" services.
For the past two years, Zomato has been charging a commission of 18-25% per order for deliveries, depending on its arrangement with restaurant partners.
The paper could be used to formulate a coordinated and comprehensive policy to regulate crypto assets.
Even as the winter recedes from the capital, the chilly undercurrent of the funding winter was palpable at the GSV Emeritus India Summit, organised earlier this week at Gurugram, which saw participation from executives representing edtech startups and investors from across the country and overseas.
The All India Sainik School Entrance Examination (AISSEE) 2023 results were released on 24 February 2023. The All India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination (AISSEE)-2023 was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on January 08, 2023 in the Paper-Pen Mode. Candidates who have appeared for the admission to Sainik School Class 6 and 9 are advised to visit the official website of the exam - aissee.
MOW Crew Repairing Damaged Pavement Around Tracks on 9th Avenue
Kudos to the SFMTA’s Maintenance of Way (MOW) teams for successfully completing critical work during the N Judah motorization on Feb. 18 and 19. The purpose of the motorization was to provide access for work to be done in Muni’s right of way by Public Works, PG&E and the SFMTA, including utility pole replacements at Cole and Carl, sewer investigation, repairs at 18th Avenue and Judah and 41st Avenue and Judah. The SFMTA was also making improvements to the J Church surface route between Duboce Park and the Balboa Park Station to increase service reliability, enhance street safety and reduce travel times.
To maximize the benefits of the motorization, the MOW teams took advantage of the opportunity to complete project milestones and critical maintenance work for traction power and overhead lines, mechanical systems, light rail track and signals.
To ensure that our riders had the transit service they needed along this corridor, bus shuttles served as a substitute for N Judah rail service between Ocean Beach and Church and Duboce. Train service continued between Church and Duboce and Caltrain. The SFMTA’s communications team also helped to notify customers of the alternative service plan during the rail shutdown through printed, digital and audio messaging and wayfinding ambassadors.
Muni maintenance initiatives such as these aim to make subway operations more reliable for customers and prevent future breakdowns. The coordination by our teams across divisions is building on the successful Fix It! Weeks we had last year, which have helped reduce major delays in the Muni Metro by more than 80 percent. We look forward to more to come at our first Fix It! Week scheduled for March 16 to 22.
For updates, please visit SFMTA.com/NShuttle. For real time service advisories, please follow us on our Twitter at @SFMTA_Muni.
The latest capital raise from investors including Thrive Capital could be the largest private funding round in recent memory, marking a steep decline in the valuation of the fintech startup, which was valued at $95 billion in early 2021.
Developers, however, said this was a direct violation of the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) guidelines and alleged that Google was 'finding loopholes' in the CCI's verdict.
The layoffs majorly impacted Bengaluru and Gurgaon offices. It was a result of shuttering of a global delivery centre that housed custom development roles to undertake SAP implementation projects.
Today we are breaking a story on private equity major ChrysCapital holding talks to write a $100-million (Rs 828-crore) cheque in eyewear retailer Lenskart. This is part of a larger $400-500 million funding round at the company.
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) will conduct the Class 10 and 12 final exams at 373 schools in Ahmedabad city which have been selected as examination centers. Gujarat 10th and 12th annual exams will be held from March 14 to 29 in the state. Read the article below for more details.
Around 20% of the lateral movement from IT firms have been absorbed into captives and non-tech firms that are going digital. This is largely because of a lateral hiring squeeze at IT services firms, said Guruprasad Srinivasan, chief executive at India’s largest staffing firm Quess Corp.
The Odisha police admit card for constables (civil) will be released today at 11 am on the official website of the Police State Selection Board — https://opssb.nic.in/
The Bengaluru-based firm, backed by Twitter and Snap Inc, has cut its cash burn down by a third compared to the same time last year, ShareChat founder and CEO Ankush Sachdeva told ET.
Britain earlier this month said the deal could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, result in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for millions of players, as well as stifling competition in cloud gaming.
While the move will come in handy for celebrities, businesses or influencers, Indian users may find the tag expensive, analysts said.
Indian banks that have their white-label payment processing offerings have also seen a rise in merchant signups, industry executives told ET.
State Level Police Recruitment Board, Andhra Pradesh conducted the first level preliminary examination for Police SI posts on 19 February. More than 1.5 lakh candidates appeared in the written test. For the convenience of the candidates, the board has made examination centres in almost all the cities.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the U.S. government has had conversations with Elon Musk about the use of Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told ET that the immediate priority for him is to focus on growth while creating new products after an eventful 2022 for the company. Stating that Netflix has gone beyond just wanting to be like HBO, Sarandon said it is similar to Thali in India – a little bit of everything.
"As we mentioned recently, very long chat sessions can confuse the underlying chat model in the new Bing. To address these issues, we have implemented some changes to help focus the chat sessions," Microsoft said in the blog post.
From Google and Microsoft to Cognizant and Adobe, a growing number of technology-focused firms are today led by Indian-origin chief executives. Neal Mohan, who was named the next CEO of streaming service YouTube, is the newest name added to the growing list of Indian-origin CEOs of global corporations.
Mohan’s elevation comes at a critical juncture in the video-streaming platform’s history as it faces stiff competition from ByteDance-owned TikTok and Facebook-owned Instagram in the short-duration video segment.
Top IT services cos may clock higher training hours, thanks to ChatGPT and other such AI models.
Neal Mohan has been serving as the chief product officer for YouTube since 2015. Prior to this, Mohan had worked at the online search giant Google, which he had joined in 2008.
Fortnite-maker Epic Games has alleged in a plea to the National Companies Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that Google is frightening users by “repeatedly displaying dire warnings and technically complex steps”.
The client ecosystem is sensitive to the fragile economic situation across industries and geographies, and this is being felt across the IT services sector.
The second session of the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) 2023 will be conducted from April 6 to April 12, with April 13 and 15 kept as reserved days. The online application started on February 15 and would continue till March 12 (9pm). Candidates who had already appeared in January (first session) will log in with the same credentials and pay the examination fee for the April exams.On a recent Monday in Golden Gate Park, 28 students and staff from AccessSFUSD gathered on JFK Drive to test-ride adaptive scooters. The group took turns riding adaptive devices from two scooter companies permitted to operate in the city, Lime and Spin. Adaptive devices are designed to meet the needs of riders with a variety of disabilities and provide additional stability features, such as a seat, a wider base, and an additional wheel. After trying the scooters, the students shared their feedback about a variety of design elements, including the wheels, seat, throttle, basket location, foot plate width, and the ease of getting started.
Adaptive scooter demo in Golden Gate Park
Students embraced the opportunity to ride scooters and provide feedback. AccessSFUSD is a community-based program for students 18-22 with disabilities. Located across 11 sites in San Francisco, the program focuses on teaching functional life skills within the community setting. Developing advocacy skills is a key component of the program, and students enthusiastically shared their input with the scooter companies. Heidi Seretan, Special Education Department Head at AccessSFUSD: The Arc said, “It was a glorious day to ride and advocate on car-free JFK in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco’s own backyard.”
One student shared they had an “amazing first time” riding a scooter and described it as “the best.” Students also gave thoughtful constructive criticism, explaining when a particular seat height or device design didn’t work for them. And one student said that they “need more practice... but I'm getting the hang of it.”
Thumbs up to adaptive devices
Staff from Spin and Lime were on-hand to help students get rolling and to answer any questions. Both scooter permittees expressed their appreciation for the comments from AccessSFUSD students. Lime shared that they “enjoyed hearing directly” from the students and that their “hardware team has already begun reviewing students’ feedback to find ways to continue to refine our vehicles.” Spin echoed the importance of the students’ input, noting that “the direct feedback we gather from local San Francisco students and residents on our adaptive program is critical to continuously improving and more equitably serving the entire community.”
AccessSFUSD students enjoying scooters
This is the second time the SFMTA has partnered with AccessSFUSD and scooter permittees to host an adaptive scooter demonstration, with the first event held in fall 2021. Any organization interested in partnering on a similar adaptive scooter event should get in touch with Maddy Ruvolo with our Accessible Services team by emailing Maddy.Ruvolo@sfmta.com.
Students ready to ride
The SFMTA has prioritized adaptive scooters as part of our Powered Scooter Share Permit Program. The three scooter permittees — Bird, Spin and Lime — are required to provide adaptive scooters as a minimum of 5% of their on-street fleet. The permittees also offer different types of adaptive devices through their Complementary Adaptive Programs, which provide longer-term adaptive rentals free of charge through scheduled drop-off and pick-up. We encourage all who are interested to try an adaptive scooter, and stay tuned for more scooter demonstration events coming later this year!
CCI had launched the probe into Apple’s policies in December 2021 following allegations — levelled by a not-for-profit Together We Fight Society — about the high commission charged by Apple and the lack of third-party payment options.
The Oversight Board was created in late 2020 to review Facebook and Instagram's decisions on taking down or leaving up certain content and make rulings on whether to uphold or overturn the social media company's actions.
Newly painted Muni flag stop indicating the pilot 1X California Express
Beginning February 21, 2023, a pilot program will offer express bus service on the new 1X California Express between the Richmond neighborhood and the Financial District. The SFMTA plays a significant role in San Francisco’s economic recovery, and this pilot that serves downtown is part of that.
We have been working on improving travel time and reliability over the last several years. Travel times are now 11% quicker on the 1 California thanks to new transit lanes on California, Clay and Sacramento streets. But our work is not done on the corridor! The new 1X California express will provide another option for riders to zoom from the inner Richmond into and out of downtown even faster. We also expect this service to ease crowding on the 1 California as more people head back to the office.
Three morning 1X California Express buses will depart from 33rd Avenue and Geary Boulevard at 8:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. They will make stops along 33rd Avenue, 32nd Avenue and California Street until Arguello Street, then express straight to Downtown.
Three afternoon 1X California Express buses back to the Richmond will depart from Sacramento and Davis streets at 4:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. They will make three downtown stops and then express straight to Arguello and California. The first two outbound stops of the 1X California Express have been aligned with 1 California local stops to improve convenience for Muni customers. The last downtown stop is at David and Pine streets.
You can find more detailed service information on the 1X route page (SFMTA.com/1X).
The SFMTA is monitoring this pilot and will evaluate whether to make it permanent based on the needs of our riders. Let us know what you think at the Muni Feedback page.
We are excited about this opportunity to support the recovery of downtown San Francisco by offering people this swift way to get there.
The calendar year 2022 saw online platforms like Flipkart, Amazon overtake offline retailers in shipments of smartphones from manufacturing factories, guided by sales and promotions, preferential pricing, and online-exclusive deals and discounts. But this trend might change this year, according to experts who said a renewed push from brands such as Redmi and Realme will help physical stores.
InsuranceDekho's funding comes at a time when digital insurer Acko is in talks to raise over $100 million, as a part of its latest raise.
On February 11 and 12, IIM Visakhapatnam held its first two-day alumni meet, dubbed Sanshrey, at its permanent campus in Gambheeram. Hundreds of alumni from across the country flew in for the two-day event. Aside from the alumni talks, students and alumni took part in a variety of cultural activities.
Data analytics, automation becoming integral part of BPM offerings
Experts warn that there is plenty for regulators to be worried about, particularly when the bots get so good that it becomes impossible to tell them apart from humans.
Consumers will get clarity on ‘authentic’ lending apps that operate within banking regulator’s purview