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In Brief

  • This site will work with any browser and screen size. It will work best in a current browser with all features enabled on a current monitor at default settings.
  • This site will respect your font size settings. Follow your browser's instructions to change the font size. For example:
    • Firefox
      • In the View menu, choose Zoom.
      • In the Zoom sub-menu, choose Increase or Decrease. If you only want the text size to change, choose Zoom Text Only so that it is checked .
    • Internet Explorer:
      • In the View menu, choose Text Size.
      • In the Text Size sub-menu, choose the desired size.
    • Safari:
      • In the View menu, choose either Make Text Bigger or Make Text Smaller.

 

 

Browser Support

SFMTA Marketing expects this site will work in any browser on any computer with any monitor; if you can't use the site, report how it doesn't work for you.

www.sfmta.com will look and work better in a browser that follows current Web standards, with JavaScript enabled, and true color. Recommended browsers include (in alphabetical order):

  • Firefox
  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer 8 (or later) for Windows®
  • Safari

www.sfmta.com will also look best maximized with a monitor sized at 1024 by 768 up to 1280 by 1024 pixels.


PDAs and other small devices

PalmTM and other Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), iPod® devices, and cell phones (WAP): The SFMTA does not currently provide schedules or maps for the Palm OS® operating system, Windows® Pocket PC® operating system or other PDAs. The SFMTA also does not support cell phones, Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) or iPod or xBox devices. The SFMTA is looking at how this agency might support these platforms in the future, but cannot give a date when any of this would be available. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is working towards providing PDA schedules on their 511.org transportation information Web site. The NextMuni Web site does provide mobile arrival prediction support.


Access for Customers with Hearing Disabilities

There are audio and video files, or clips, on the SFMTA web site. Some of these files have a text description available. There is info for playing audio and video clips.


Access for Customers with Visual Disabilities

For each art image and video or audio file, we provide alternate text and/or a link and/or a caption. Following the link will take you to a second page containing a description of the image or media file.

Low vision:

If you have difficulty reading the text links, you can go to the SFMTA Site Map to access links for all the pages in the SFMTA site.

Non-HTML pages:

Pages that contain proprietary formats, like Adobe's Portable Document Format, or PDF, also generally contain links to accessible PDF files or an alternate Web page or provide contact information for obtaining documents in an accessible format.

Screen readers:

The SFMTA web site is designed for use with a screen reader, a program that reads the web page content aloud.

Pronunciation:

Please note that some screen readers pronounce M U N I as "moo knee." The correct pronunciation of the transit service's nickname is "mew knee." Our agency is pronounced S F M T A. Street names, neighborhood names and personal names will also often be mispronounced.

 


Video and Audio info

There are some video and audio files, or clips, on the SFMTA Web site. These clips are for the enhancement of our site. It is not necessary to view them in order to use this site and they do not contain mandatory information.Depending on a number of factors, you may or may not be able to play them. These factors include your operating system, the processing speed of your computer, the amount of RAM, type of connection to the Internet and which media player your computer has, if any.

About media players:

The SFMTA hosts video and audio through SFGTV. SFGTV uses Microsoft Silverlight™ to deliver content. You may also use Windows Media Player or the open source VLC media player.

The SFMTA is not responsible for any problems incurred by the download or installation of software to your computer.

Downloading a player

These links were current at the time this page was published. They are subject to change at any time. If you find a link that doesn't work, please let the SFMTA Webmaster know.

About clip types and sizes

Most clips on the www.sfmta.com site are streamed to your player. With streaming technology we can combine clip steams for different connection speeds, and the correct clip should stream to your player. If your connection speed is slow, you may have to wait a long time to access larger clips. You may need to experiment with the different sized clips to see which ones will play fast enough for your connection speed.

About accessibility

Currently, video and audio clips do not contain any accessible features to enable sight or hearing-impaired customers to access the contents of the clips beyond normal playback. The SFMTA is looking into enhanced features that may allow sight or hearing-impaired customers to experience media clips more fully in the future.

Contact the SFMTA Webmaster if you have any problems playing clips from this site or wish to let the SFMTA know about your experience viewing these clips, please e-mail the SFMTA Webmaster.


PDF info

PDF files require the free Adobe® Reader® for viewing. Complete steps 1 and 2 and click "download". PDF files posted on or after October 15, 2004, require Adobe Reader 6 or later.

If you are using an older computer that cannot support Adobe Reader 6 or later, or you are on a computer that does not allow you to install Adobe Reader:

  1. Right-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) the file name.
  2. Choose Copy Link Location (Firefox), Copy Shortcut (Internet Explorer) or Copy Link (Safari).
  3. Go to Adobe's Online conversion tools for Adobe PDF documents Web page.
  4. Follow the instructions on that page to view a Web page (HTML) or text copy of the PDF file.

PDF Troubleshooting

If a PDF file won't open, try these troubleshooting techniques:

  • Make sure you have Adobe Reader 6 or later. If you don't, download the latest version of Adobe Reader from the Adobe Web site.
  • If you are using an Apple Macintosh, try opening the file in both Acrobat Reader and OS X Preview.
  • If you have both Adobe Reader and an older full version of Adobe Acrobat® on your computer:
    1. Close the older full version of Adobe Acrobat if it is open.
    2. Click your browser's Back button.
    3. Right-click the PDF link.
    4. Select Save target as... or Save link target as...
    5. Navigate to where you want to save the file, and take note of where you put it.
    6. Open Adobe Reader 6.
    7. In the File menu, select Open...
    8. Navigate to where you saved the file, select it, and click Open.
    9. The file will open in Adobe Reader 6.

About accessibility

Most PDF files published prior to June 26, 2003, are accompanied by one or more accessible HTML pages. They were produced using Adobe Acrobat 4.

Most PDF files published on or after October 15, 2004, are tagged files, which are accessible both to screen readers and people with low vision (using the zoom and text reflow features). They are produced using Adobe Acrobat 6 or later.

A limited number of PDFs, primarily the Service Standards reports, are referred to as "tagged" rather than as "accessible" because the tagged files contain tables in a format which may not be read properly by a screen reader.

Also, if the SFMTA is posting a PDF which was supplied to the SFMTA by somebody else, that PDF may not be tagged. The SFMTA may be limited in ability to provide a tagged PDF in such cases.

Contact the SFMTA Webmaster

If you have any problems reading PDF files from this site or wish to let the SFMTA know about your experience viewing these PDF files, or need alternative access to PDF content, please e-mail the SFMTA Webmaster.

PDF OCR Disclaimer

Sometimes the SFMTA will post scanned documents on www.sfmta.com. The SFMTA tries to restrict these to correspondence and other documents which are sent to the SFMTA from outside the SFMTA. When this happens, the SFMTA may also make use of the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature of Adobe Acrobat in order to provide accessible, tagged text documents for use by people with visual impairments.

OCR technology is not perfect, and therefore the SFMTA cannot guarantee the quality of this process. In particular, the OCR process may result in errors or words that are run together in the visible text, the accessibility tags or both.


PDF maps vs. GIF maps

Some maps on this site and our partner sites, such as transit.511.org, are provided in both PDF and GIF format. There are advantages and disadvantages to each format which may affect your choice of which version to view.

File Format Pros Cons
PDF
  • Can zoom to a very detailed level.
  • Use of the zoom feature can help provide context about what part of the map you are looking at--you can zoom out to see where you are looking at.
  • If you did the larger Adobe Reader download, you can usually find a particular street or landmark by searching for it in the Reader's search feature.
  • Usually a smaller download size.
  • Display, zooming, and scrolling may be slow.
  • If you don't have a program that can display PDFs (Adobe Reader, Apple Preview, etc.), then you will have to download and install it.
GIF
  • All graphical browsers can display GIF pictures without any additional software download.
  • You can scroll the map without a noticeable time delay.
  • Usually a larger download size.
  • You can't search for specific text.
  • The map has one viewable size. There is no zooming in.
  • Many modern browsers will automatically zoom out maps that are too large to fit in your browser window. You may have to use your browser's zoom control to view the map at its normal size.

The maps on this Web site are intended for online use. In particular, PDFs of the System map, Downtown map, Market Street map, and Owl map will print at 150 dots per inch (dpi). If you are interested in a printed version, you may want to buy a map.


Word document and Excel spreadsheet info

Microsoft® Word and Microsoft Excel files require Microsoft Office 2000 or later or any office document program which is capable of reading Microsoft Word or Excel 2000 documents.

Free programs capable of reading these documents include:

Reading Word files in another program may result in problems with the appearance of the document. The document will generally be readable.

About accessibility

If this Web site provides a Word document, it may also provide a PDF file.

Contact the SFMTA Webmaster

If you have any problems reading Word or Excel files from this site, wish to let us know about your experience viewing these Word or Excel files or need alternative access to Word or Excel content, please e-mail the SFMTA Webmaster.


PowerPoint presentation info

Microsoft PowerPoint® files require Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 or later, or any presentation program which is capable of reading Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 documents.

Free programs capable of reading Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 documents include:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2003 (Windows only). The Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer does not provide access to speaker notes, which may be present in some presentations.
  • The OpenOffice.org application (Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X).
  • The NeoOffice application (Macintosh OS X).

About accessibility

PowerPoint presentations on this site may not be accessible. Prior to June 26, 2003, the SFMTA attempted to provide an accesible HTML eqivalent. Generally, PowerPoint files on this site contain summaries or highlights of staff or other reports. These reports may usually be found on this site as PDF files. A list of reports is available. If this site provides a non-accessible presentation, there will also normally be a contact person to provide accessibility support. If there is no contact person listed, please contact the San Francisco 3-1-1 Customer Service Center for assistance.

Contact the SFMTA Webmaster

If you have any problems viewing PowerPoint files from this site, wish to let the SFMTA know about your experience viewing these PowerPoint files, or need alternative access to PowerPoint content, please e-mail the SFMTA Webmaster.


Suggestions

If you have any suggestions for improving accessibility of the SFMTA web site, please contact the SFMTA webmaster.


Transit 511 Websites

As of Spring 2008, transit.511.org has two websites. The SFMTA Web site refers to them as the new 511 Web site and the accessible 511 Web site.

The new 511 Web site features interactive maps and uses advanced Web site techniques. The accessible Web site is accessible for site visitors using assistive devices such as screen-reading software or who have difficulty using the new 511 Web site.

If you try to use the new 511 Web site, and encounter any difficulties, please use the accessible 511 Web site instead.


 

Acknowledgements

The SFMTA received accessibility assistance from the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind.

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