High school interns in our shops learn the basics of welding.
As the school year begins, we want to thank the summer interns who helped us support local communities!
Managers from across our agency invested in the next generation. Students built real-world skills in the trades. They helped us make Muni faster and more reliable. And they learned the many steps we take to keep traffic flowing during construction.
We were thrilled to offer dozens of paid internships this summer. This was possible thanks to our partnerships with the San Francisco Unified School District, Japanese Community Youth Council and other groups.
Learn how interns helped to make travel easier for everyone getting around the city.
Making it easier to park in the city: Meet Kali
Lowell High School student Kali helped us make parking work better for everybody. Along with another SFUSD intern, she supported multiple teams in our shops.
“We learned how to use software to make parking signs, how to use the printer to print out a design, how to apply that design onto aluminum and ultimately how to install the sign on the sidewalk,” Kali says.
In our meter shop, Kali learned how to take apart both single-space and multi-space parking meters. “We learned how to repair issues that come up, like replacing screens or fixing things when cards or coins get jammed,” Kali explains. “It was fun!”
One of her favorite things to do was welding. “I thought it was so cool,” Kali says. “It makes a bunch of sparks, and you have to have a steady hand, but it’s beautiful!”
Kali admits “it can be intimidating, doing something like that.” But she says our staff instantly made it a welcoming experience. “Everyone in the shop would walk us through all the tasks -- they were patient with us and allowed us the freedom to develop our own skills and learn.”
And, as a San Francisco native and lifelong Muni rider, Kali was thrilled to help support the city’s transportation system.
“I was on the train today and looked out my window and saw a bunch of parking meters,” Kali says. “Those are the things that you don’t necessarily notice, but now I know the care and effort that goes into them.”
Making Muni more reliable for riders: Meet Ray
Our Muni Forward interns have helped make trips smoother for our riders.
Ray Lin is a two-time summer intern with us. He recently graduated from UC Davis with a master’s degree in civil engineering. And he’s helped us build a strong foundation to make Muni faster and more reliable!
“I’ve always been a transit rider my entire life,” Ray says. “And I love how unique the SFMTA is, having jurisdiction over transit service, signal infrastructure and streetscapes. Working like that can help you make a big impact on the city.”
His work with our Muni Forward team proves this! Last summer, Ray compiled a database of all the transit signals that serve Muni. It shows whether they have “transit signal priority.” That means the ability to give Muni vehicles more green lights, among other perks.
With this database, our engineers and planners can more easily keep track of where transit signal priority could help reduce delays. That’s valuable, because signal priority can mean major travel time savings for riders! A great example: the signal changes Ray's supervisor, Jasper Lee, helped make on our T Third Improvements Project. This work helped T Third riders save up to two minutes in each direction in SoMa – a 37% drop in travel time!
Ray also helped respond to Muni timing issues that operators reported. For example, he did measurements to place a red curb by a bus stop where there had been lots of double-parking. Now, Ray can feel the benefits himself!
“I was riding home on Muni and saw the red curb I measured,” Ray says. “I saw it drawn now and noticed there were no cars blocking the buses! They can pull in really smoothly without stopping.”
This summer, Ray did work on our signal inventory diagrams. Like the database work, it helps our planners have a clearer sense of what’s out there in the field. That way, they can better understand their options to speed up Muni trips seeing delays.
Ray says he’s thrilled to see how this Muni Forward work directly benefits people. “It feels great to be making an impact on city streets!”
Supporting the city’s growth with safe streets: Meet Jack
SFMTA engineers make sure people can walk, bike and drive safely during construction work.
We’re also grateful to the SFMTA managers who mentored interns this summer. Assistant Engineer Jack Anninos is one of them. Working with our Traffic Engineering team, he helps keep streets safe for everyone as the city grows and changes.
“Construction is happening in the city at all different times for all different reasons,” Jack says. It might be “new building construction, building retrofitting or underground work, like sewer and water main replacements.”
And in every case, SFMTA engineers play a critical role.
“Any construction that’s happening in the city, we mitigate traffic impacts, make sure accessible paths of travel are provided for pedestrians and bicyclists, and make sure traffic is flowing.”
That means giving people a safe place to walk when construction impacts a sidewalk. It means ensuring there’s a bike reroute if an established path gets disrupted. And it means supporting people who drive and park with clear detours.
And the job isn’t done when construction is over!
“After paving, we restore lane markings for drivers, bike lane markings for bikes and red lanes for transit,” Jack says. Our in-house shops put back signs that got removed. They replace red curbs that make it safer to cross the street. They bring back blue zones and curb ramps that support people with disabilities. And they also make sure small businesses have the white curbs they need to easily load goods.
It’s a lot of work, but Jack enjoys the challenge. And he also likes teaching it to our interns. “It’s really rewarding to me to pass down the knowledge I’ve already gained at the SFMTA,” Jack says. He appreciates the chance to “make sure our institutional knowledge stays in-house and gives us the ability to execute projects efficiently and cost-effectively.”
Best of all, Jack likes what all of this work does for the place he calls home. “By supporting construction in San Francisco, we’re supporting the city’s comeback.”
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