Peninsula Moves!

Our Take on Exciting and Important Bay Area Events

by Will Reisman, @willreisman

Transit Changes for Christmas Holiday: Christmas is right around the corner, which usually means eating too much, days off from work and service changes for the Bay Area’s transit providers. SamTrans and Caltrain will both run Sunday service on Christmas Day Thursday, with Caltrain operating 32 trains between San Francisco and San Jose. BART will also be operating on a Sunday schedule, meaning later start times and less frequent service. Muni will run its Sunday service, which doesn’t include express bus lines, as will AC Transit. Golden Gate Transit’s bus lines will operate on a Sunday schedule, but ferry services will be closed on Christmas Day. Lastly, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will run a Sunday schedule on Christmas. Passengers interested in finding our more information about local schedules on Christmas can visit 511.org.

We Really, Really Needed That Rain: Although this month’s winter storms have made life unpleasant for Bay Area residents, all that rain could help in restoring the long-term of California, which has been historicaly parched in recent years. According to a new study, the period between 2012 and 2014 marked the driest stretch of time in California in about 1,200 year. While the Bay Area has been certifiably soaked lately, the state still needs, oh, only about 11 trillion gallons (!) of water to break free of its current dry spell. And although it doesn’t look like any storms will be coming this week, the annual “King Tide” phenomenon still means flood advisories are being issued.

The (Earlier-than-Expected) End of Football Season at Levi’s Stadium: With legitimate Super Bowl aspirations entering the season, the 49ers 2014 campaign will come to a disappointing close on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. Still, the regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals will provide the 49ers with a chance to end the season (and in all likelihood, Coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure) with a win. This will be the first season since 2010 that the team missed the playoffs. On Tuesday, the Foster Farms Bowl, a postseason college football matchup pitting hometown squad Stanford against the Maryland Terrapins, will officially close out the first year of football at Levi’s Stadium.

Old Timey Holiday: Want to know what Christmas in San Francisco looked like 50 years ago? Maybe a little? Well, the SF Chronicle has a slideshow of historic photos capturing the holiday spirit of the City by the Bay.