this is cbs news bay area with elizabeth cook . the municipal transit agency looks to the new year with new projects but some business owners say changes on the roads are hurting their bottom line. we are sitting down with the agency director to find out what comes next. thanks for joining us. i'm ryan yamamoto. the police chief of san jose says he will retire in march and joined the santa clara county d.a.s office as an

investigator. he has been with sj pd for 28 years and an interim chief will be announced before the retirement. the san francisco board of supervisors is meeting right now calling for a resolution for a cease-fire in gaza. the rules committee referred to the board without any amendments although some will likely be added today. pg&e is asking for another rate hike. if approved it could bring the monthly bill passed $300. pg&e will have it pay for the upgrades to the power grid. there is an all hands on deck safety meeting in the wake of last friday's blowout on a flight. they are focusing the investigation on the four bolts that should have kept the door panel from flying off the boeing 737 max 9 jet. all it makes lines are grounded for inspection with hundreds of flights canceled across the country. brain is lingering in parts of the bay area as the

first round of weather hits this week. paul heggen is tracking it from our virtual view studio. >> this batch of rain is moving out as we speak with the last sprinkles winding down. this is the first of two systems with the next lining up to come charging in by tomorrow. back to back rain chances for thursday and friday. the latter half of the work week is looking better for outdoors activity. this is snow flying in the sierra, more on that momentarily. it does not look like a significant snow maker . but let's talk about how the rain chances will return to the bay area including some showers for the early morning commute on wednesday. it will be scattered activity. not all that organized and it is reducing her confidence in exactly where it will rain and

which hours during the day. just be ready for the unsettled weather throughout the day. you can see the gaps in the individual showers but a lot of the showers expected to be out there throughout the afternoon and evening with locally heavy downpours but no flooding potential with this system. the amounts look fairly similar to if not slightly above the amounts we added today and once that quiets down we should stay dry for thursday and friday. plenty of sunshine for thursday with increased cloud cover for friday. let's add up the ring that will be falling. amounts ranging from a little bit of point 10 of an inch to some spots approaching .40 of an inch of rain. the specifics, very tough to have much confidence in it, but it is that rain that is important from a little bit to an impressive amount but only for the scale of the system. you

kind of have to graded on a curve. it does not give access to a whole lot of moisture so it is a pretty good achievement to squeeze out close to half an inch of total rainfall. it will also result in gusty winds from midday tomorrow through the afternoon. 30 to 40 mile an hour gusts and a 15 to 20 -mile-an-hour gusts will be widespread through the afternoon. breezy conditions will gradually subside as we head through tomorrow night and thursday does not look like it will be nearly as blustery. in terms of the snowy side of the system, although red shaded counties in the sierra under a winter storm warning going into effect very late tonight, continuing past midnight tomorrow night, talking about 1 to 2 feet of total snowfall accumulation. some higher peaks showing up to three feet and it is going to be a mess on u.s. 50 and i-80. travel is strongly discouraged beginning tonight and into tomorrow and tomorrow

night. thursday and friday are the best days for travel before the next system moves in with yet another chance of snow for the sierra, and another chance for rain for the bay area moving in friday night to saturday and specific amounts in that timeframe , forecast models are still all over the place. we will continue to refine it once we get tomorrow's forecast in the rearview mirror. that is when we can focus on the next opportunity for a little bit of water across the bay area into next week. the seven-day forecast, we will see a couple of rain chances headed our way farther down the line and saturday is the next significant chance. again, could linger into saturday night, very early sunday morning but in general if you have any other plans sunday looks like the better day. this is the forecast for the entire bay area. not breaking it down by microclimates because everyone has the same temperatures and same forecast in general, everyone in the mid to upper 50s, close to 60 degrees as we head into early

next week . all bay area transit agencies are working to recover from the pandemic. also looking towards safety improvements in future projects. one project raising concerns is the new bike lanes in the mission. the valencia street bike lanes were installed five months ago between 15th and 23rd streets with the goal of improving traffic and pedestrian safety but the project didn't just realign the bike lanes to the middle of the street, it also shifted traffic lanes and took parking away. the city is still analyzing data on whether the configuration actually works but business owners tell us they already know that it does not work for bikes or cars and is hurting their bottom line. >> there is no clear left or u-turn. the cars are very confused. you are putting yourself in a big, and once you put yourself in the position and put yourself in

danger you want to come back. >> the daily -- daily bike volume is predicted to be 3% higher . they were supposed to have the initial findings in november but it has been pushed back to next month. the director of transportation is joining me today. at this point, are you ready to cut the bait, or move forward, what is it looking like right now? >> we are looking at the data. tracking a whole lot of data including safety data for all modes, what people think of the street academic performance from small merchants and we are putting it together now and are expected to go to the board for a first presentation on the data we've got next month . >> there are concerns for some of small business owners, what is your response? >> we are tracking the small business performance very closely. we have two primary goals, one, make the streets

safer for those on foot and on bikes and two, support one of the most amazing retail districts in the city. in order to respond to that we need to see the data and also the comparative data. how-tos valencia academic performance compared to mission or downtown merchants. we want to make sure we are looking at causation, not just correlation. >> not just emotional reactions, of course. street safety and vision zero, what about the move to ban right-hand turns on red lights, where does the city stand on that? >> the san francisco board of supervisors unanimously passed a resolution to ban right turns on red lights citywide. we are working on that incrementally and also collecting data . right turn on red is banned throughout the tenderloin right now and we are collecting data to see how effective is that effort compared to other things we could be doing with our very limited staff time and budget. >> when did that start in the tenderloin ? >> it started just this year.

we are collecting the data closely and this year we are expanding no right turn on red into most of the downtown. >> where are you in terms of ridership right now, what about funds and budget. you mentioned you were on a very tight budget, how is it looking? >> the covid aftermath has upset the whole financial model. transit fare revenue is down just over 50%, parking revenue is down about 12%. about a quarter of the budget comes from short-term state, federal and regional relief funds. we need a new revenue model or we need to dramatically cut back on everything we are doing. we are working with the state legislature and federal government to identify new ways of funding transit throughout the region. meanwhile the ridership is booming. yes! this is one of the funny things in san francisco. the city in the world with the most arguably greatest amount of work from home which has made the financial district for the empty during at least the work

periods, we are seeing the highest rate of ridership in our neighborhood lines then we are seeing in any city in the united states. along the venice busway, that is up, depending on the day of the week, up to 140% of pre-covid ridership. running up and down fillmore street, asian bay, also where we've made major transit improvements, up to about 130% of pre- covid ridership because we are focused on making it best, frequent, reliable, clean and safe. >> the bus lanes probably help, right? >> we are getting from a 12% up to 30% improvement in speed and reliability where we have built just over 20 miles of new transit only lanes during covid . >> in the area where downtown is still struggling, are you surprised by those numbers? >> our ridership projections

are breaking all projections. we did not think this level of transit ridership is possible but it shows how quickly people respond when you make transit service saft, libel, clean and safe. >> any other projects we can expect for 2024? >> we will continue to focus on what we call the high injury network. the street in san francisco where we see a disproportionate number of injuries. we have a pretty simple toolkit demonstrated to make the streets safer, we will build that out. we've also got a bunch of bike and pedestrian projects we will be rolling out including making a connection from golden gate park via the highway and the sloat and skyline and all the way around lake merced creating a path network for the whole western part of san francisco. that has been a major source of visitor attraction across the city and of course up reading traffic signals to make sure traffic for cars can continue to flow smoothly and also

prioritize emergency service response. >> always good information, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me . speaking of roadway safety, coming up, hear how the state is considering using ai to help

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golden gate bridge is a top tourist spot in the san francisco bay area and often the backdrop for a lot of pictures. one photographer is focusing his length much tighter. he is telling people's stories on the bridge day in and day out. >> step on to the golden gate bridge on any given day and you might just become the focus of jake's six year long obsession. >> november 2017 i came out here one day by myself just photographing and i never really left. >> a street photographer or in this case bridge photographer, he has been here every day capturing life along this iconic landmark . >> some days it is like a really sad day and some days it is an exciting and positive experience. i think that is

what makes it so amazing. >> in the last four years he says he's missed only 20 days. snapping an estimated 100,000 photos. are there ever days were you don't want to be here? >> all the time. i wish i could sleep in and not being in the cold, fog and rain. >> he is here up to 10 hours a day but unlike most people his eye is not on the bridge itself but on what's happening on it . you have one second to get it right. you can never duplicate that situation again. when you get something out of that, i think it is way more magical than anything that could be captured in a studio. >> the bulk of the work is done on film using a compact camera. over the years he has witnessed everything from car crashes to protests to weddings and something else this span has sadly become famous for.

>> there have been days when i literally stopped or played a role in stopping three or four people from jumping in one day. >> after repeated delays the long-awaited suicide prevention barrier has finally been completed this month. in the last few years jake estimates he's helped around 90 people either talking them off the ledge or keeping them distracted long enough for a patrol officer to arrive. financially speaking, however, he is barely surviving. relying on savings and credit cards to fund his project. so far he has not been able to monetize it. in fact, he can even afford to develop most of his photographs. and la-based art consultant looked at some of jake's photos. >> what he has been able to do is not only capture the activity on the bridge but

just what happens in our daily lives. i think it will touch the emotions of anybody who sees it. >> in the meantime jake says he is not going anywhere. >> if all my financial problems were solved this is still what i'd be doing. >> and although he has no idea whether this project will see the light of day, he will cross that bridge when he comes to it. >> we hear about artificial intelligence in just about every industry these days and now a california agency says it can help prevent traffic accidents and potentially save lives. we take a look at the new effort. >> california is turning to artificial intelligence to make your state roadways safer . >> the hope is that we can get in front of the accidents. >> it comes when the number of californians who die in car crashes continues to climb. >> right now it is a significant problem. we are losing about 12 people a day that are killed on the roads. >> the state government operations agency is trying to use generative ai, the same technology used in chat but, to decrease traffic congestion and prevent crashes. >> we want to be diligent

about it and test it out and see if it works. if it works, we take the next step. >> there is more than 53,000 miles of highways with thousands of traffic centers, whether monitors and cameras that provide real-time data. but what do you use that data for? having a token help automate that. officials say one day ai can be used to warn drivers about dangers like the dense fog that caused a fatal train reaction crash this weekend or even alert motorists about a roadway driver. the messages can be sent to a phone or car's dashboard and would be similar to the state earthquake warning system which gives people a few seconds to prepare. >> being proactive versus reactive is a significant game changer in something that the traffic community has embraced. >> they can also predict high-risk areas where a crash could occur. >> they will stop it before it

happens. >> the state is asking the tech sector to submit proposals to begin using this technology with the hope that demonstration projects will be launched later this year. volkswagen is getting an aia upgrade at the consumer electronic show in las vegas. the german carmaker announced it is integrating chubb gpd into its voice assistance to help with things like infotainment, navigation and air conditioning. vw says chat gpt will not gain access to vehicle data and questions and answers will be deleted immediately for data protection. meta says it is trying to make social media safer for younger users. unveiling new oversight policies and they include additional parental and well-being oversight tools . officials also say they will hide age inappropriate confident -- content like nudity and eating disorders

from those under 18 years old. this comes a few months after a former facebook employee told a senate subcommittee that top meta executives ignored warnings about potential harms on their platform. the changes are expected to go into effect later this year. the 49ers are not exactly relaxing. next in our

levi's stadium will be quiet for now as the top seed niners take their bye during the wildcard weekend but they will be watching to see who they will face, next. >> this is the volkswagen red & gold report. >> the 49ers empire, what team do you want, january 20th or 21st, the rams again, the eagles ? packers? buccaneers? >> at this point you can drive yourself crazy taking about who you will play next. >> any of those scenarios could happen, they will play the lowest remaining seed for the divisional round and they won't know until next sunday night at the earliest. kyle shanahan wants his team to stay sharp so they plan to get after it this week in practice.

>> no matter what happens or who comes here in a couple of weeks or what type of game it is whether it is a shootout in field goals, or whatever it is, we are up for whatever it takes to win it. >> this will be a great week for us to get better as a team to make sure we are the best version of ourselves for when that moment comes and whoever comes to levi's. >> for the red & gold report, i'm vern glenn. coming up, everyone knows this game, right? we will tell you about a special tetris display and the games big milestone. you can watch us anytime anywhere on the streaming

goli, taste your goals.

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coming up tonight on the cbs evening news, the blockbuster storm pummeling much of america with blizzards across the plains, flood warnings in the northeast and at least a dozen tornado's reported across four states. we've got that and more headlines tonight right here on the cbs evening news. tomorrow a memorial service will be held to honor a police officer killed on the job. it will take place at the process church in castro valley . we will have live streaming of that starting at 10:00 am. coming up , it is easy to grab a plastic water bottle but a new study shows that what may be in the bottle that you

can't see. finally, the latest design on the las vegas sphere that may take you back a little bit. take a look. we know that music and we know that game. that is the popular video game tetris on the las vegas sphere. engineers did this to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the game and the consumer electric -- electronic show that is expected to run all week . i used to love this game. is cbs evening news is next. and local news continues on our streaming service ♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, the two powerful storm systems hitting the united states. blizzard warnings out west and deadly weather in the south. plus, cities like d.c., new york, and