I was going to post this on, like, Tuesday, but I went snow skiing with my family instead. Better late than never, I suppose…

Several San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies are offering free rides and running extra buses and trains to encourage people to stay safe and off of the roads as they enjoy ringing in the New Year.

Caltrain rides are free after 11 PM on New Years Eve, and four post-midnight trains will depart San Francisco 4th & King after the New Year. These extra trains will depart the San Francisco station at 12:45 a.m., 1:15 a.m., 1:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m., making all local weekday stops to the San Jose Diridon station. Caltrain does not permit open alcohol containers after 9 PM following special events.

BART will run until 3 AM tonight, and trains will leapfrog stations in downtown San Francisco to ease overcrowding problems after the annual fireworks show along the Embarcadero ends tonight. BART also plans an increased police presence. Unlike past years, BART rides will not be free this year. Visit BART.gov for additional details.

SF MUNI on buses, light rail and cable cars are free after 8 PM until 6 AM Friday morning. Additional runs and extended service will be offered on some routes, while some routes that run through the Embarcadero area, The Castro, North Beach, and Cow Hollow may be re-routed. Visit SFMTA for details.

SamTrans in San Mateo County is free after 11 PM. Only the following routes will operate on a holiday schedule: 38, 110, 112, 120, 121, 122, 130, 280, 281, 292, 294, 296, 297, 390, 391, 397 and KX.

Golden Gate Transit buses and ferries are operating on a normal weekday schedule today. Buses will run on a holiday schedule on New Years Day. No ferries will run on New Years Day.

Santa Clara VTA service is free beginning at 7 PM tonight until 3:59 AM, with increased service and exended hours on the Santa Teresa/Alum Rock and Mountain View/Winchester light rail lines. The 180 Express Bus Line will also run extended hours tonight. Visit VTA.org for details.

That’s the traditional New Year greeting in Japanese. In Japan, all of the little kids go around to the adults saying “Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!” and the adults reciprocate by handing out envelopes stuffed with cash.

I don’t have any cash for you, but watch for some giveaways in the next couple of weeks. I’m going to hand out my used copies of various bike books, and I might have a couple of other goodies as well.

Happy New Years, all, and may your bike routes always be free and open to access.

Bikes to power Times Square New Year display.

It had to happen: Commercially available bike polo mallet shaft.

Noisemaker for your bicycle.

Yet Another iPhone App: Pedal Brain.

Treehugger Sustainable transportation year in review.

Grist Top Green Stories of the 00s.

Bike shaped vintage watch.

According to the description accompanying this video, a pair of thieves on a motor scooter snatched a purse from a woman in Wenzhou, China. The guy on the bike calmly dismounts and hurls the bike at the would be thieves, causing them to crash.

“The Spokesmen,” including Yours Truly, recorded the 2009 Year End edition of the Spokesmen cycling podcast last weekend. Topics and links over there, so give it a listen already.

I know not everybody is not into “social media,” but it’s handy for me and the other Spokesmen podcasters. We’re never short of topic ideas, but if you have your own ideas we’re now looking at #spokesmentopics on Twitter for topic ideas in the week before we record a new podcast.

Here’s another South Bay video contribution to Murph’s Highway 101 crossing project. I’m crossing over in this video on University Avenue from Palo Alto over to East Palo Alto (where IKEA is at).

Unlike Willow Road just a couple of miles to the north, University Avenue doesn’t have ugly merge lanes. Traffic is very heavy and there, but freeway access lanes are double turn lanes controlled by signal lights; as long as you stay in the straight-through lanes and watch for right hooks you should be fine.

The VTA Bike Share proposal came closer to reality this week after a half million dollar grant was awarded this week to pilot the program. VTA say they plan to begin the test bike share this March, with bike share kiosks at San Jose Diridon Station, Mountain View Castro Street Station, and Palo Alto University Avenue Station.

According to San Jose councilman, VTA board member and bike booster Sam Liccardo, these Caltrain locations are planned because they are the busiest in Santa Clara County and to alleviate problems with bike bumping on Caltrain.

Read more in the Mercury News: Don’t want to drive? Share a bike!

See also “Bike share coming to Silicon Valley?“