Photo by Flickr user Jeremy Brooks
The stabbing of an 11-year-old boy on the 49 prompted Muni rider Whole Wheat Toast to send us the following letter.
We’ve all been there before when someone was being assaulted or robbed on Muni. But remember when the kid was stabbed on his very first solo Muni ride? What did the driver do? It doesn’t say in the article. When a middle-aged couple were robbed by a group of sketchy people on the 47, did the driver intervene? Well, it’s possible we all know why the driver doesn’t intervene, but if you do, I’m going to rant about it anyway.
Anyway, I’ve personally known some Muni drivers. But those that I don’t, I’ve seen them get assaulted if they intervened. For example, I was on the 19 just last week heading to the Bayview Pot Fire, when some guy by the Potrero Hill Projects wanted to board the 19. The driver said “This is not a stop” and kept driving. The guy followed the bus. When the driver finally let him on at Wisconsin and 26th, the guy yelled in front of the driver’s face as if he was spitting at him, saying, “You don’t be fucking with me”, or something like that, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I think he made a death threat to the driver, I don’t remember. But all I remembered was he just stepped on, and went to the back, yelling incoherently, making death threats to the driver, etc. But, the driver just brushed it off.
However, this would be a different case. I knew this driver who used to work at Woods Division, on the 44, at night. When he saw a person run for the bus, he would stop for them whether or not it would be a bus stop. Otherwise he thought he was going to endure retaliation next time around. As soon as he got seniority, he took the first available opportunity to transfer to another division. I won’t reveal what division he works at now.
The same applies to fare-evading. Just last Saturday when I was heading home on the 19, some kids got on at 23rd and De Haro and just went by. And they were under 12. And the driver didn’t do anything about it. Why? Obviously because they’re afraid of being assaulted by some lowlifes who refuse to play by the rules!
So, to wrap things up, most Muni drivers probably don’t want to do anything - not because they don’t care, but probably because they’re afraid of being assaulted if they intervened themselves. Not only that, if they were assaulted, there would be paid sick days, but most can’t afford paid sick days because most have to work to make ends meet.
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I would prefer that the driver concentrate on driving the bus whenever possible, not on playing cop or fare enforcer or referee. Do they have some kind of panic button that can let their supervisor of the SFPD know that police attention is needed on a particular bus without having to actually pick up the phone?
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jeff Reply:
September 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I agree with Erik. In an ideal world, operators would focus on the task at hand: operating the train or bus. I’m sure these violent episodes on Muni can traced back to a thousand reasons, and perhaps a lot of it is owing to the economy overall. I’d like to see a better relationship between the SFPD and Muni, wherein the police didn’t have to charge Muni for things like patrolling buses and trains (isn’t SFPD’s jurisdiction San Francisco, and except for a few brief spillovers outside city/county limits, Muni’s is as well?). We have a new chief of police, so maybe we’ll see what happens.
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One of my favorite 22 drivers got assaulted by teenagers who refused to pay their fares. Luckily all they did was throw their sodas at him, but it was scary nonetheless and this driver was one of the good guys… Always had a smile and something nice to say, always made people pay their fares and was not afraid to say something if something iffy was happening. Haven’t seen him in years, sadly.
I’ve seen the ‘emergency, call 911′ signs on several buses before… Most of the time I think it’s in error but I did call 911 once when I saw the sign on a 19 Polk, and the dispatch people took it really seriously. So I guess that’s an option if people actually call when they see the sign.
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Amanda Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 11:18 am
I just saw this on a 38 Geary last night! I called 911 because I’m a guilty kind of person, I would feel awful if I didn’t do anything. But now I want to know what was going on!
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Yes, danger is out there. And as a MUNI bus driver, you accept a certain amount of that danger as being part of your job. Obviously you aren’t buying into combat duty, but a certain amount of bs just goes with the job. However, whether or not to intervene during an assault is not determined by your job, but by you sense of conscience. This includes not just drivers but passengers too. Wouldn’t this world be a great place if more people felt that “it’s just the right thing to do” to help someone who is in danger?
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