Photo by Flickr user octoferret
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning on the J-Church (train number 1469 B if you want to get really specific) underground between Church and Van Ness, I heard a commotion behind me. I looked up and noticed all of the passengers facing me were looking behind me, eyes wide. Never a good sign on Muni.
I turned around and the rear left door (if you’re facing back towards Church street) was wide open as we cruised through the tunnel at high speed. Right next to the open door, kind of sitting or crouching (it was hard to see), was a boy who looked like he may have Down Syndrome. A man had a hold of him and was trying to pull him back away from the open door. A lady was using the emergency intercom to tell the driver “The door is open! The door is open!” I believe the boy was panicked and unsure of how to react. The man hanging onto him was also gripping a bar in the train to keep himself from falling.
It took about 20 more seconds of cruising and a passenger running up to the front of the train for it to stop. The driver walked back, used his key to manually shut the door, and we proceeded. Meanwhile, people got the boy away from the door.
I place blame squarely on the poor condition of Muni light rail vehicles. The driver reacted as fast as he could and apologized on the intercom. But one day a door will open up, mid-underground cruise, and some unfortunate person will go from bystander to victim.
- Nate
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This is just as bad as the times I’ve noticed these incidents:
Upon entering the tunnel to Embarcadero, an N-Judah train’s stairs were up, except for one set that couldn’t. I was calling Muni frantically before entering the tunnel to order the train to stop immediately. It wasn’t until it reached Embarcadero that the train operator ran out of the first car and asked why the intercom system was activated.
On a second instance, a train pulled into West Portal heading towards downtown, the doors opened, and a lady entered and fell down. It was then everyone noticed all the stairs were in the down position and the lady sprained her ankle. Just because of that incompetence by the driver, all the trains got delayed, and Muni will be spending our tax money for being forgetful.
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There is an interlock system that prevents the doors from opening while the train is in motion, this is required by Federal Law. Either the interlock was disabled or broken for this to happen (and I’ve seen it happen too). Don’t lean against the doors!
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Sounds like the blame belongs squarely on the drivers in both cases. Barring any electrical faults, both drivers ought to be terminated.
The LRVs all have door interlocks. If the door is open past ~2mph, the car will come to an immediate stop. If the doors are open the car won’t move. There’s an override switch for this interlock right behind the driver. It was very common for drivers to trip this override so that they could continue moving up or down a hill and worry about the doors closing later. About a year ago MUNI finally put a tamper evident piece of plastic in the switch (so that you’ll know who hit the override). My money would be on that driver not checking the override (and thus being responsible) or hitting it him/herself.
Likewise, the trains aren’t supposed to be in the tunnel without all the stairs up. I had one driver who knew damn well she couldn’t get the stairs up. The passengers knew too because you could hear that whistle struggling to sound. What’d she do? She pulls into the middle of the West Portal intersection blocking all LRV traffic in both directions, blocking pedestrian traffic, and blocking vehicular traffic in all directions. We sat motionless in the intersection for about ten minutes. Finally the driver pulled the train into West Portal station inbound, and we sat for another five before being kicked off the train. There are lights on the dashboard to indicate whether or not the stairs are raised on each side. It’s the driver’s responsibility to check the stairs before entering the tunnel (or a stop with high platforms).
This, of course, brings to mind a couple of suggestions:
1.) Look before you leap.
2.) If you see anything unsafe about the operation of the LRV, hit the red emergency stop button. There are two on each car for just this sort of operation. The train will stop (potentially suddenly depending on if the emergency brakes have been fixed or not) and the driver will be notified that a passenger reported an emergency.
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I’ve twice had an N-Judah exit the tunnel, stop at Duboce and Church, and open the doors without the stairs in the down position. Since on Muni you take what you can get, a number of us jumped/climbed out since it was not clear if a fix would happen. The best part was the driver yelling over the PA for people not to obstruct the doors since she needed to close them to lower the stairs. I think the general feeling of riders was: “Once the doors close, who knows if the stairs will actually lower? Will we ever get off this train if we don’t jump?”
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I saw the doors open on the wrong side in Castro station several years ago when the Breda cars were new. If the train had been full, people could have fallen out and onto the inbound tracks. The driver closed the doors and reopened on the correct side. Crazy…..
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It happened on an M I was on back in 2005. We just sat there, mid-block, for what seemed like a second-hand-pot-smoke-filled eternity. The steps were up, and for whatever reason, no one jumped off. A few Ms started to stack up behind us. And then –poof!– we started moving again. Anyone know what it takes to get the doors to close/steps to lower in such a situation? Or do the situations happen because of a malfunction? Either way, careful out there!
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These incompetent Muni drivers are going to kill someone one day because of that override switch. Of course, they’ll probably draw full pay while on administrative leave and then not get fired.
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Two things – I personally would not hit the red emergency stop unless there was an injury or imminent injury like with the handicapped child described in the blog posting. To do otherwise places you in the Russian roulette of some bureaucrat deciding to prosecute you for tampering with the rail system. Even if it’s clear you weren’t tampering, once the prosecution trigger is pulled you’re in for an unpleasant next few years of your life.
Secondly, I’ve stopped using all MUNI unless I have no other alternative, precisely because of the very obvious failings in maintenance. I took an inbound N-Judah yesterday because I was late and the driver didn’t raise the stairs until she stopped at the Van Ness platform. I see drivers forgetting to lower the steps on outbound N-trains at Church and Duboce about once a year over the last 10 years I’ve lived here, and the doors open and people have almost fallen.
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Riding the “J” line today is never as much fun as in the late 1930s with the old fashioned heavy metal street cars. During a.m. commute hours most inbound open-air cars were always full with passengers not only standing but standing shoulder-to-shoulder, butt-to-butt, belly-to-belly. If street car slowed down a bit at your stop, you jumped on the running board and hung on to the guy in front of you still trying to get further into the streecar.
Or if still no room hanging onto the outside, you could step up to the metal “cow-catcher” at rear of streetcar, grap on and ride for free.
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