From a Muni operator: ‘The facts’ 03.08.10
Ed. note: While the discussion continues on the post we got from a Muni operator’s wife, we received a first-hand account from Will, a Muni operator, who lays forth his ideas about MTA and describes what it’s like to drive for Muni:
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about Muni Drivers. First, operators are not unwilling to make sacrifices when it is appropriate to do so. However, the MTA’s proposal to freeze scheduled wage increases for an additional 12 months (we are currently under an 18-month wage freeze that expires in July of this year) came at a time when city officials were publicly questioning whether the MTA is misappropriating money budgeted for Muni service. We would like to know why the MTA gives $67 million of the Muni operating budget to other City Departments.
As for the Charter pay survey that determines our wage increases: Muni operators are worth every penny! We are the most uniquely trained and highly qualified transit operators anywhere in the world. Where else can you find antique cable cars, high speed light rail vehicles, articulated electric and diesel coaches as well as antique street cars all being operated by the same group of people?
Also, try to imagine the frenzy of activity (700,000 riders per day, 21,000,000 per month) in and around transit vehicles every day. Operators successfully manage interactions of all kinds with riders while navigating the chaos on city streets, (like patting your head and rubbing your stomach and walking on a tight rope 100 feet up). This is not a complaint but an attempt to describe the experience.
As for work rules: Operators are disciplined and fired for excessive abscences… disciplined and fired for too many passenger complaints… disciplined and fired for unsafe driving. Contrary to popular belief the MTA is very tough on drivers (many would say excessivly so). Because of the current economic conditions many San Francisco residents are unemployed and angry. This is understandable. However, it is no reason to blindly bash Muni operators for trying to hold the line against the anti-union opportunists trying to take advantage of the situation.
Weekend Photos: Munimals 03.05.10
Photo by blarfiejandro
I swear I’m not going all Anne Geddes on you (for the record I think that woman’s disturbed), but I can’t help it — I’m a sucker for dogs and cats. These cuties are certainly a reprieve after this week’s Muni news:
- Drivers overwhelm March Against Muni (SFWeekly)
- For a minute there it was close, but MTA Board takes more service cuts and fees for transfers off the table (StreetsBlog SF)
- SF Chronicle has an editorial about SPUR’s alternative budget proposal: “SPUR has made a good-faith effort to advance the discussion. There is plenty to hate in its package, but it is certainly preferable to an unthinking across-the-board service.”
- The Chronicle also reports that “public anger over Muni grows.” Uh, duh.
- Accidents: the 5-Fulton hits bicyclist and keeps going. M-Ocean View hits pedestrian Thursday (SFAppeal)
- State Legislature could restore millions in funding to MTA (StreetsBlog SF)
Tomorrow is the Muni Summit (reports the Examiner) at 8:15 a.m. at the Women’s Building in the Mission.
Enjoy your weekend!
Photo by Flickr user engnr_chik
Photo by Flickr user pamalamadag
Photo by Flickr user azza-bazoo
Photo by Flickr user pup ajax
A series of bad days on the L-Taraval 03.05.10
Photo by Telstar Logistics
Ed note: My god, this is so awesome. Such a great response to a shitty, sad situation. L-Taraval rider Kristen has had it with her beloved aggravating Muni Metro line. But she’s not sitting back and taking it, no. Read on, please …
Local papers declare the J-Church the worst line. If so, maybe the reason is that there are so many they can barely move. Someone told me it’s political–i.e., city officials live along the J line. Could this actually be true?
What I do know is, the L-Taraval is terrible as far as frequency and “last-minute” mid-route turnarounds/re-routing.
So I’m journaling my experiences riding the L line on the days that I consider bad. To comment: email me at quisten@pacbell.net.
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Date unknown, 2009: a.m. L stops on Taraval. Driver announces he had to stop because he suddenly lost his sight due to a diabetic episode–and that he had recently been hospitalized for a similar episode (yet MUNI had put him right back to work???).
10/12/09, 6:10 p.m. Montgomery sta. I hear announcement saying “…ALL MOVING EXTREMELY SLOW.” I take BART to 23 bus instead.
10/16/09 6:20 p.m. Embarcadero sta. Wait OK but then streetcar changes destination from Zoo to 22nd Ave. sometime before Church. Why not determine destination at Embarcadero end of line? SRO on following car at 22nd.
Read more of Kristen’s bad days on the L-Taraval after the jump. (more…)
Photo Diary: School Daze 03.04.10
Photo by Flickr user DavidTakesPics
Riffing off Eugenia’s post from earlier today, and in light of the widespread education protests going on around the state today, this image (posted to the Muni Photos Flickr pool) was too good not to put up for this afternoon. Enjoy!
Allow us to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: the faces of Muni riders 03.04.10
Photo by Flickr user Justin Beck
Being a Muni rider has been a tough gig lately, with fare hikes, service cuts, accidents, and a slew of other changes sure to affect many of us. With SFMTA being in the middle of that budget crisis, we’re looking at some pretty harsh proposals (i.e. get the chopping block out) on how to get out of this mess. And, coming as no surprise to readers of Muni Diaries, public opinion of Muni is plummeting.
But in my search for more news updates and going through our submissions, I found so many great photos of everyday Muni riders that speak volumes about why public transit brings out such strong emotions. Through the lens of these urban photogs, I’m reminded that riding Muni is one of the few experiences shared by most San Franciscans: yuppie, hipster, hippie, homeless, average Jane and Joe. It brings out anger, frustration, and impatience. Yet instead of just swearing to drive, walk, or ride our bikes, we still get on the bus every day because we depend on it, as much as we depend on our morning coffee or shower. It’s more than a means of transportation: it also brings out stories that are funny, gross, weird, poignant…everything that makes living in our city unique.
Yeah, some parts of that experience make you shake your head — or even your fist — but other parts of it can sometimes make you smile. So, let me interrupt our regularly scheduled programming and share some of those images taken of and by your neighbors on the bus.
Photo by Flickr user ptwheel
More photos after the jump. And other great Muni photos can be found in the Muni Photos Flickr pool.
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Muni Bus Hits Bike on Market and 5th 03.03.10
Photo by Andrew Sarkarati
A 5-Fulton bus hit a bicyclist this morning and kept going, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Andrew Sarkarati at MissionMission has a first-person account when he arrived at the scene shortly after the collision.
Passengers yelled at the bus driver to stop, but the driver kept going, reports SFWeekly:
Multiple eyewitnesses on the street confirmed to SF Weekly that the cyclist — whose identity we were unable to ascertain — was hit by the bus, which continued onward. The victim, who was talking to police and appeared to be moving, was loaded onto a gurney and taken away in an ambulance.
Both the Chronicle and SFWeekly are reporting that the bus ran over the front wheel of the woman’s bike, and that there’s no indication that the bus made contact with the bicyclist. Judson True, spokesperson for SFMTA, told the SF Chronicle that the driver should have stopped:
The bicyclist was conscious and appeared to have a scrape on her head as she was loaded into an ambulance in a neck brace. Her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, True said.
We’ll keep you posted.
Muni Considers No More Transfers (Or It’ll Cost You) (w/update) 03.02.10
Photo by Flickr user cbcastro
Update (11:37 p.m.): SFGate reports that the MTA board today rejected the measure to charge for transfers or cease issuing them at all. Streetsblog SF also has the story. Good news for riders!
Original post: I wish I had a more cheery post to bring you, like, here’s a picture of a really cute kid/dog on the bus or something, but alas, that is not today.
At today’s budget meeting, the SFMTA considered either getting rid of Muni transfers or charging 50 cents for each transfer to close up the budget deficit for the next two years. The Chronicle reports that charging for transfers could generate $7.5 million; getting rid of the transfers altogether would get MTA $20 million. SFMTA has, by the way, $100 million in projected deficit for the next two fiscal years. A proposal to cut Muni service by 5 percent is also on the table, reports San Francisco Business Times.
Streetsblog’s Michael Rhodes wrote that many of MTA’s ideas would be “politically difficult” to execute, and that “eliminating free transfers is almost certain to be stopped in its tracks.”
The MTA board is set to vote on the budget next month, so these proposals are still just ideas right now.
Meanwhile, you might have heard about the alternative transit budget proposal from the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) [pdf], which a Chronicle editorial has called, a “spread-the-pain” approach. That’s certainly preferable to Muni service cuts that transit riders will be facing soon. Right?
Muni Operators Stage Their Own ‘March Against Muni’ 03.02.10
Photo by Jamison Wieser
In a dramatic turn of events, Muni operators were out in force at yesterday’s “March Against Muni” at the Powell cable car turn-around, letting the marching Muni riders know that the drivers are not to blame.
“For those keeping score at home, the marching Muni drivers out-marched March Against Muni. And this was no mass movement; perhaps 200 drivers showed up compared to 50 to 100 March Against Muni folks,” Joe Eskenazi reports in the SFWeekly.
More reports from our transit news sources:
- – Marching Muni Drivers Overwhelm ‘March Against Muni’ (SF Weekly)
- Transit operators barge into march (Examiner)
- Drivers, riders march to protest Muni cuts (ABC 7)
- March Against Muni: Anti-Muni Protest @ City Hall (a slideshow from SF Weekly)
It might have seemed like the operators were out protesting the protesters. But the operators claim that not to be the case at all. According to the Examiner, their spokesperson says the union’s intent yesterday was to mark “the beginning part of working together.”
In any case, @munialerts declares, “Rally over. Union won.”
More photos after the jump.
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‘Skull Fuck Muni’ 03.01.10
Reader Scott sends this compelling image.
And there’s this one, which I snapped quite a few months ago (can’t recall which bar’s bathroom I was in, to be honest).
I understand there’s a lot of public anger out there. But, “skull fuck”? Ouch.
A letter from the wife of a Muni operator 03.01.10
Photo by Flickr user kodama
We received this letter from Jenella, who wanted to tell a story from the perspective of a Muni driver’s spouse.
As a spouse of a Muni driver, I understand there is a lot of hate towards Muni drivers. So I thought I’d tell a story about the other side since we always hear about the passengers and their experiences. How about a story about a Muni driver’s experiences?
Every work day, my husband irons and presses his uniform. I shake my head in disbelief. He’s only a bus driver. Being a second generation born and raised in San Francisco transit operator, he takes pride in moving commuters through his great city.
He leaves the house 45 minutes before his relief point just to make sure he’s on time. The nerve! On time….Ha! What a joke. With the new cut backs on a few Muni lines, management also cut back on end of the line times. The only break a Muni driver gets is at the terminal when he heads back to do the run again. So if the driver gets caught up in traffic, or has unruly passengers or the bus breaks down, that can eat up a five minute break easily. This is a common occurrence.
Take for example last night, Sunday night, hubby went seven hours without a break. God forbid he stopped to pee! Besides with his “fat” checks he doesn’t deserve a break, right? Maybe if a driver was allowed a break between a nine-hour shift, there may be less accidents. (more…)
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