Photo by Christina B. Castro
Remember that one time when you ran for the bus and the driver stopped for you? Not everyone’s so lucky, says Alex.
Several of us on the bus tell the driver, who is making the turn but is only going about 5 mph and has the hopeful passenger in his sight.
Traffic on 7th Avenue is light and the driver could easily stop. I have waved down the 43, 44, and 36 at this spot before. But the driver just ignores us all and heads for Forest Hill Station. As I disembark, I ask why he didn’t stop for the guy. The driver says, “He should’ve been at my stop in time!” To which I retort: “After cutting service by 10%, increasing Fast Pass prices, and oh yeah the 6% raise you got last week, couldn’t you do better? He said a bad word. Several, but I had to walk away quickly lest a moment of poor impulse control arose.
What do you think: should the driver stop for people running after the bus, within reason? We also just learned that Muni was only 57.2 percent on time in August, so maybe one factor outweighs the other?
I get a little tired of this complaint. Everyone thinks they’re special, but in reality they’re just one of dozens of people who were late for the bus that day. If every driver stopped for every latecomer, we’d all be even later than Muni already makes us.
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I agree with GG. Get to your stop on time and quit making your tardiness everyone else’s problem.
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I’ve seen a woman running to catch the 26 Valencia (so this is a while back). She tripped and fell headlong and hard into the bus-shelter wall. So totally not worth it.
Drivers should not stop for riders who’ve plainly missed the bus, as it encourages dangerous behavior like running for the bus, heedless of all the surrounding hazards. Not to mention, it makes the bus later than it already is.
Drivers should also not be rude pricks to their passengers, and vice versa.
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Muni is not a taxi. Many times buses will miss lights when drivers who are too nice stop & wait for stragglers. Sorry, but delaying 30 people for an extra minute (or more if they then miss connections as a result) is worse than 1 person having to wait 10.
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Depends on the frequency of the service. For infrequent services, I think the bus driver should wait for a runner. He can make it up on the road.
For frequent and busy services, dont wait. They can catch the next one, and youre slowing down a lot of other people by waiting.
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Same goes for people holding the doors on BART or MUNI. Yeah, you or your friend may miss that train and have to wait 10 minutes. But you just delayed 50 people by 30 seconds and contribute to throwing the entire schedule off.
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Tough question. Personally, I don’t expect buses to stop for me when I am running late, but it is a nice surprise when they do. But it also drives me nuts when we idle at a corner 10 light cycles because the driver is picking up every single person who comes running from down the street.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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“You should have been to the stop on time” Oh you mean when I check NextBus and the next bus is in 15 minutes and then all the sudden it’s in 2 minutes… yeah good luck with that. But I can understand not stopping when you have already departed from the stop BUT when the bus is at a stop light NOT GOING ANYWHERE and someone runs up and knocks on the door to try to get on. Then I think it would be nice if the driver opened the door. It’s not delaying anyone at that point bc you are already at a stop! Some drivers just become total dicks and take their “power” too far. You are not god, you just drive a bus, calm down. The “real time” muni tracker will change accordingly — whats 30 seconds in the grand scheme of life?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I initially thought this was going to be a post about how there was someone already at the stop, clearly waiting to get on the bus, and then being skipped over while the driver looks directly in the potential passenger’s eye. I speak from experience on this one and I’m still pissed (22 owl driver, you’ll get yours someday *shakes fist*).
In this case, given that the bus not only left the stop but was making a turn, I’m leaning towards team driver. I was in that position yesterday and probably will be again – the reality is that it was my fault, and I need to time my walk to the stop accordingly. The driver could’ve been nicer to the author, but the author started it by blaming the driver for Muni woes that have nothing to do with him…
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Absolutely not. The buses are slow enough already.
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I drive for another Bay Area transit agency so know wherefore I speak. It is the driver’s call as to whether or not to pick up passengers away from the bus stop.
Imagine how delayed the bus will be if the driver stopped for every late passenger. Compound that over the entire route and you’d arrive way late, frustrating more passengers. Miss a few traffic signals and suddenly the bus is 5 maybe 10 minutes late. On-time arrivals will suffer.
If you’re real nice and decide to stop for one such tardy rider, then you’d have to stop for all, else be perceived as showing favoritism.
Driving ain’t easy work, and the short rest period at the end of the line will get shorter, or even non-existent, depriving the driver of a much needed respite.
Let’s not forget the liability factor. The driver will feel the heat if the rushed passenger trips and falls. This is a very common happening. Management will side against the drive for allowing boarding at an unsafe location. If the driver is new, still on their 6-month probation, no union protection will save the driver from termination.
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Some Muni drivers are cranky, entitled, overcompensated human beings who deserve absolutely no defense. To wit:
I’m behind a 14 Mission about 9 at night, stopped at a red light going south at 20th. The stop is across the street, yet the driver opens the doors and lets a few passengers off.
Then, when the light turns green, the driver closes the doors and completely blows through the bus stop on the other side of the street, much to the chagrin of waiting passengers.
Go ahead, try to blame that one on the passengers.
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“He should have been there ‘on time’”? What the heck does “on time” mean with Muni?
Someone pointed out how misleading NextBus can be. What about the freakin’ schedule. It’s a joke, too, and has been since before there was NextBus.
I can understand that there are lots of reasons why a driver wouldn’t stop, and some of them have been mentioned in earlier comments. But Muni needs to train their drivers to say “I understand how you feel, sir/ma’am, but I have to follow my supervisors instructions. I feel bad for that guy, too. But it’s not about how I or you feel. Sorry.” The cursing is actually worse than the not stopping.
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Again MUNI is not a taxi and you can not just wave one down and expect to be picked up, there are exceptions to this rule that you look at “Request Stop” on the SFMTA website.
During the commute hours I never wait for a lone passenger who is running late, if I waited, it would just make the other passengers who were on time late and they will be missing their connections and appointments. The only time I will wait is when it is late in the evening and the headway’s are long and traffic is lighter so I can make up the time on the road.
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I’m a Muni supervisor and a former operator. The Muni rulebook states that once the doors are closed, that’s it. This is so we can try to keep the coaches moving down the street, but also (and more importantly) for safety.
About eight or so years ago, I was driving the 5-Fulton, outbound during the evening rush hour. I was waiting for a green light at McAllister and Van Ness. A lady standing on the far left corner (by the Veteran’s Building) saw my coach and ran for me. If she had walked across McAllister, she would have beaten me to the stop (farside) by 90 seconds or so. But she ran _diagonally_ across the intersection, and made it across four lanes of Van Ness. There are six lanes on that street. She was hit by a car, and when she died, she was looking at me and waving for me to wait for her. It took about three weeks to get over the nightmares enough to sleep a whole night. She died because she was running for the bus. A bus that is scheduled every five minutes during rush hour.
I’ve seen people fall under my coach because they were running from behind me and slipped on the curb. Twice I didn’t pull away from a stop with someone under the bus because a bystander was paying attention and signaled to me. I hadn’t seen those two fall down because both times I was looking in the left side mirror at the traffic I was trying to merge with. I’ve also slammed on my brakes because someone ran in front of me from the left side trying to get to my front door.
I don’t care how much of a hurry you’re in. Don’t try to hold a bus. It’s not worth it! And if you don’t think your life is worth it, I know operators whose careers have ended because of tragedies like this – either because they were blamed for the incident, or because they quit.
Please! Wait for the next bus.
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Oh Lord have mercy, I’m sorry to hear about your experience(s). I,too, cringe when I see people running in front/side/behind a bus hoping that this two-ton beast will stop on a dime! I COMPLETELY understand the foolish desperation that comes over someone when they see a bus, but it is never worth the risk, ever, of possible injury.
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There’s always *another* bus but only *one* unique individual like you.
Don’t risk your life!!
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Its called a false start if he stops and by regulation is illegal.
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