“Vigilante” Muni Rider Speaks


Image by @rotron

Ed. note: Sorry for all the confusion with this story. There were confusing things happening. Read on.

Remember vigilante Muni justice from a couple days ago? @rotron described how a Muni rider took matters into his own hands, telling a Facebook shuttle to back up off our Muni stop. Turns out that @larrybobsf was that Muni rider, and he explained himself his confrontation last August in a comment on Muni Diaries:

…I’m the guy who yelled at the driver. This happened at the stop at the corner of Market and 8th. NextMuni was reporting both an 83x and a 19 within two minutes. Right next to the Muni stop are two parking meters which are covered over in the mornings with signs designating the space as a shuttle stop. But the shuttle drivers apparently prefer to pull up at the Muni stop instead. I did not move to block the shuttle entrance, but was standing at the Muni stop and the shuttle driver pulled up right in front of me.

I often wait at this stop, and just a couple days before this incident, a shuttle was at the Muni stop and I had to walk out into traffic to catch the 83x. I asked the driver to notify SFMTA, but he said it would work better if I called. I called 311 and reported. It would be easy pickings for a ticket if they’d just post a staff member.

Because of this other recent incident, that contributed to me speaking up in the moment. I told the driver to pull forward into the available designated space ahead, but he would not. Eventually I moved, people got on, and he did move before the Muni buses arrived. However, I have a feeling he might not have stayed as long as usual due to my confronting him. This morning I waited for the 83x on 9th Street instead to have a more mellow morning.

Corporate shuttles, you srsly shouldn’t be dropping off and picking up in our stops, anyway. There, I said it.

Here is to more mellow Muni mornings, always. (Sometimes? Not never?)

8 comments

  • Kip Macy

    I think the private shuttles pay a fee to the city for the ability to stop at the city bus stops? I think? I might be totally wrong. please correct me.

  • D

    Nope, they don’t pay anything to pull into those MUNI stops…and they’re *NOT* supposed to either.

  • fermata

    I’m totally on this guy’s side. As a pedestrian, I can say that the shuttle buses also make it challenging — and possibly life-threatening — to cross 8th. It’s impossible to see around the stacked-up vehicles to determine whether a car is coming, and you end up missing the light.

  • Several different kinds of shuttles sit at the bus stop at Fredrick and Stanyan every morning. The sense of entitlement is shocking to me. I’ve called 311 several times. Nada. It’s obvious that the city has decided to let this slide and it makes me sick.

  • Shawn

    I guess these are the things you’re left to complain about when you live in a perfectly awesome city.

  • Crista Sadler

    Ya bunch of whiny transplants. These techies have SAVED San Francisco. Without them this city would be nothing but homeless, mental defects, druggies etc. There’d be WAY less tourists and SF would be like Baghdad or Fallujah Iraq. Every time you see one of the tech busses you oughts be all smiles and thank them for CHOOSING the city. So quit complaining and let the buses park where they want and need to park at.
    #Countyourblessings

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