Dearly departed: A call for Muni Obituaries 07.27.09
Photo by Flickr user smadden
Some of your favorite lines are going the way of the dinosaur come October, folks. But since the SF Municipal Transit Agency is banking on the fact that you don’t even know they exist, it perhaps ain’t no thang to you.
When in October? Mid-October. We can’t get more specific than that. Neither can SFMTA, apparently.
Anyhoo, we’re putting out a call for obituaries* for these dearly departed lines. Though I’ve personally stopped in my tracks and pointed at such oddities as the 53-Southern Heights (southern who?), some of you rode these lines regularly. And, undoubtedly, some of you will rightly miss their presence. Whenever they decided to grace you with their presence, that is.
You people and your newspapers and your sense of entitlement… 07.23.09
Photo by Flickr user messtiza
I’m going to get a lot of hate mail for this one, especially since I’m also the person who hates disabled people with casts, as well as small, innocent children on field trips.
It’s really kind of funny. Twenty-somethin’ gal with her BlackBerry and her text messaging and her internets. Older gentleman with his morning newspaper. Odd-couple comedy in the making!
So this man gets on the bus and grabs a seat next to me in a disabled section crowded with fellow commuters. I check to make sure there aren’t other older or pregnant folks trying to nab a seat, then get back to my internets. The gent opens his newspaper (the San Francisco Examiner, which I used to write for) and extends one side of it and his arm far into my seat/space. I politely say, “Excuse me,” and, thinking the issue is over, am actually surprised when he, clearly affronted, wants to know what I was excusing-me for.
Hmm, OK. I note as politely and even-voicedly (though also kind of flustered and surprised) as I can that his newspaper is in my space, and that if he could just fold up a bit more, that would be great. As easy as it could be to tell him he needed to back the F up, I first incorrectly said (who knew I’d actually have to explain it) his paper was touching me. OK (calm vibes), I guess it’s not exactly touching me, but it’s hovering over my lap, and I’m personally folded up as much as I can be, you know? I happen to agree with the fine etiquette ladies at Muni Manners, who noted in a post about this very phenomenon that folding your newspaper to lessen your impact, but still get your news, is the safe and courteous thing to do for all. (more…)
WTF Is This? Mini-Fridge? 07.01.09
Heh. Maybe this can become a regular Muni Diaries feature. Tara sent us this photo from the 10 stop at Stockton and North Point … along with this penetrating question:
Is it wrong to kind of wish the mini fridge was still in this box? It’s AC/DC powerd AND can do hot, also.
Are your editors simply out of the consumerist loop? WTF is a mini-fridge, any-freakin’-way?
Send your WTFs and other poignant observations of life on Muni to us!
Public-Service Reminder: Always Practice Safe Sex 06.25.09
Unused (?) condom on the 47
That’s right, folks. Mere inches from my brand-new haircut.
The 47 and 49 (both Van Ness lines, for those of you following along at home) really need to fight it out for the “And I thought I had seen it all…” crown. I personally go back and forth on the question of which I’d rather be on, though yesterday, I would have gladly eaten my lunch off a 49 (ok, ew, not really) considering what I was faced with on this 47.
First, a harmless man singing/yelling to the songs in his head and smelling 10 times worse than a portable toilet got on and sat in the back. Fine. It’s a freakin’ 47, after all. But that resulted in at least 10 people getting up and cramming themselves around the middle of the bus, since no one wanted to be back there with him. This results in a briefcase in my ass, an iPhone in my side, and a front-row seat to the freakishly large condom hanging by the back door.
Condom-leaver: next time, maybe don’t go with the magnums unless you’re absolutely sure you can fit in them, all right?
Brownie-town on the 49 06.08.09
I ride the 49 every day to get home, and so do a lot of terrible teenagers (redundant?) who attend Balboa Galileo High School on Van Ness and Bay. At best, they’re usually just screaming about this, that and the other, possibly hoping their volume will increase their level of importance on the bus. There’s often a non-teenage screamer on the bus and a vivid assortment of rude, pleasant, happy, friendly and too-friendly people also, just to add some color to my little cross-town line.
Because the 49 does cross town, I try to understand when it’s mildly gross. A bag of smashed chips at your feet here, a little pile of sunflower seeds there. But I draw the line at what looks like real effort to get moist foodstuffs caked on the bus. For example, someone had to TRY to get this brownie on the window. Someone had to take it out of their bag, out of its wrapper, then purposefully smear it on the window in such a way that it sticks.
I take it personally also because this happened to be next to my favorite seat on the bus (along that single-seat row, on the left, in the back). Maybe tomorrow I’ll find a plate of eggs or something.
Sure that’s a brownie? Send us your tales of suspicious items found on the bus, or any other worthy tales.
Photo by Flickr user Mitsooko
The photo above was taken by the author and pertains to the incident mentioned in this post. It arrived at MDHQ a tad late. Apologies.
Creative punishment for fare-jumping? 04.30.09
I don’t know about you, but I can appreciate a certain level of honesty with some things, including breaking the law. Especially if you get caught. (“Ah. Yes, officer, I know how fast I was going. Very fast, indeed”.) By the same token, I also appreciate subtle, off-script ways of punishing people for doing so.
Fare jumpers often seem more nonchalant than anything else. They keep their heads down as they wrench those back doors open by their fingernails, and generally don’t say much or cause a ruckus while they’re trying not to get squished in the doorway.
This gal on a 10-Townsend one afternoon put them all to shame.
Casual Complaint on F Ridership Protocol, If There Is Any 04.16.09
Another installment in the continuing saga of WT(F)
An enormous field trip gets on the F at Market and Main, like they often do.
A kid observes that the driver is annoyed because, “We took up the whole bus.”
Well, sort of. More like the whole bus is annoyed that you all packed on during rush hour.
In my perfect Muniverse, field trips, like bikes on BART, would not be allowed on the buses, especially the tiny little streetcars, during rush hour. I think they can do something awesomely educational while they wait for go time.
Thoughts? I swear its not just the cranky post-vacationer speaking here.
Our Chat With Muni, Part 5: Muni’s Image Problem, Accountability, and Muni Hipsterism 04.10.09
In our last installment of Tara’s interview with SFMTA spokesperson Judson True, we get the skinny on Muni’s image issues, how to keep the agency accountable when riders file complaints, and what the agency is doing to prepare for Bay to Breakers this year.
Muni Diaries: Would you say Muni has an image problem?
JT: You saved the best for last.
It’s an interesting question. The answer I’m trying to take a step back from, in my job and my role now, in the time I’ve worked at the MTA, to think about how I perceived Muni before I worked for the city. I took the 21, I liked it. I’d write down the books people were reading. I’d keep little lists like that. It’s interesting, and I liked Muni, I liked riding it. I was frustrated if the bus passed me at Grove and Gough, which it did sometimes. I’d walk down and take Muni Metro or BART or I’d just walk. Occasionally, I rode my bike to work.
I think the feeling I had about Muni then is fairly similar to how most users in the system feel. That it’s great when it works, and it’s very frustrating when it doesn’t.
A lot of people choose to live here because it’s a city you can live in without a car. I didn’t have a car for five years. In that sense, Muni is successful. BART and the whole system of transportation, even in the Bay Area. Like Caltrain. When my brother was at Stanford, I took Caltrain down to visit him. You can move without a car here.
But Muni has challenges, and I think those are reflected in the negative publicity we occasionally get and the frustration people feel about the system. The people who work here are very sensitive, and they’re working hard to try to improve the system to prevent that perception. Perception is a reflection of reality. I’m not a person who works in media relations because I want to say, “This thing over here is really good,” even if it looks like it isn’t good. Nat Ford is the kind of person who calls it like he sees it, too. That impetus goes throughout the organization.
There’s so much more I can say about that question. My final answer would be, “Yes, but …”
Our Chat With Muni, Part 4: All About TransLink and Bus Rapid Transit 04.09.09
You asked, and we brought your questions to Muni: in today’s installment, Tara asks SFMTA spokesperson Judson True all about the TransLink payment system and bus rapid transit, two of the major improvements under way for Muni. Come back tomorrow for Tara’s last installment of her interview and find out how Muni is gearing up to prepare for Bay to Breakers this year.
Muni Diaries: When will Muni conduct the full rollout of TransLink?
Judson True: We’re in the early trial phase now. We’re happy with how it’s going so far. We’ve got more than 3,500 folks signed up and using it every day. I use mine to ride the system. When I see a reader that’s not working on a bus, I email it in to customer service to be addressed.
Our Chat With Muni, Part 3: ‘We need to do a better job of communicating’ 04.08.09
Ever feel stuck in the dark with Muni? Like, somehow the problem your bus or LRV has encountered pales in comparison to a lack of knowledge of what’s wrong, when it will be fixed, and what your alternatives are? For the third part of our conversation with SFMTA spokesperson Judson True, he and Tara talk about the system’s communication shortcomings, and the frustrations facing the agency, its personnel, and we, the riding public. (This and all posts in this weeklong series are cross-posted at SF Appeal.)
Muni Diaries: There was another reader who had some suggestions to improve the rider experience: In the tunnel, if a train is stuck. One of his main wish-list items was that the operator provide information clearly and quickly as to when there’s a delay and when it’s expected to be resolved. I think part of the problem is that a lot of us feel left in the dark, like, “Oh, we’re going to be here X amount of time. I’m not sure why or when. Hold tight.” What are drivers supposed to do in that case? How do we get that information, and are drivers already told to be giving us this information?
Judson True: Yes. Whenever one of our light-rail vehicles is stopped under Market Street, our operators should be asking people to remain patient, and they’ll update them with information as soon as they have it. Our Central Control staff can make announcements directly. I’ve made them myself. That should happen once there’s about a 3-minute wait. And then every two to three minutes thereafter.
