Unintended Consequences on the 49

munilift1

Submitted by Muni rider Erich

The 49. Inbound at 8:45. The bus makes its stop and this guy in wheelchair asks to get off. The driver is kind enough to push him toward the lift but the guy starts bitching him out. He lets the guy go on his own and the guy makes it to the lift. He then proceeds to fuck around in the lift and flip his chair, wedging it in the railing. The bus driver had to stop the bus and call an inspector so they wouldn’t get sued. We walked from there. The guy was still bitching.

If you’ve been stuck, had to walk, or have any other tales from Muni or BART, send it to us.

Your Muni Meltdown™, Brought to You by Twitter

Something nasty happening in the western half of town, as reported on Twitter. Some choice Tweets:

njudah YIKES! Folks, if you’re downtown and need to get home, just plan on MUNI being a big hassle…get a coffee or a cocktail and wait it out.

munidiaries looks pretty ugly out west: http://is.gd/n5QA

AgentNano Looks like there are also delays on MUNI with the N-Judah. Bus Bridge in place between Ocean Beach and at least Sunset, maybe 19th.

rowenoftc Sad N-Judah fail in progress. http://twitpic.com/21fh3

AgentNano MUNI underground 15-30 minute delays on the outbound K, L, M, and T lines, due to equipment problems.

jonsnyder Been stuck underground on the N for like 30 min now. What’s up?

If you know more, or have stories of getting stuck in the fracas, let us know in comments.

Your Turn: Ask Muni’s Judson True

Is there a passenger quota on buses? What is Muni doing to improve its on-time performance? How can we get cleaner buses? Why does the back door never open when I want to get off but always opens when people are cheating the fare? And what was that red puddle on the 14?

These are just some of the questions percolating in our comments section, in our Twitter feed, and on our minds as we ride the bus every day. We know there are a ton more questions out there, so we asked Judson True, SFMTA’s media relations manager, for a little one-on-one. He will be answering some of your most pressing questions in his first Muni Diaries interview. So, what do you want to know?

We will be taking your questions and some of our own, so tell us what you want to know in the comments section by next Friday, March 20, or email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Stay tuned!

Transit News Digest 3.11.09

In our last Transit News Digest, we failed to note that former Muni chief Emilio Cruz is back at it, leading a joint-venture of that drastically underfunded Central Subway Project thingy, as reported by SF Appeal yesterday. Thanks for noticing, Rescue Muni.

SF Appeal has another great piece of original reporting out today uncovering the SFMTA’s difficulties in having enough drivers on-board (ha!) to drive the allotted number of buses each day. Nice work on the article, Matt. Stay tuned, Muni Diaries readers, for your chance to ask Muni anything that’s on your mind (well, almost anything).

SF Streets Blog has an excellent piece up today asking the non-rhetorical question: What can the city do make the MTA more accountable? A great read, and be sure to share your ideas with them.

The Examiner digs deeper into just how much of a waste the ill-fated Culture Bus was, and SF Citizen isn’t far behind, comparing the yellow buses to NASA’s space shuttle program. Ouch!

And in happier news (at least for transit nerds like us), KPIX reports that about 8 percent of California’s expected $50 billion in stimulus money will go toward transportation projects. No clear word on how much of that will be for public transit, and how much we can expect here in the Bay Area. And the percentage could always be higher. But we’re happy to see the green river flowing again …

As always, if you’ve got tips, suggestions, or diaries of your own, send them our way.

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