Pulling out the flask on the 5 (and other bus boozing)

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jim-beam-hip-flaskI’ve noticed a lot more substance abuse on Muni lately. I’m not talking about the teenagers smoking pot or even drunk USF frat boys on a Friday night. I’m talking about morning and evening rush hour, regular-looking adults boozing it up on the bus. It started a few weeks ago on my evening commute home on the 5. This late-twenties-looking redheaded guy in hipster work attire busted out a flask. Now, since a flask is classier than a brown bag and it was the evening I guess he can be excused. I know I enjoy a glass of red wine with dinner. Maybe he was just getting a head start.

Then last week the morning substance abuse started to appear. I was on the 30 heading down to SoMa. Sitting across from me was a perfectly upstanding-looking, 50-something man who appeared to be on his way to work. Then what did he pull from his messenger bag, not an iPhone or a muffin, but a wine cooler. A fuzzy navel, bright orange, enjoyed by 18-year-old girls, wine cooler. At first I was unsure what it was, since I don’t think I’ve seen a wine cooler in 6 years, but it was Bartels and James in its full glory. He meticulously wrapped a paper towel around it and began sipping away. When I relayed the story to a co-worker, she responded quickly, “It’s the economy, he probably doesn’t have a job.” I can’t say I agreed at the time, if I didn’t have a job and I had a drinking problem I would be in bed on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., but I’ve never been a morning person.

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Category: WTF: Weirdness on Muni

Transit News Digest 2.12.09

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From The Atlantic‘s Politics blog, Marc Ambinder has a breakdown of stimulus spending numbers, including $8.4 billion for pubtran and $9.3 for rail. Nice work, senators and representatives.

TPM’s Elana Schor has some blind love for Joe Biden, whom she credits for re-jacking up the final pubtran amount in the stimulus bill that’s inching its way toward the desk of President Obama (that still sounds sweet on the ears).

Closer to home, Streetsblog sums up Wednesday’s MTC meeting, during which a preliminary allocation of stimulus transportation funds was sketched out. SFMTA’s portion of the pie looks pretty darn good to us.

Greg Dewar offers a quick hit on a story about the makers of those spiffy Muni Metro cars.

And the crack team at ABC7 has a report, from today, of a group of protesters who’ve taken over a BART board meeting. Things is ugly over there.

Please let us know what we missed …

Category: BART, News

Hayes considered for two-way, eh?

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A wee little portion of Hayes Street (home to the 21 line) east of Gough is proposed to become two-way, according to a recent SFGate article. It may not turn into a big deal (and didn’t seem like one for most of the time I was reading this story), but a few little bits are worth mentioning.

From a Muni planner, regarding the potential loss of a transit-only lane opened during the evening commute:

But without that transit lane, the buses would be slowed, and that would run counter to San Francisco’s transit-first policy, said Muni planner Julie Kirschbaum.

1. What San Francisco transit-first policy? Oh, that one. If this is a real policy, then great. If it’s one of those feel-good, not-really-enforced-but-is-a-good-idea policies, then not so great. A continued wealth of good ideas with bad execution (i.e., no way to enforce them or fund them) seems to be a chronic problem in the Muniverse, something that continues to disappoint many of us riders. We hope it’s taken into consideration as more than lip service over this issue. The bottom line, though, is that you don’t make roads less hospitable to cars while also making it tougher to drive buses down them.

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That Now Infamous 33 Driver-Rider Fight

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ABC 7’s Dan Noyes sought and got this story and its accompanying video, which shows a Muni bus operator out on the sidewalk holding down a passenger who had allegedly verbally given him a hard time about moving back on a crowded bus.

It’s a crazy story, and it’s been reported very diligently by SFist as well as ABC, so I’ll point you there for the details. Muni’s released statement on the incident was fairly boilerplate, along the lines of:

The SFMTA does not tolerate inappropriate behavior from any of its employees and will
continue to work with all employees to ensure that they maintain their professionalism at all
times.

Well, what did you expect them to say?

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Category: diaries, News, reflection

Transit News Digest 2.11.09

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Rescue Muni discusses an SFMTA proposal to change the way things are done on Hayes Street. Seems like a “too little, too late” solution to this one-way street lover. Our own Tara will be back tomorrow with a Muni Diaries take on the proposal.

ABC 7 has more on one of the peds struck by Muni on Sunday. Turns out the victim was a former Oakland Tribune reporter.

Apparently some aren’t happy that only Johannes Mehserle is being charged in the death of Oscar Grant, and they’re calling for a wider prosecution net to be cast.

BeyondChron looks at how federal stimulus dollars may (or may not) reach Muni. Now is a good time to be in the know, you guys. And in other at least semi-economic news, The Examiner‘s Brent Begin has a story about how Muni is getting the shaft on the vehicles it uses to get to its own emergencies (and these days, there’s plenty of those to go around).

On the lighter side of things (something Muni Diaries believes we can’t get enough of these troubling days), N-Judah Chronicle’s Greg relays a pretty funny story on the N of yesteryear.

Happy riding. Talk to us!

Category: BART, News
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