Category: News

Weekend Photos: Get Comfortable

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Nxtmuni
Photo by KayVee.INC

It’s been quite a week. I’m freakin’ exhausted, how about you? I’m thinking a quiet night with my new wife, some delicious Vietnamese food, maybe a Netflix movie. Now that it’s fully S.F. summer again (thanks a lot, two-day tease), this all sounds about right. Whatever you end up doing (no shortage of goings-on in this fine burg), enjoy it.

The week in Muni news:


Photo by davitydave


Photo by Brian_Brooks

Category: News

How to Fix Muni? More Answers From Supervisor Candidates

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Muni’s problems go beyond late buses and smelly passengers — recent crimes on Muni are just another example of the issues that face our public transit system. So, how do we fix it?

Yesterday we gave you a peek of what some of the candidates for District 10 supervisor say about fixing Muni’s ails. Today we bring you more video interviews from Chris Rogers at the San Francisco Young Democrats Supervisor candidates forum last week, where he asked the candidates: What’s wrong with Muni and how would you fix it?

Before fixing the problem, supervisors need more control over the MTA board and a “real transit-first agenda,” candidate Eric Smith says. Smith questions the budget for the Central Subway: “When I think about the hundreds and millions being spent on that, couldn’t we use that to improve Muni?” Smith says he wants to meet with the stakeholders, riders, transit activists to come up with ideas.

Candidate Chris Jackson thinks Muni needs more senior shuttles, and he also wants Muni to explore water transit options (an idea that candidate Kristin Enea also mentioned). Jackson also says that the conversation about Muni should not be about making a profit. (See Chris Jackson’s video response)

One of Muni’s major problems is that “we cannot get a balanced Muni budget,” candidate Dewitt Lacy says. The solution? “Cut out the fat” and examine middle management in the city’s transit agency. (see Dewitt Lacy’s video response)

The supervisor candidates are far from the first to jump into the fray on improving Muni’s various shortcomings –Dave Snyder’s SF Transit Riders Union, Rescue Muni, Fix Muni Now, are just a few of the advocacy groups that come to mind.

Want to know more about what your district supervisor candidates think about public transit? Greg Dewar at the N-Judah Chronicles has launched a resource called the Muni Rider Voter Guide where he has sent all candidates questions about our transit systems.

What do you think of the solutions we heard from District 10?

Video reporting from Chris Rogers. Chris has just started a website called M Ocean View Journal. These videos are in collaboration of the YouTube/ABC7 uReport project, with which Muni Diaries is also a partner. You can read more about the YouTube project in this story by Matt Baume for Poynter.org.

Category: News

How to Fix Muni? District 10 Supe Candidates Have Some Answers

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Think you know how to fix Muni’s problems? The candidates running for the District 10 supervisor seat seem to think they do. We can probably spend all day talking about Muni’s problems, so Muni Diaries reporter Christopher Rogers went to the District 10 Forum last week and gave the candidates just a couple of minutes to answer the question: What’s wrong with Muni and how would you fix it?

Candidate Steve Moss wants to see if we can “network together the Bauer buses that take people to Google and the vans that take people to UCSF Mission Bay campus and all the other kinds of the vehicles that are on our streets” to create a “more diverse transportation system.” (see his video response). For background, Streetsblog SF had an excellent story about employee shuttle buses in the city.

And why limit buses to just the streets? “I would like to see Muni explore water transit,” candidate Kristine Enea said.

Then there is candidate Malia Cohen, who wants a “multilingual approach” to running Muni and told us that from the riders’ experience, “poles need to be lowered, we also need to have more accommodations for mothers coming on with strollers.” (see Cohen’s video response)

As you know, District 10 covers the Bayview, Dog Patch, central waterfront, and parts of Potrero. If you live in District 10, what do you think of the candidates’ answers so far?

Check back tomorrow for complete video responses from the District 10 candidates and the story from Chris.

These videos are in collaboration of the YouTube/ABC7 uReport project, with which Muni Diaries is also a partner. You can read more about the YouTube project in this story by Matt Baume for Poynter.org.

Category: News

Passenger Stabbed on 29-Sunset (update)

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Buses Bunching Up
Photo by skew-t

Update (12:12 p.m.): KRON reports that the SFPD have surveillance video of the incident, and are reviewing it in their search for a suspect.

Original post: Rough times on the 29-Sunset yesterday evening. KGO reports:

A man stabbed a passenger three times in the shoulder and abdomen, while they were riding the 29-Sunset bus. It happened around 7:40 Monday night. The victim got off the bus near Sunset Boulevard and Yorba Street, and asked to borrow someone’s cell phone to call for help. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening stab wounds.


Read the rest of the story here.

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Clipper Card Woes: Overcharges and Cable Car Fail?

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I had planned on getting my August fastpass on a Clipper card
Photo by Steve Rhodes

We’ve got more reports of Clipper card issues. Rider Denise said she was overcharged on the 6 “Sassy Parnassy.” Her transaction history showed the wrong time:

August 7th, Saturday afternoon. At about 3:45 p.m. my friend and I are at 15th and Castro. We’re waiting for the 24 Divisadero to take us on one of two buses to the Upper Haight, with punch bowls from Hobson’s on our minds. We both tag our respective Clipper/Translink cards on the 24 at about 3:50. We get off at Haight and Divisadero and catch a 6 (Sassy Parnassy, as we like to call it) five minutes later towards our final destination. Once we tag our cards on the 6, the machine takes another two dollars off our accounts in addition to the initial tagging on the 24, making our two-buses-within-20-minutes trip a total of $4 dollars.

I’m broke, on summer break from school and unemployed so I had the time and energy to look into this. My transaction history shows my first tag on the 24 at 6:20 a.m. instead of something closer to 4 p.m.. My thought was obviously that the time on the 24’s Clipper machine was off (I was definitely NOT up at 6:20 a.m. on a Saturday). After spending a good hour on the phone with a personable woman from Clipper, I have the possibility of a refund after an “investigation” given my “report.” So until I hear back from Clipper, I’m stocking up on quarters and giving my card a rest.

I’m curious if this has happened to anyone else? Maybe if your accounts seem lower than it should, you should keep an eye on your balances after tagging your card.

Rider Mary reports another Clipper card reader malfunction on the cable car:

This morning I was on the cable car on my regular commute coming down Powell St. to Market turnaround. The conductor asked for my card, apparently scanned it, and incorrectly told me that my Clipper (Translink) card, which has the August Muni Fast Pass loaded on it, was invalid. I told the conductor that the card did indeed have a valid Fast Pass loaded on it and that so far this month it has worked on Muni cable cars, buses, etc. He said that he would let me ride this time but not again.

Clipper had gotten off to a rocky star this month with Wageworks issues, and we know Muni has had clock error issues (reported by KGO about the cameras on the bus). Have you been overcharged when you use your Clipper card? Let us know.

Category: News

Vigilante operator’s assistant on the 8X

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8x
Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch

Frequent Muni Diaries contributor and wunderkind Whole Wheat Toast shares this diary:

I was at 6th and Harrison waiting for the 8X to take me into Visitacion Valley for some photowalking. The bus comes.

But instead of the usual “show the driver the pass and go in,” I was greeted by a male, probably the same age as me, maybe older, that said very loudly, “PLEASE MOVE TO THE REAR OF THE BUS!” I thought he could be somebody hired by Muni, but then again, I couldn’t find a Muni badge on him.

As the bus pulled away from the bus stop, he kept yelling repeatedly for people to move behind the yellow line. People kept telling him that there was no room to move.

The bus enters the highway. Shortly after the bus merges onto the freeway, the person catches another guy, telling him, “CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE BACK BECAUSE THE DRIVER NEEDS TO SEE THE MIRROR!” That’s when I noticed he was in front of the yellow line.

But, that’s not all he does. As the bus neared the exit to Silver Avenue, he startled me as he called out the stop. “SILVER! SAN BRUNO AND FELTON!”

Alas, it gets more interesting. As the bus approaches Felton, he heads to the front door. As soon as the driver opened the door, he jumped down the stairs, and stopped everyone who wanted to get on from getting on. “STOP! LET THE PEOPLE OFF!” Everyone that was getting off at the stop got off at the back, and because he blocked off the entrance of the bus, the people that wanted to get on got on through the back.

He eventually got off the next stop, at Bacon. After he got off, a sigh of relief by the passengers on the front of the bus.

Then again, I’m glad this guy was dedicated to doing something the driver was unwilling to do; we need more Muni drivers like him. But then again, I kinda feel sorry for the driver for having to deal with this guy.

Category: News
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