Category: News

Newsworthy Muni-Accident Streak Stands at 2 Days (updates)

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F Market Bus
Photo by Whole Wheat Toast

Update (4:12 p.m. Wednesday): SF Appeal reports that the pedestrian in this incident is expected to recover.

Update (5:55 p.m.): SF Gate quotes Judson True as saying that early indications have the incident being caused by the pedestrian.

Original post: In what is becoming too routine, SF Appeal reports that the F-Market/Wharves line has been disrupted due to an accident involving a pedestrian. Early reports indicate that the pedestrian’s injuries are not life-threatening. Shuttle buses are running between the Embarcadero and Van Ness. Stay tuned for updates …

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Where the #$%! is Muni’s photography policy?

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The 311 On Muni's Elusive Photography Policy
Image by Plug1. Click here for a larger view.

Muni Diaries would have withered and perhaps disappeared if it weren’t for some of the amazing photographs we’ve published of life on Muni. We have a category here on the site for what we call “Photo Diaries,” little slices-of-life that take place on Muni. We like running our Weekend Photo Diaries over the weekend, when traffic on the site slows down and we give readers a chance to get away from their computers. Muni photos, in a word, are vital to the continued existence of this site.

That said, we’ve witnessed some particularly troubling events in the past concerning our (and by “our,” we mean you, us, the riding, internet-ing public) capturing and posting of photographs on-board Muni vehicles.

Well, veteran San Francisco photoblogger Plug1 has taken it upon himself to get to the bottom of Muni’s vague policy regarding this subject. Below is a chat he had on Twitter with 311, and after the jump is his take on what’s going on. It also appears on his blog, WHAT IM SEEING.com. Perhaps the vagueness won’t surprise you. But there is some hope yet …

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Muni’s new insurance policy — too late to cover this weekend’s West Portal crash? (update)

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Trainwreck4 copy
Photo by 2girls1queen

Update (August 6, 2:17 p.m.): SF Appeal helps answer the question this post asked 18 days ago. Thanks, guys!

Original post: Regular service has resumed after yesterday’s West Portal accident, but the fallout is far from over. The SFAppeal reports that 48 people were injured, four of them critical. Ahem, anybody smell a lawsuit coming? This brings us to a KCBS story that a reader sent to us about how the MTA board approved the purchase of something known as catastrophe insurance, which pays for lawsuits. Pretty sad that such a policy is warranted.

But lo and behold, a mere three days following the board’s vote, an accident more or less validates that decision.

Since the MTA board just voted to purchse the “catastrophe insurance” last Wednesday, we’re not sure if a further vote is necessary to enact the insurance policy. Or does the Board of Supervisors need to approve this?

And does the policy cover Saturday’s crash? We doubt it, unless this is a magic policy that’s magically already in place. It would be nice, if only to cover Muni’s already-broke ass. If the policy isn’t in effect, we foresee the potential for multiple lawsuits. If that happens, does Muni fall into an even deeper hole? Ugh.

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F Line Muni Streetcars, Vehicle Crash on Market — Updates with SFMTA statement

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F-car-crash-2
Photo: @hankish

Update (1:21 p.m. Tuesday):

MTA Chief Operating Officer Ken McDonald resigns. Streetsblog SF has more.

Update (7:59 a.m. Tuesday):

SF Appeal has more details, including quotes from Nat Ford and Bevan Dufty, the area’s rep at City Hall. Here’s what Dufty had to say:

“This accident was avoidable, Muni procedures require a minimum of one block spacing between street cars. I can’t imagine any excuse.”

Update (midnight-ish):

MTA chief Nat Ford issued a statement and MTA’s press release identifies the drivers of the F cars, StreetsBlog reports:

The two Muni Operators were identified as Lonny Butler, who was operating the moving streetcar (Car No. 1893), and Leonard Peralta, who was operating the stationary streetcar (Car No. 1007). Butler began as a Muni Operator in 2002 (he joined the rail division in 2007) and Peralta was hired in 1995 (he joined the rail division in 1999). Per normal procedure, both Operators will be tested for drugs and alcohol and have been placed on non-driving status pending the results of the investigation.

(See more about the statements and photos – there’s a couple of pics with Supervisor Dufty and the clean up after the crash.)

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Category: News

WTF happened on this M, Muni?

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M Ocean View - Outbound
Photo by Flickr user balebengong

Muni rider Anna Rozhko retells a seemingly lame occurrence on the M-Balboa Park today:

So here’s the story, I was on the M line on my way back to downtown SF a little after 4 p.m. today (August 2, 2009) and I’m just minding my own business when I can feel the driver braking really hard and the next thing I know I hear us crash into whatever is in front of us. Mind you I was facing towards the back of the bus so I didn’t see who was at fault and how it happened. So, after we stop, almost everyone gets off the bus and I go over to the van full of people to make sure everyone was ok, and one of the women who was in the van asked me to call 911 because her phone wasn’t working, so I phoned them and they said they were sending police to our location. After I made sure everyone was ok, I got back on Muni and got home safely (Thank Buddha) …

There were no injuries, and [911] dispatch asked me so as well, which brings me to believe that they didn’t send any ambulance. I hopped on the next M line behind the one I was initially on until it was cleared, but I never saw any cops come to the scene. I know that the supervisor of the Muni driver did show up and take pictures and make chalk lines of where the accident occurred …

This happened at 19th and Junipero Serra.

If you know more about what happened Sunday on this M, let us know in comments.

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Tragic Death of Muni Driver

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Golden Gate Bridge

This very sad news just came into our inbox via Andy at SFWeekly: a Muni driver jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge and died last Thursday. The coroner told SFWeekly that he was wearing his full Muni uniform. Rene Lee Ing, 56, was a veteran Muni driver with 20 years of experience.

From SFWeekly’s Joe Eskenazi:

At least a dozen calls to the Transportation Workers Union have not been returned, and our queries to Muni’s management haven’t been answered yet either. But several Muni drivers — speaking on background as Muni has supposedly “really been coming down on” drivers who talk to the media following this month’s train collision — paint a hazy portrait of a desperate man in an unenviable work situation.

Read the rest of the SFWeekly post.

Details about Ing’s employment situation are still fuzzy, but we will keep you posted.

Category: News
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