Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
SFMTA will be holding its first public hearing on proposed route cuts and fare hikes (as well as other measures the agency has proposed to close a $130 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year) today at 2 p.m. in Room 400 at City Hall.
If you go, to observe, to air grievances, to offer solutions, whatever your motive, let us and our readers know how it turns out in the comments here or an original post.
What can drivers do to kick people off the bus? And why do Muni buses pass you by even when they are not full? These are just some of the questions you asked, and Judson True, SFMTA’s spokesperson, answers them in the second part of our first “Ask Muni” series. He tells us why buses bunch up (one of the most frequent complains we’ve seen here), why we have so many missed runs, and what Muni is trying to do to improve these issues. Check back tomorrow for Tara and Judson’s discussion of Muni’s communication issues. This and all posts in this series are cross-posted on SF Appeal.
Muni Diaries: At what point is a driver supposed to stop ignoring a trouble-maker and actually kick people off the bus? I think the quote from the reader was, “If I witness someone on the bus who should be put off and they’re not, can I report this? Anyone who rides the 22 or the 19 knows why this is important.”
Judson True: The simple answer is yes, you should report it. If one of our passengers believes that another passenger is engaging in any type of disruptive behavior, illegal behavior, they should report it to the operator, and the operator is required to ask that person to leave the bus. Operators are not supposed to allow any sort of disruptive behavior, illegal behavior on the buses.
We all know what happens. Different operators deal with it differently. One of the things we’re trying to do is make sure the training is there. Make sure the communication channels are there to get the operators the tools they need to call Central Control and say, “I’ve got this person on the bus who’s doing this, and they need to go.” They’re supposed to stop at a designated stop and ask that person to leave the bus.
This post is the first in a multi-part series of talks Tara had with SFMTA spokesperson Judson True. We thought it timely for today’s post to be the bits they spent talking about the agency’s astounding $130 million budget deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1. This post and the others in this series will be cross-posted at SF Appeal.
Muni Diaries: What’s the latest news on what the economic situation here means for Muni, and what, if anything, will any federal stimulus funds do to stave off any cutbacks or restore any funding you thought you lost?
Judson True: We presented to our board of directors a few weeks ago a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 with a deficit of about $130 million. That’s a big number.
For next year, we’re down about $55 million just from state and regional funding alone. And our money from the city’s general fund is expected to come in at about $25 million less than we expected.
Update: SFMTA’s Twitter alias informs us, via Via @SFMuniRy, it seems someone fell trying to alight from or get on a coach. No real ‘info’ though.
Original post: shannonk from Twitter alerted us, indirectly, to this incident at Fourth and Townsend today. Now SFMuniRy is on the case. According to them, the incident involves a Muni coach and a pedestrian. Ouch.
Here are @shannonk‘s tweets:
no idea if the bus hit the guy, or he just collapsed near or in the bus and was subsequently moved.
Muni bus stopped w/firetruck in front of it, guy under it, close to front wheels. Did not see the initial event, though.
Hmmm. Folks taking cell pics of Muni crash victim @ 4th and Townsen: citizen journalism or creepy exploitation?
If you’ve got details or saw the incident, let us (and the SFPD) know.
Let’s hope not. SFGate’s Rachel Gordon has the story of a new citywide program to encourage people to eat healthy and exercise by sponsoring an art contest for kids. The tikes’ posters will adorn 800 or so buses in upcoming months.
Cute.
Thx: SF City Insider
It sure was a busy weekend on the wires for transit news. While we would’ve loved to have been out in the cold, breezy sunshine, instead we were stuck indoors, with our eyes glued to the wires. Here’s what we found.
SF Appeal followed up with answers to their question, Have you ever seen SFPD on Muni? The article includes an interesting field report from Steve Rhodes. And San Francisco Citizen caught wind of a wicked photo of a Muni bus that had been co-opted by the police during Saturday’s war protests. Still trying to get to the bottom of the bizarre SFPD-SFMTA-City and County of San Francisco love triangle. We’ll let you know what we and others find.
Just before we left the office Friday, we noticed this article on Streetsblog, picking up on this report from The Examiner, which asks the pertinent question: Should Nat Ford stay or go? The original reporting in The Examiner’s post sounds like Ford’s departure is a done deal. It seems to us the rumors of his leaving serve as its justification at this point. Better to get someone new in who’s committed to not using the position of general manager as a stepping stone, we say.