Transit News: Muni on-time rate, BART contract, F-Market buses, Sunday meters
Photo by eviloars
- In S.F., Muni slows, crime grows (SFGate)
- 87 Percent of BART’s Biggest Union OKs New Contract (SF Appeal)
- Smart cards [including Clipper] harder to hack and harder to get in U.S. (KTVU)
- F-Market Buses All This Weekend (Market Street Railway)
- Mayor Lee panders to motorists and undermines SFMTA with Sunday metering repeal (SF Bay Guardian)
- Millbrae City Council takes first step to two major projects near BART, Caltrain stations (The Daily Journal)
Video: Muni Takes a Bath
Who knew Muni takes baths? Christina (@tweetsweet) captured this cool video of a Muni bus at the car wash, I mean, bus wash, at the Muni Potrero division yard. The video makes it look like the bus is leaving in a hurry, kind of like a dog running away from a bath, which is probably about right.
“The Bus” comic written with Muni in mind?
I often am pegged/accused of being obsessed with public transit. I always try to dismiss such silliness. I tell people, “Running Muni Diaries, I meet people who really are obsessed. Like, you have no idea.”
I’m gonna go ahead and say that Paul Kirschner is one of those people. He writes and draws the comic strip The Bus, and it’s pretty nifty. We can all relate to most of the oddities in the strips.
Does Public Shaming of Fare Evaders Work?
Photo by spongemonkey
Well, this is new. If the fare cops won’t catch you, maybe public shaming will. One Muni station agent thought she’d try to appeal to a fare evader’s pride. From Muni rider Ramona S:
I’m at Powell station and hear this from the PA system: “Officer Jones, we have a fare evader on the platform, west side, a black male in black jeans and black t-shirt with white writing, carrying a red sweatshirt, approximately 6’1″…” On and on. The station agent kept announcing the alleged fare evader’s movement throughout the station and kept repeating descriptions of him and his location. I think “Officer Jones” is imaginary, as we didn’t see any police officers at the station. But still. Will the ancient tactic of public embarrassment work for fare evaders?
We sure do love a station agent with a healthy sense of humor.
The Muni redesigns, they will not stop
Not that they should stop, but we’ve reached critical mass here.
Eric Stamps of Eric Stamps New Media has taken it upon himself to reinvent Muni’s design scheme. Unlike Derek, who started out by merely tweaking the Muni worm, Eric scrapped the popular Muni logo and started from scratch, more or less. Have a look:
