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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Weekend Photo Diary

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Here Nor There
Photo by Troy Holden

What a week! We’re still riding the high of being voted Best Local Blog by readers in the Bay Guardian‘s Best of the Bay 2009. We’re honored and humbled, and truly, seriously, honestly couldn’t make this site what it is without our readers and contributors. The stories on the site come from you and your friends. That’s the idea, anyway. And we say: Keep ’em comin’!

What else? Well, as Greg at N-Judah Chronicles was wise to alert us all to, tonight is Critical Obnoxiousness Mass, that monthly hullabaloo that snarls traffic both public and private, and really seems to have lost its political message. Before you get all self-righteous on me, I ride my bike almost every day, so I know what I’m talking about here. Expect a particularly fucked-up Muni commute this evening.

Tomorrow’s August 1, and you know what that means: The month with no holidays officially begins! Yay! It looks like our late-to-arrive, typical July weather will extend into the weekend, with dreary mornings and some sun, if we’re lucky.

Also, Sex Pigeon will be selling nifty Muni tees tomorrow from 12:30 to 4, roughly, at Dolores Park. They’re only $15, and they’ll prompt you to decide what Muni lines, if any, you have an emotional attachment to. Tough one … love/hate, anyone?

Go forth on your merry way and enjoy yourselves! See you Monday!

xoxo

Muni Diaries

Category: diaries, Photos

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

BART, union reach deal; strike averted (updates)

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Update 3: SF Appeal is on it.

Update 2: SFGate gets the story first, as far as we can tell:

BART asked its five labor unions to agree to $100 million in concessions over the next four years. The transit district targeted the costs of employee benefits along with work rules that it says contribute to excessive overtime.

Update 1: ABC 7 has the story headline, but no story.

Original: KCBS reports that BART negotiators and union reps have reached a tentative four-year labor contract agreement. Check back here or here for details on the agreement.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/31/BAFN1926DB.DTL
Category: BART, News

Muni Mind Reader: The Drunkard

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Bay to BreakersMuni Mind Reader is back, y’all! After a one-week hiatus (she refuses to disclose her where- and whatabouts, as any true mental maven would), Tiffany is back, and in high fashion. This week, she takes us down, around, over, and through the sloshy synapses of … the drunkard.

Wahoooooooooooo!!! Nothing like a killer happy hour to get things rocking and rolling. Am I right? You! Yes, you right there. Yes! You have got to be able to see me. I’m sitting directly across from you. Helloooo!!!. C’mon buddy, I’m wasted, but I’m certainly not invisible. WE WON’T BE INVISIBLE!! Oh, wait, that’s “invincible.” WE WON’T BE INVINCIBLE. Gimme five if you like Pat Benatar. Anyone? GIVE THE BOY HIS SCOOTER BACK!

Oh man! What a crazy afternoon. Lay-offs suck, but the parties sure are killer. I thought about driving, but then I realized I left my keys in Jackie’s purse, so that’s no good. So then it was like TAXI! And then as if Muni were reading my mind, out of thin air appears a 30-Stockton. Suh-weeeeeeeeeeeet! You can’t get much luckier than that. Well, I guess I could get much luckier, but that’s later tonight, am I right? Heh, geez people, where is your sense of humor?

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