Muni Diaries

Oh, man. Just horrible. This SFMTA employee has been put on leave after flipping out over losing a parking spot and then using the N word on camera. The video was taken by the friend of the woman who was trying to park downtown when the Muni operator in uniform rolled up in his car:

Racist, ignorant, Muni bus driver gets mad at me for taking an open parking spot!! This happened today, May 9, 2016, next to the SF Muni: Kirkland Division, on Powell st. I am reporting this to the SFMTA HR department and posting it on KRON4 news website. People like this make me sick!

The SFMTA worker in uniform called her the N word, to which she replied, “What?” The man repeats the slur, and Mayra told him that she is not even black. He says, “Doesn’t matter, it’s a mentality.”

KTVU has the follow-up story of SFMTA placing the employee (not certain that he’s a driver) on leave. Shortly after that report, the SF Examiner says that they’re moving to fire the dude.

I can’t even …

h/t Shaun

For some time now, it’s been rumored that Muni/SFMTA would test a new technique, formerly known as double-berthing, and now called “double-boarding.” The last update, if you can call it that, that we got was in December, when we linked to a Hoodline post saying that the testing had no timeline.

Then, yesterday, Hoodline reported a tip they received that Muni is set to start testing this week.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told us via email today that double-stopping will be tested during morning and afternoon commutes today at the three stations. He continued: “This is a new rider convenience tool that manages congestion in the subway and ensures that riders don’t have to wait for a train to clear the subway before exiting their vehicle. At these stations, the first train will stop further down the platform (closer to the end of the platform).”

Read the Hoodline post for full details. It will be interesting to see whether and to what extent double-boarding actually makes for a more efficient Muni Metro system.

Photo by Christina B Castro