The N-Judah Chronicles

Hey there, This morning on the N Judah heading downtown, around 8:20am right around the Chruch and Duboce stop, our female driver made an annoucement along these lines (forgive me as I don't remember the specifics): "To my regular riders, they're intentionally trying to slow down service on this Route, Route 1. The management knows about it. If you want to see it fixed, call the media and have them investigate." Have you heard anything about this? Thanks!

And, here's an email from Reader Shari, also on the same train, it seems:

Hi Mr. Dewar,

As a resident of the Outer Sunset I do enjoy your MUNI updates. Today I was taking the N to Civic Center, as I do four days a week, and I got stuck with a driver who is regularly slow and runs late. Today, as we got to Duboce and Noe, she announced that the reason we were having to stop for extended periods involved something called "Run One." She said that it involved intentionally sending more people onto that particular train and slowing it down. She also stated that the media and MUNI were aware of what was going on and that patrons could discover the meaning behind this by seeking out these sources. She said nothing else on the topic.

I've searched online and found nothing. I don't know if she was just acting crazy or if something was going on, but I would like to find out as it made me 10 minutes late to an important law school class and if someone was behind it, I want to know who it was and why they did it.

I figured you might be someone who could confirm or deny the truth of the driver's statement. I'd really appreciate your insight.

Given how the MTA has made swiss cheese out of the Transit Effectiveness Project by half-assedly implementing cuts (but not the associated service increases) and whatnot over the past few years, you could almost imagine some genius that could come up with an idea like this, but that is supposition, not a fact. Without any supporting documentation, we don't know what to make of this cryptic statement via the PA system.

I did a little searching and found nothing either. So, I'm going to attempt to contact Muni on Thursday morning and see if I can get a response. Considering that I never got any of my questions about the bus shelters answered, this may require me to use the amplification of the SF Gate Transit Blog to get some attention.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Have you ever read the news and had that moment where you wonder…are you really reading the news or are you reading a satirical version, like The Onion, instead?

When I read last week in the Chronicle that as Muni plans to restore a tiny portion of the service cuts of December 2009 and May 2010 this week, there was some talk that the Transport Worker's Union was against restoring said service.

Wait, WHAT?

I had to re-read it again just to make sure I understood: TWU was against restoring service it used to provide, not even all of it, and asked their membership to boycott a signup of new routes and schedules. (Thankfully, the rank and file said "Heck No.")

Then, a confidential source emailed to me the actual newsletter, outlining the TWU leadership's plans to seek an injunction to block the restoration of service. Read it for yourself and see. It's for real.

Which, after reading, I said again, "Wait….WHAT?!?"

After writing about the Muni and Our Fair City for as long as I have, you'd think that by now nothing would surprise me. But after reading this latest bit of news, I have to say even I was shocked.

Let's review: Muni's made huge cuts since December 2009. Thanks to some one-time budget shuffling and other temporary measures, we're getting a tiny bit of service back for a while. And the people standing in the way of it are…..TWU's leadership?

You have to begin to wonder what reality these folks are living in, since clearly it's not the one you or I or anyone sane shares in this crazy city of ours. I mean we're talking about restoring a portion of service that clearly wasn't an issue to provide before May 2010, and it's being opposed by the people who were doing so without too much mayhem back then. Now, however, it's a "safety" issue?

Needless to say, this is comes off as a big "screw you" to Muni's Owner/Riders. It certainly isn't going to help gather any allies to fight Proposition G (Fix Muni Now.) It certainly isn't going to help relations between the Muni Owner/Riders and the operators, and it certainly isn't any help to the great majority of operators we're cutting only about half that amount instead. We're not even talking about repairing the damage done in December 2009 (which was spun as an "enhancement"!), and this has been accomplished through one-time measures, not through any major changes in Muni's finances.

That said, would it have killed TWU's leaders to support this as a way of at least pretending to care about the many Muni Owner/Riders who are not happy with the waste of time a slow, expensive, unreliable Muni creates?

It seems we have our answer.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The fact we even were able to get on the train was a miracle, and soon we were packed to the rafters and off to the Sunset. Needless to say, this kind of unpleasant ride is SOP during rush hour, so complaining about it wasn't worth the trouble. However, little did we know we were about to be on a Muni train run by an actual professional. In this case, we had an operator who CLEARLY announced each stop, AND connecting trains and significant landmarks/destinations as well. Needless to say, it was a welcome sign. I remarked to my colleague how we were lucky to even hear the stops, much less the connecting lines. A toursit from Texas said "It's always nice to have a real person's voice on these things. These days you get the robot on the telephone most of the time." Indeed.

I'm kicking myself for not noting the number of the train they were on, because I wanted to call Muni and tell them to give this person some sort of recognition. It sickens me how the TWU leadership continually rewards the few bad apples, instead of getting recognition for the good people which would encourage excellent service. Then again, you could write a telephone book-sized thesis on just how out of touch the TWU leadership is with its own members, the labor movement, and reality in general. (For fun, read this piece about how the leadership - not the hardworking rank and file - are balking at restoring some service cuts. Really!)

The other story was related to me by a friend who was on the 22 a few days ago. The bus was crowded and he noticed two shifty types who were acting a bit strange. Then, he (as well as many others) noticed these guys were pickpockets, preying primarily on an elderly man and a few others. Now, everyone SAW it, but no one was saying anything, so my friend decided to tell the driver. He didn't know that he was telling the Jules Winnfield of bus drivers, though.

Immediately the driver stopped the bus. He then made sure the doors were locked, got up and said "THERE WILL BE NO PICKPOCKETING ON MY BUS!" then put out the signal to call the cops. The criminals were desperately trying to leave, but no dice. The police came and the elderly man got his wallet back. Needless to say, that is rather cool. But there's also an uncool part of this story - plenty of people clapped at the end and knew what was going on, but didn't do anything to help. Fortunately, we Muni owners had a professional on board that day, and two hoodlums were taken away by the SFPD.

I will repeat this until the day I die that the majority of Muni operators are good people who want to do a good job. The leadership of their union is a clueless aristocracy that is unqualified to be in charge of a two-car parade, much less the leadership of workers critical to making sure our Muni runs on time. The rank and file need to have a coup d'etat and remove these folks. They deserve better and so do we.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Once a proud beacon of chivalry, you used to say “sorry!” when you ran into people. Even further back in the murky woods of your etiquette, you probably tipped your hat to the street-side fiddler, the ruddy faced orphan who lived off your generosity. I don’t know when you became an asshole, fellow MUNI rider, but I would like you to stop. I’ve become an asshole, too, and even I think you’re an asshole.

I’ve been watching you. I’ve chewed packs of gum anxiously as I await your next inconsideration. I’ve written novellas of revenge fantasies. I’ve been squinty-eyed and befuddled as you’ve looked on: dumb and uncaring. These passive aggressive attempts of the weary have gone by unnoticed, and so I have always left sorrowed and you have always remained unperturbed.

But before I dismiss you as Genus: Assholerectus, I would like to give you one last chance. An opportunity to mend the holes in the fabric of our shared humanity. I’m here as a friend, as an ally. You useless cyborg of an asshole. I care about your recovery. You prickish virtuoso of the underworld.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger Has Some Strong Words For The Folks Who Make Your Muni Ride Miserable..." »

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the weekend our friends at the Market Street Railway noted on their blog that a ban on chartered historic streetcars on the N Judah line may come to an end. It seems that some tests were done at night and several of the old cars can successfully navigate past the boarding platforms after all.

The ban on any historic trains west of Arguello came about when a wider car hit one of the boarding platforms. However, after last week's test, there's some hope that at least some of these cars could make their way out to Ocean Beach.

This is not unprecedented, and there's plenty of photographs of old cars making the trip. However, I can safely assure you, the Loyal Readers, that if in fact they restore this to Ocean Beach, I am SO going to organize a charter trip, hopefully on the "boat tram" on a sunny day.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Normally when I do these kinds of posts I have some great photo I took of a sunny day around the neighborhood, but as I was going through the latest pictures I've taken, all of them are overcast and gloomy. This weather sucks (I know, because not enough people have said that, right?)

ANYWAY, there's a few events coming up that people should be aware of:

-First, the Fix Muni Now (Proposition G) campaign is having a campaign office opening tomorrow morning at 9:30, at 530 Castro Street. Supervisor Elsbernd, Gabe Metcalf of SPUR, and many candidates for Supervisor who support the measure will be in attendance. This is your chance to do something constructive to help fix one (of many) problems at Muni. Besides they'll have coffee and coffee is good, right?

-Sunday Streets returns to the Great Highway this weekend. You can literally walk unimpeded by traffic from the California Academy of Sciences to the SF Zoo. It sounds like it will be another chilly overcast weekend, but go check it out anyway. I went last year and it was fun!

-The House Formerly Known as Yes We Can will be hosting another Inner Sunset Games Night on August 28th from 7:30 to 11pm. Bring a board game or just show up and join in one of the many games going on that night. These are always fun, although I've missed the last few of them myself, so I'm going to try and make it to this one.

-The Muni Rider Voter Guide is starting to get some responses. Currently we have two candidates from District 6 and one from District 8 on the site - more are on the way! If you've got a supervisor's race in your area, ask them to fill out their questionnaire and send it in. So far the results have been interesting...

-Finally, if you're looking to vent about Muni or urban life, there are always opportunities for Guest Bloggers. This is especially urgent since next week in addition to work + All The Blogs I Have, I've got some other things to take care of that will be taking up a lot of my time, so now's your chance to guest post next week. Email me for details.

More later....oh and over at the blog no one reads, I came up with a solution to the ongoing motorcross at Dolores Park AND violent punks on Haight Street, without some new ballot proposition to get everyone all howly about. Check it out.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:03 PM | Permalink