Photo courtesy of Reader Christina. Thanks!
And here I thought yesterday’s annoyances were bad…this morning I started getting a steady stream of emails about Today’s Intergalactic All Star Super Muni FAIL:
Reader Corey writes:
Apparently there were a couple folks on the tracks in the subway this morning between Civic Center and Powell. They managed to shut down the entire metro system. I got to Powell at about 8:10 and there was zero service until almost 8:35, when they started moving trains (slowly) inbound. When I finally got off at Folsom, there were about 5-6 trains sitting idle on the tracks on Embarcadero waiting to enter the tunnel, it looked like there was still no outbound service.
Any more news?
and Reader Christina’s note came a few moments later with more MUNI drama:
This morning while I was transferring between the 22 and the N Judah, I saw no less than 6 or 7 inbound N Judah trains lined up in a row, waiting to get into the tunnel at Church and Duboce. At first there were only 4, and I was kind of amazed at how ridiculous that was. But then more and more kept showing up! The line stretched all the way back to the park. There was a Not In Service shuttle bus hanging around, and two employees in yellow vests as well, but they didn’t seem to be directing traffic or anything. Any idea what’s up?
I took a few pictures as well – I’ll send them your way in a few minutes if you’d like.
and finally Reader Tangobaby wrote in, live on the scene:
I hate muni. Where is my f’ing unicorn already?!!
If you have any info about the jackass in the tunnel today, let me know because I’ll be standing at the corner of church and market for a looong time!
Oddly enough, the MUNI TroubleAlert didn’t mention any of this at all. What’s the point of a TroubleAlert if it doesn’t alert one to trouble?
UPDATE: More reports of another MUNI FAIL today from Reader Brandon who writes:
Hi Greg,
Not only was the line backed up at the tunnel, around 8:00am there was a huge backup at 9th and Judah. Apparently the MUNI light wouldn’t turn green for whatever reason (I personally think it was because the driver didn’t move up enough to activate it but I’m not sure if that’s how the light system works.) Anyway, instead of just going through the green light like the train used to, the driver decided to sit. I was stuck on it for at least 10 light cycles before I finally got off and took a bus to Forest Hill, which was also having it’s own problem. There were 3 more N’s stacked up behind the one I left. So, I ended up being an hour late to work. By far my worst MUNI day since I’ve moved here a year and a half ago.
Sigh. See, this is why I tell people a blog about MUNI literally writes itself.
UPDATE (again): SFist has some coverage of the Other Side of Today’s Day of Fail.
This morning was awful. While waiting at UCSF there were also several “ghost” N-Judahs. While we were waiting, it said one was coming in 3 minutes and one in 6 minutes. LIES. Those never showed up, but then the one that said it would be there in 15 minutes did arrive.
I really wish they could post problems on that screen. If I had known all of this crap was going on, I would’ve just walked down and taken the 71.
“Intergalactic All Star Super Muni FAIL!” Exactly! Great description!
(I am going to take a little credit with helping you on that improved name.)
The piece de resistance was after finally getting on a shuttle, which dumped us off at Van Ness (without any word from the driver so we stood like dummies in the middle of the street), was to go back into Van Ness Station and wait for a packed train. The woman on the PA system thanked us for our patience and told us that the system was now running “normally” but that we “should plan to add another five minutes to our commute.”
I had to laugh out loud. I had already added 90 minutes to my commute, so what’s another five?
Please tell me that Gavin and Muni officials read this blog. Just to be nice.
Of course it sucked, but somehow it’s also a lot of fun! 🙂
Had a nice coffee while waiting until things get moving again and after 30min, I just started walking towards Bart… 😉
time left this morning: 7:55am
miles traveled: 6 miles
trains stuck at the tunnel: a gazillion
buses that went by without stopping at haight/webster: 4
time spent traveling:1.67 hours
blocks walked: 11
hours late for work:1
amount of hate for muni: infinite.
@Ann: omg, that’s incredible. Ironically it takes less time to go from the inner sunset all the way to millbrae than it does to travel the 6 miles you had to to day. MUNI Fail Whales for all.
@tangobaby: no idea if they do or not but in the spirit of spreading positive energy I’ll say “yes they do!”
Hey Greg, I also posted at SFist this morning. I was on the train that caused the hot mess at 9th and Judah this morning. Like someone else above wondred, why on Earth couldn’t the train have just gone through the traffic green regardless like they used to in the olden days of six weeks ago? And if there’s some kind of equipment shut-down that doesn’t allow trains to move unless there’s a train green, why?
I can’t imagine how nasty it would’ve been this morning if half the town wasn’t already on vacation.
The problem here is that the traffic system treats trains and buses like normal vehicular traffic, instead of giving priority to mass transit. So when there’s one small backup, it cascades into a huge mess because buses and trains can’t skip past car-traffic like they should.
The solution is to have more transit-only lanes, and to connect every traffic signal in the city so that they turn green when buses approach (and, conversely, red for cross-traffic cars). Until that happens, I don’t think Muni can be considered a viable alternative to driving.
This didn’t happen during either of the rush hours, but early this morning(around 12am), an N car broke down on Funston and stayed there for about thirty minutes or so and had to let everybody off..
Everyone should probably start adding an hour or so to their commute just to make sure they’d get to wherever they have to be on time. Every time I have to go somewhere I find myself worrying that the train would somehow manage to screw things up. 🙁 This is really disappointing. Used to live in a “third world country” and the MUNI makes the train system look 100x more efficient!