The N-Judah Chronicles

Aside from this tweet from KCBS News Radio, alerting us that apparently the TWU leadership told cable car operators to not participate in today's Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest, a tradition that dates back almost 50 years.

I'm trying to find out more information aside from this tweet, but I'm coming up with nothing and I don't have time to take Muni down to Union Square. So any links would be appreciated.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore by the brain-dead antics of TWU's leadership, which not only make them look foolish, they are hurting their members with their poor ability to lead. At this rate, if Prop. G doesn't pass in a mega-super landslide and ONLY a landslide, I'll be surprised.

UPDATE: Here's Barbara Taylor's report, and what's interesting is that the people not participating said that the union bosses told them not to, but when asked, the union bosses claimed they had nothing to do with it.

One of these statements is true, one is not. How are we to find out which is which?

This ruined a nice, fun thing, that was free of politics and the usual craziness associated with Muni. And now the TWU leadership decided if they don't get to dictate terms to Muni's owners (you) and get everything they want at the expense of service, they're going to throw a tantrum. FAIL.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Snicker and snark all you like, but I have found that when the weather's nice and I have a rare Saturday or Sunday afternoon where I don't have anywhere to be or anything (fun) to do, a long ride on a train can actually be quite relaxing. Now, granted, you're not going to get many moments of Zen on some lines (and we all know which ones those are), but there are several lines that an "end to end" ride can be quite nice. Trains also have the benefit of a smoother ride, and often times some sort of air conditioning, which you never get on a bus.

This all started a few years ago, when I was visiting family on the Peninsula and it was an unusually hot, 100 degree day and I wanted to cool off, but I didn't feel like going to a movie theater. So I got on BART at Millbrae station with a Sunday paper, sat in the last train car, and rode it all the way to the end at Pittsburgh/Bay Point. Now, to be sure, once you get off the train there's not a lot in an around Pittsburgh/Bay Point station, but the point wasn't to go there, it was just to have an uninterrupted time with some relative calm, and it worked!

Even though I took the same line to Lafayette to work every day, without the pressure of "omg work teh stresses!" it was actually kind of nice and I noticed a lot of things I ignored previously during my day-to-day use of the line. Plus, I realized just how far away some of those suburban stations are…by the time I got to the end, it felt like I was on Mars or something.

Sometimes I think in all the hullabaloo about "transit" and other obscure ideas, we forget where we live and it's nice to simply take the time to relax, enjoy the ride, and remind ourselves why it is we live chose to move here, or why we stay. I did this again recently on another line and at a time when things have been extremely stressful and not much fun, it was a nice way to relax and it only cost me $5.

Muni offers similar rides, and if you're a Fast Pass Holder, you can ride as much as you like whenever you like. This helps with the Zen factor, for sure, especially on the cable cars, which I ride as often as possible simply because I can, and it's fun to flash the pass and impress the tourists. However, at the right time, Muni too can offer you a calm, pleasant ride.

Now, obviously, I'm partial to an "end to end" ride on the N-Judah when it goes to Caltrain because you really do get a cross section of San Francisco all in one ride. But there are other lines worth checking out on a nice day, They include:

-66 Quintara: I recently took this last Saturday to an event for Assessor Phil Ting. I'd ridden it plenty of times, but never the entire route. Starting at 9th and Judah, the bus takes a neighborhood route that affords you views of the ocean and the Sunset District before dropping you off at 30th and Vicente. It's a little known line as it serves some neighborhoods as a "feeder" line into ones taking you downtown. Definitely worth trying out - last Saturday I was literally the only person on the bus early in the morning and it was like having my own limo take me to where I was going.

-29 Sunset: Although the 29 is often plagued with delays due to the odd nature of this route, I usually start it over on 3rd Street, and take it past McLaren Park, through the Mission, up into the hills, then past SF State and off through the Sunset, ending up at the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. I shot some amazing pictures for a feature (since abandoned) called "Muni Trekker," only to have them ruined when they were developed. (I know, film, right? So Industrial Age!) I really should revive it since these descriptions aren't nearly as fun as photos would be.

-36 Teresita: This one can be one part urban bus ride, and one part Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, depending on what part of the line you're on. It starts in the Outer Mission at St. Luke's Hospital, then winds through town towards the Glen Park BART station, then up into the hills, passing by Forest Hill Station and eventually making its way up the hills near Sutro Tower.

During the day many of the stops aren't used, so the bus blasts through the stops like a Disneyland ride towards the end. That said, it's another cross section of SF, with a detour into the hills most people don't go to unless they live there or know someone there. When I first moved back to SF I used to live in this area, and at the time had a car (!) so I didn't take the bus much. Later, when I house-sat for someone for a week, I relied on the 36 and it gave me a new perspective on this part of town.

These are just a few examples, I have plenty more. Are there lines that you've ridden that afford one views and other amenities people may not be aware of? Share in the comments below!

Why not celebrate an aimless day on Muni with one of our Nowhere in Particular shirts or mugs?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's a warm sunny day! It's going to be great weather this weekend! Annnnnnd.....it's also Critical Mass Day today. Um....whaa?

We all knew this was coming. There's no need to re-hash the monthly "Critical Mass: Evil or Not?" diatribes. Putting aside that, there's a real logistical problem for anyone who's downtown (or transferring from BART downtown to Muni) - the surface routes are more or less screwed, thus sending more people underground. It's also not a state secret that despite the demand for N-Judah service, Muni insists on running many empty J Church trains, and half-empty KLMs while N Judah riders are stuck waiting forever for super-crowded trains. (And, for fun, Muni loves to kick everyone out at 19th. ARGH!)

So, what to do if you're a westside person who tries to rely on the N to go home, and woudl especially like to not spend hours in the station waiting for Ns that will never show up?

There are a few options, but it depends on where you live. If you live in the Inner Sunset or thereabouts, you can always take one of the many KLM trains to Forest Hill, then get out and transfer to a 44, a 43, etc. If you live in the Outer Sunset, however, this isn't as much of an option. Likewise if you're going to the Inner or Outer Richmond, it too gets to be a bit much.

I'd be curious to hear what folks out there might suggest. Of course, if your time permits, you could stick around downtown, find a place to enjoy a (beer/coffee/tea/lemonade/water/whatever) and just let the madness pass by until your favorite street-based Muni line is free, but not everyone has that option.

As for me, this is one of the very few times I'm glad I work at home on Fridays. There are few upsides to working at home these days, but I take the few I can get!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

A reader wrote in via the SF Gate Transit Blog about a tale of extreme woe with Clipper Customer Service. It is the precise reason I have held out so long with my paper passes, hassles and all. In addition to many clipper readers having busted clocks, now we hear of this (and it's not as uncommon as you might think).

I don't know if you've heard from other readers about issues with Clipper Card, but I have been dealing with their customer service department for the past few days, and I am extremely disappointed. I'm sure others have similar experiences. Here's my situation:

I loaded my wife's clipper card with a Muni-only monthly pass on 8/31/10 using my debit card online. The charge went through on 9/1/10, as reflected on my bank statement. My wife used the card as normal without an issue until Friday 9/17/10. Her monthly pass was deactivated.

I spoke with customer service on Saturday 9/18/10. They informed me that "when their system tried to autoload the card, my bank denied the charge so they cancelled the pass." I honestly don't know why their system would do this. I put the pass on the card as a one-time purchase, not an autoload. And they never notified us of the cancellation. The clipper card is registered, they have our phone numbers and email addresses. We didn't hear a thing.

I explained to the customer service rep that they already charged me $60 and they should reinstate the pass. They asked me to fax a copy of my bank statement showing the charge, which I did on Saturday 9/18/10. Apparently they keep no record of online purchases in their system. I called back on Monday 9/20/10 to confirm the receipt of the fax and to check the status of the pass reinstatement. I was put on hold for several minutes while the rep I spoke to tried to contact the original rep I talked to. No dice. She asked for my phone number and told me she would call me back. She never called back. I called again on Tuesday 9/21/10. This time the rep seemed to be more helpful and said that it showed that the system showed that the pass would become active by Midnight on 9/22/10. The rep also informed me she would call me back by 10 a.m. to discuss reimbursement for the fares we've had to pay since they deactivated the card. The pass did not work this morning (9/22). I've received no call as of yet.

I called back and was told today (9/22) that the fax never got through (I'm looking at the "transmission successful" confirmation form) and I'd have to re fax the materials, but this particular rep would be leaving at
3 p.m. so if I couldn't fax it before then, I couldn't be helped until tomorrow. Now I am just going to try to pursue a refund. We shall see how it turns out, but I'm not hopeful. I can't believe how awful the customer
service has been.

This new system is flawed, both from a human and technical perspective. The system cancels passes, apparently acting on it's own devices. Their customer service reps don't seem to know how to serve customers. I was glad to be an early adopter, it seemed like such a convenience. But after my experience, I feel it's a shame we are being forced to use this system. I'm sure there will be thousands of people in my situation in the coming months. With such failures in customer service, I sincerely doubt they're going to get it together in time.

Jason

There seems to be several issues here. One is training of the CSRs you get on the phone - I've had simliar problems with people telling me information that is simply wrong wrong wrong, and ending up paying more "fees" in the process. There is also the issue of having a poor customer service line and "privatizing" most of this witih places like Walgreen's, which have varying levels of experience with the Clipper system (the other day I had the problem of not being able to buy one because they sold "too many" of them) and then of course there's the $30 million failgates.

People are tired of hearing excuses, especially when we've spent hundreds of millions of dollars and yet somehow, despite the exact same technology working just fine elsewhere, when you get to the San Francisco Bay Area, nothing works.

If we have a tidal wave of fare collection fail next month, I don't plan on retweeting the fails, I plan on turning off the Internet.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Based on that (often painful) experience, the idea was to make something simple that would allow candidates to talk about Muni openly, and not have to worry about trying to make the answers fit in order to get some endorsement. Instead, candidates were asked a short list of questions that try to find out how they use Muni (if at all), and get a better idea of how they see things, so you, the voters, could pick out candidates you think might have something useful to do if elected.

This was also a practice run for 2011, when we'll have a very open Mayoral campaign, and will have a chance to elect someone who might actually think their job is to make Muni better, not take a sledgehammer to it, or steal from it. In the process I've learned a few things:

- Because we were not offering an endorsement, some candidates took the questionnaire less seriously than others. I can understand that (given that they're under a pile of literally dozens of these things) but one thing we asked candidates to do if they didn't want to participate was to simply email in and say so, rather than ignoring it.

It was especially disappointing to see so many candidates in District 10 not participate - this being a district that will see many changes in the next 4 years and will have continued issues with Muni service as a new neighborhood is literally built out there.

That said, most candidates participated and got their work on time (even if I coudln't post them right away!) and we should note that Jim Meko was the first candidate to return one to us, and he is now the winner of a Pre-December 2009 Muni map, sans cuts. (And a shout out to Judson True, formerly of the SFMTA for being so kind as to get us a stash of these last Christmas. Yay Judson!)

- We gave people too much time to answer six simple questions. Instead, we should have instead given people maybe 2 weeks tops to return it, instead of almost a month. If nothing else it would have been easier to manage the flow of returned questionnaires.

- Generally people seemed to like the questionnaire format, as it avoided the "when did you stop beating your dog" variety, or the questions that ask about arcane pieces of information at the expense of a real discussion of the issues. At their recent endorsement meeting, Rescue Muni used copies of our questionnaire to discuss amongst themselves as they met with candidates. Yay Rescue Muni!

Finally, one last word about how I came up with these questions. With the assistance of local bloggers Matt Baume and Jamison Wieser, the idea as said earlier was to get a better sense of how candidates perceive Muni and its problems, and what they think their role is. Overall I have to say the great majority of people answering these provided honest, thoughtful answers, and it's clear voters have some distinct choices in districts around the City.

In particular, to lighten the mood, each candidate was asked to tell a funny or interesting story about their experiences with Muni. I found the responses to these questions to be incredibly diverse, and incredibly revealing about each candidate and what they're all about. Go check out the responses for yourself, and if you have suggestions for how to improve or add to the Muni Rider Voter Guide for the Mayoral campaign in 2011, feel free to email me with your ideas.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's the bane of the Gate commenter types and the elite who want to hyper-regulate your personal freedom in San Francisco, but such overzealous types are the people who always see the glass as half full of arsenic anyway. Instead, go to the International Park(ing) Day site, and find one near your home or office tomorrow!

This is the start of a series of events, unrelated but all coming up soon, including:

-Saturday, September 18th from 10-4pm, the Yes We Can House at 6th and Irving will host a "Free Fix-It Day." If you've got something around the house that is broken (aside from electronics) stop by and someone will help you try and fix it. Or, are you handy with tools and fixing things? Stop by and volunteer your services!

-Sunday is the 30th Annual Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park in Sharon Meadow from 12-5pm. Many people who got their start in comedy in SF will be performing, and as always, this event tends to add on more performers as the day goes by. This has been an institution for local comedy and one I try to attend as often as possible.

Finally, some advice - if you're from Elsewhere and want to go to something in the Park, you really should avoid driving unless it's necessary. Last weekend it was jammed full of people, and often times people think just because there's this "garage" near the Science Academy that somehow there will magically be "parking."

That thing fills up FAST on weekends, and with so many direct routes to the park (71, 44, N, 5, etc.) if you really don't need to drive, don't bother. It's no faster than Muni, and in many ways is MORE miserable than any crammed Muni bus. Also, if you think you'll find parking on the street near the Park, fuggedaboutit. Most side streets are already jammed up with residents' cars due to the many curb cuts here, so thinking you'll find a free spot that's easy and convenient is a lovely dream, but not likely to happen.

Save yourself the aggravation and the parking tickets and just bear with Muni for now, and remember these kinds of problems when you go vote in the future. Your Muni won't get better unless the people you hire know there's a price for screwing up on event days.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I forgot to mention on Friday that there's a candidate forum hosted by Rescue Muni tomorrow, Monday the 13th over at the County Fair Building on 9th and Lincoln. You can read about the details here and if you can stop by, do so and get a chance to talk to candidates running for Supervisor this year.

Also, I'll be doing some promotions for the Muni Rider Voter Guide now that most of the questionnaires that are going to be in seem to be in. I'm still waiting for people who missed the deadline (despite being given three weeks to fill it out!) too, but for the most part, people seemed to figure out how to follow directions OK.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although it is still unclear if calls for a "sick out" at Muni are for real, or the after-work ramblings of a few ticked off people at the computer one night, the SFMTA sent out a memo today reminding workers that any planned action like this is in fact forbidden by both the City Charter (the same one that guarantees their pay rate) and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TWU Local 250-A.

The memo also now states that medical certification will be required for sick leave (i.e. legitimate sick leave) for 5 days or fewer.

I'm starting to wonder if this was just all a stunt or something, but I suppose we won't know until the 13th.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A regular Muni rider sent this in the other day literally asking what is up with heat on the buses of late:

Hi Greg,

I was wondering if you could ask around on something. This may sound bizarre, but then again, this is Muni so maybe not.

I am a daily Muni rider (J/N/K/L/M subway b/n Church and Financial District plus 37 bus, oftentimes a 43, 22, and 6/7/71 mixed in for good times) and I have noticed that since last Tuesday a week ago (the 1st of Sept) - every single time I've gotten on a Muni vehicle, whether it's been a bus or a subway - that the driver has the heat cranking full blast. Last night I was on a M subway and I was very afraid that an old woman and a pregnant woman were each going to pass out. Someone gave the pregnant woman a bottle of water. By the time we got to Church station I literally had sweat dripping off of my face and body, as did everyone around me on the train.

But in the past week when people ask the drivers to turn off the heat, they always say "Oh, it's broken" and they don't do anything about it. At least on the buses or the F-Market you can open the windows and hopefully get a little fresh air, but it's unbearable on the subways. I asked a couple people at my office who ride the subway or different bus lines (1/2/3 and 10) and they said, "You know, I've noticed the same thing too." This seems to be a little bizarre that it's suddenly happening - whether it be a hot day or cool day, suddenly the majority of Muni vehicles have broken A/C and heat blasting out of the vents?

Is this some little cute stunt that the drivers are pulling to stick it to riders without actually going on strike or having a sick out? Have you heard this from anyone else or am I just cursed? Would you be willing to ask your readers? Perhaps ask MTA to remind its drivers that this isn't appropriate behavior to direct at riders? Or ask the union if the drivers are suddenly possessed with thin blood and the chills?

To be honest, I hadn't noticed this lately myself, but then again the weather has been so bizarre, being hot one day and chilly the next, it may be that the buses just can't handle weather that's more of a moving target than in the past.

I will say that during our especially hot days the N trains seemed to be mostly cool, though. It was a welcome relief to stand just under the fan and cool off once in a while!

Readers, your thoughts?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Thanks to a friend I've managed to acquire a copy of the infamous anonymous flyer calling for a sickout as reported last week.

Upon looking at it (or at least a scan of it) I have to say I have no way of telling if this a) the work of just some upset employees doing something on their own, b) if this is something "official" (although it doesn't seem like it) or c) dare I say it, a fake, or at least a bad practical joke.

I'd be curious if anyone out there could shed some light on this. It reads like something a group of upset people might do if they felt their views weren't being heard. How many people will heed its call for an uprising is beyond me. I'd appreciate any insights people out there might have before we have an ongoing freakout.

For what it's worth, I'm starting to think this is going to go nowhere. I mean, what person in their right mind would want to shut down Muni the week of the Giants/Dodgers series? No matter how ticked people might be at upper management, et al, would anyone REALLY want to mess up people coming to town to cheer on the Giants at this time? I think not.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've since been told that this agenda item is being postponed. Still, that doesn't mean it's going away. Just postponed. Pardon my haste in posting this...

I just noticed this (older) post at the Inner Sunset Facebook Group about a hearing tomorrow to start charging "lost income" to street festivals and the like vis a vis parking meters.

What's interesting is that the Inner Sunset Farmer's Market might be charged up to 10,000 dollars a year to operate in the parking lot. There's just one thing - the Mayor and his puppets at the MTA have made it clear that charging for parking on Sundays is Satan's will, and it is forbidden. So how then, is the MTA "losing" revenue on Sunday street festivals, etc?

This is another example of the nickel-dime-damned approach the MTA takes to revenue. Don't find a stable way to fund things, just pass these little "fees" here and there that don't bring in stable revenue, and won't cure the agency's ills for the long term. Whatever.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can't make this stuff up.

No, really.

Someone amongst the Muni operators is calling for a "sick out" (you know, an illegal strike where they can pull their "pay me not to work and frak Muni up" scam) September 14th through 17th.

Really.

Guess what? this coincides not only with your commute, your trip to the grocery store, your trip to get your kids from day care, your trip on Muni to, ahem USE THE SYSTEM YOU OWN FOR YOUR OWN REASONS.

It actually coincides with...the Giants/Dodgers series in San Francisco.

Yes, you heard that right. The wackadoodles at the TWU are going to do a sickout when EVERYONE IS COMING TO SF TO RANK ON THE DODGERS.

If this isn't an epic "f*ck you" from the TWU leadership to the Giants and to San Francisco, I have no idea what is.

The TWU leadership is doing its best to destroy itself at the expense of the great majority of operators who get us there and back again safely and with a courtesy and professionalism worthy of "the union label."

Posted by Greg Dewar at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

You have to be impressed with Muni's PR department. They can pretty much get the mainstream press to print whatever they want, and make everything sound great. Take for example, this "61% restoration" meme that you're hearing everywhere.

Sounds great, right? I mean who wouldn't want 61% of something?

The problem is, it's a number taken out of context and conveniently forgets the recent past. Let's review:

-December 5, 2009 - Muni makes a significant number of cuts to service. This is spun by the Mayor and Nathaniel Ford as the "first overhaul of service in 30 years," when in fact it was a major service cut. Who knew that Big Brother had slick hair and a drinking problem - this is easily one of the most Orwellian statements to come out of the Mayor's mouth in his entire career.

-April 2010 - Muni makes MORE CUTS to service on top of the ones made in December amounting to 10% of scheduled service. This ends up being significant and Nathaniel Ford proudly proclaims "it will be a smaller system." A man got paid over 300,000 a year to dismantle a transit agency. Minds blown.

-Today: After lots of fiddling with numbers, and lots of one-time-only gimmicks, the 10% cut has been reduced to about a 4% cut. The politicians and spinners rejoice, and the public is made to feel like they "got something" when in fact they still got cuts now - and don't realize they face HUGE ones in the future if Muni doesn't get its financial house in order with better efficiency and stable revenues.

(Now, short term fixes to alleviate the pain are fine, if you use the time you've bought to find long term, solid solutions. Does anyone think Gavin Newsom and Nathaniel Ford are doing that?)

(Crickets chirping.)

However, remember - no one is talking about repairing the damage done in December 2009 - and no one is talking about adopting a comprehensive service plan outlined in the Transit Effectiveness Project which essentially laid out what you have to do to make things work (mostly), and how much it costs. That kind of sensible, science-driven process was disposed of by a pack of political hacks in City Hall whose combined understanding of Muni could fit on the head of a pin. Instead we talk about nickel and dime bullsh*t and all the while you and I are stuck waiting for a bus or train that never shows up on time.

And to top it all off, the operators' union leadership wants to through a wrench in all of this, because they don't want to show up to work on time, and don't think it's fair they do the work they did in the past but don't do now.

And people wonder why #munifail is such a big topic on The Twitter.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week has been interesting, to say the least. And by "interesting" I mean "OMGWTFLOL" or something. I mean, the evening commutes this week have been marked by incredible delays and failures. You'd think by now someone at Muni might figure that if it's going to work at some point in the day, perhaps the evening commute might not be a bad place to start. Alas.

Someone decided to revive the concept of the "Dear Mr. Ford" feature of SFist.com and make a whole blog about it, noting the recent commuting craziness. Interesting.

Other Muni Detritus:

-Over at my side project, the Muni Rider Voter Guide, the deadline is rapidly approaching. I think I made a mistake in giving candidates too much time to fill this thing out, especially since it's short and isn't tied to an endorsement. I'd list who hasn't responded, but that would take up too much space so instead I'll list who did instead:

-District 2: NONE
-District 4: NONE, but there's only one candidate anyway
-District 6: Jim Meko, Glendon "Anna Conda" Hyde, Harold "H" Brown, Dean Clark
-District 8: Scott Weiner, Bill Hemenger
-District 10: Lynette Sweet, Steve Moss

The deadline is coming up in a few days so I'm hoping to hear back from more people. If you live in any of these districts, you might want to bug candidates you see out and about asking for votes to return their questionnaires soon. So far the responses we've received have been very revealing about the candidates' experiences with Muni and what they'd do if elected.

-A lot of attention was given to the opposition by TWU to Muni service cuts this week, first by myself and later by our friends at the SF Weekly and elsewhere. However, commenter David, who is keeps a vigilant eye on daily service reports, noted that the real opposition is due to reformed sick leave and absence policies, which drive up overtime costs, and allow for that whole "pay me not to work and screw you" policy that is killing Muni's budgets (along with plenty of other reasons). Good catch, David!

-We're still waiting for a clarification on the mysterious "Route One" message some N riders heard the other day, and we're still waiting to hear when the Irving St. bus shelters might make their return (although in fairness they are putting one up for the 44 on 9th right now).

-Friend of the NJC Matt Baume sent us this video of the speed of the N Judah on Sunday, August 29th (yay!) which indicates where it's moving along and where it slows down. Very interesting use of public data!

-Finally a few fun notes: This weekend is the San Francisco Zine Fest over at the County Fair Building. This is always a fun event to attend and many cool people will be showing off some interesting zines. (For the Youth of America, a zine is like a blog but on paper, printed at Kinkos). Back in the olden days, I produced more of these things than I care to admit, I have to say.

Also, the famous Trolley Dances will make their return on October 16th on the N Judah line. This is an annual occurrence we've been reporting on since 2006 and it's great to have them back on the N! Best of all your only cost is your fare! What a bargain!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend! Post any events of interest in the comments!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 (4)

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.

UPDATE: My colleague at SF Weekly weighs in on the issue too.

UPDATE 2: It now seems there are calls for a sick-out this month (strikes are illegal, as we all know.) The flyer proposing this notes that:

''IF WE DON'T COME TO WORK HALF A MILLION PEOPLE WILL NOT GO TO WORK. IT'S TIME TO USE OUR POWER. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND,''

Oh, really?

News flash, dumbasses: if you f*ck over half a million people in this town, you're also f*cking over a lot of voters. Maybe you're not aware of this, but we are. And if you pull stupid shit like this, don't be surprised if something a lot tougher comes out on the next ballot.

I'm issuing a challenge to Rafael Cabrera, the president of TWU - if you don't stop what is basically an illegal strike, I am going to ask every single Muni Owner/Rider to hold you and your fellow union leadership personally responsible for lost wages, lost business, lost time at school or with family if you screw up our Muni. It's bad enough you're against restoring service - now your members want to ruin our daily lives.

It's too bad we don't have a rider's union (one that's not a front group for the union that's a "progressives only" club) that could stand up to this bullshit - or at least work it out so this doesn't have to happen. As it stands, we have a group of people who are on fire and continue to pour gasoline on themselves. At this point, even the liberalist liberal is going to say "fine, flame on, fools."

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)