Dear Mr Ford: Sometimes They Write Back
It looks like not all our complaints about Muni go into the void we might think they do.
Then again, judging from some of the responses we've seen, we're not sure if they're thorough or just trying to bore us to death. You'll see what we mean when you expand to read the correspondence between Muni and SFist Reader Jas, a "A twice daily 6,7,66,71 and occasionally J-Church and N-Judah rider."
Image from Jamison's Flickr Page
"Trains from the three lines passing through Castro Station are supposed to come by every few minutes, but often end up with delays of up to 12 minutes, while the platform fills up with people coming from the feeder bus lines and the automated voice will count backwards.... 'Inbound trains.... Embarcadero... in 3 minutes' followed a few minutes later with 'Inbound trains.... Embarcadero... in 5 minutes'
"Often the next train to come through will be crush loaded and there will be even more delay as people cram in (because you just don't know if it will be another 10 minutes or not) and that delays the next train and so on..."
In light of recent fare increases and gripes as to MUNI slowness, I have some suggestions: I think that you should eliminate one of the two stops on Haight street, outbound, between Laguna and Buchannan. It's a short block, and there is a bus shelter at the bottom of the block and a "coach stop" band on the pole at the top of the block. It is really stupid to have two stops on such a short block - seeing that it takes a minute for those old #6 line buses to get moving after a full stop, it just doesn't make sense to have them stop twice in one block. It is by no means a long block, or a particularly steep one, either. I have gotten off at the bottom stop and walked to the top in plenty of time to catch the same bus on the way up, what with traffic and such.Also, you need to step up the enforcement of that proof of purchase bit and crack down on the back of the bus boarding. Down on market, it's like a free bus behind the back doors - and the drivers don't even make a peep about it. Daily riders such as myself get really annoyed about fare increases when it is obvious that a good third of the bus sometimes hasn't paid. In regards to the proof of purchase thing - I've held fast passes for well over three years now and I have been checked by fare control on the N-Judah one time - ONE TIME - way out on the avenues, in mid-afternoon. The N, and other lines with P-O-P need to be checked at rush hours, close in. If you put one extra fare control officer out there, I bet he or she would pay for themselves in no time flat. Thank you for your time.
Jas recieved this detailed yet incomplete (what about the proof of payment questions he raises?) response from Transit Stops Coordinator Steve J. Patrinick
I am responding to your e-mail requesting that MUNI delete one of the two outbound bus stops on the block of Haight Street between Laguna and Buchanan Streets. While you are correct that these stops are very close together (only about 325 feet apart, much closer the average bus stop spacing in our system), there are other issues that we must consider. MUNI’s bus stop standards call for an ideal bus stop spacing of 800 to 1,000 feet in the flattest areas of the City. Where grades are between 10 and 15 percent, the ideal bus stop spacing is 500 to 600 feet. The block of Haight between Laguna and Buchanan has a grade of 12.1 percent. These standards help to ensure that the vast majority of MUNI passengers are able to reach our bus stops with little physical difficulty.Deleting the Laguna stop would result in a stop spacing of 800 feet between Octavia and Buchanan. Deleting the Buchanan stop would result in a stop spacing of 1,425 feet between Octavia and Fillmore. Thus, deleting either of these stops would result in a violation of our Bus Stop Spacing Standards for a moderately hilly area.
We realize that there are many locations in our transit system where bus stops can be eliminated or consolidated in conformance with our standards for bus stop spacing. Over the past few years, MUNI has eliminated or consolidated many bus stops on streets such as Haight (between Fillmore and Divisadero), Noriega (between 22nd Avenue and Sunset), Geary (between Powell and Taylor), and O’Farrell (between Van Ness and Powell) without violating our Bus Stop Spacing Standards. Each elimination or consolidation requires an analysis by MUNI and DPT staff as well as public notification and a hearing process (in which our best plans are often rejected). On some transit corridors such as Hayes Street and Haight Street, it would be desirable to analyze a large segment of the corridor and rearrange the bus stop configuration. We are not able to do such a large scale review at this time, but are hopeful we may be able to undertake such work within the next year.
Thank you for your comments and your interest in MUNI.
So, it looks like they're listening (at least halfway) and getting back to some of us. That's good, right? That's progress, kinda? God, we hope so.
Have you complained to Muni and gotten a response (satisfacctory or otherwise)? Let us know in the comments!