SFist: Dear Mr Ford: Special Bay To Breakers Edition

Brian

Tue, 23 May 2006 11:43:11 -0800

"I was on the train at 7:45 a.m. What station did you try to use?Posted by: Chris | May 22, 2006 05:41 PM" I tried to get on at Van Ness. The two Muni workers there said to me, "Sorry, trains don't start running until 8AM today."

Brian

Tue, 23 May 2006 11:42:27 -0800

"What drove me nuts about Muni on B2B day was that the underground didn't start running until 8AM, Posted by: Brian | May 22, 2006 11:37 AM" I was on the train at 7:45 a.m. What station did you try to use?Posted by: Chris | May 22, 2006 05:41 PM I tried to get on at Van Ness. The two Muni workers there said to me, "Sorry, trains don't start running until 8AM today."

Jon

Mon, 22 May 2006 21:20:34 -0800

My ultimate MUNI story came from last year's B2B. We hopped on the N Judah at the beach and thought we had scored because there was nobody on that particular train. After a block or two, we realized why-- somebody had taken a sh-- by one of the doors. We have no idea who or why (crazy homeless person or drunken racer) but it was just everywhere. One of my friends told the driver what was up and he stopped the train, took a look, then announced to us and a few other people that he was shutting the train down and we all got off and had to wait for the next train.

Jason

Mon, 22 May 2006 20:54:00 -0800

Short description of my total anger at MUNI for bay-to-breakers: Arrived 7:15ish am at Carl & Cole, fully expecting a crowd, and getting that. Paid our 7 dollars to an ununiformed guy handing out stickers - what choice do we have? Got on the overcrowded N (or special-N, race shuttle, whatever) Lining us up and herding the crowd on took at least 15 minutes, as they had three or four guys checking stickers at the ONLY open door, the very front one on the first car. The doors close - off we go. We get to Duboce & Noe, and EVERY DOOR ON THE TRAIN OPENS AND THE HUGE CROWD THERE JUST WALTZES ON IN. No seven bucks, no check-your-pass-here, no fare control WHATSOEVER. What chumps we are that live on the other side of the hill. I guess those of us up in Cole Valley/Upper haight need FOUR GUYS just to sell stickers and make sure we've all paid - but below the tunnel, it's all good. Sure enough, the same thing at Church St - all the doors open and the crowd thickens even more. Someone once asked me why I root for MUNI all the time - which I do - I feel like I'm always defending riding the bus or train but today I feel like the biggest fucking sucker in San Francisco. Seven bucks for a train ride that's normally 1.50 is bad enough but then randomly enforcing that fare is downright larcenous.

Mike

Mon, 22 May 2006 19:33:27 -0800

Trains were running at 5:45 at West Portal, Castro, Church and Van Ness only, and only if you had the $7 Muni sticker on your bib. Unfortunately, they weren't running very frequently. I had to checkin for my group no later than 6:30. I arrived on the Castro platform at 5:50 and waited 25 minutes before an express train came in. I just made it to the checkin point by 6:30. The lady in the booth said that the first two trains had already left Castro. Great, two trains in the first 4 mintues of service and then nothing for 25 minutes. Typical Muni. Going home I just took an N Judah and walked from Duboce Park. That was only a little crowded, but I was on the train before 10:30 am--way before most of the crowds.

Chris

Mon, 22 May 2006 17:41:24 -0800

Jamison

Mon, 22 May 2006 12:36:20 -0800

My friends and I decided to hop on the 21 just past Park Presidio when it started to rain. No problem getting on with my fast pass, I even gave a buck to some guys who didn't have the right fare, it was a surprisingly pleasant ride, with chatted with a couple nice people on the ride. The driver didn't even stop us from bringing open cans of bear on board!

MattyMatt

Mon, 22 May 2006 11:39:12 -0800

OMFG the bus situation was a mess. First of all, there was no indication of where those "Bay to Breakers" busses actually went. No signs or maps posted, no destination mentioned on their LED signs. So maybe that's why this poor woman's bus driver wandered all over creation -- he simply didn't have any specific destination in mind. Also, there was no indication of who could ride those busses. I have a Muni pass, but I know those busses are special shuttles, and sometimes you have to have a special pass to ride those ... would my pass let me on? Could I pay $1.50? Does it cost more? Did I have to get a ticket in advance? And those busses only loaded one at a time, and very slowly at that. So it was a five-minute wait even to get on board. Meanwhile, three or four empty busses were in line behind the front bus, refusing to accept any passengers until the bus got to the front of the line. What a totally arbitrary way to make everyone stand around and wait for no reason. Also: the regular bus routes were totally overwhelmed. Between 35th Ave and Stanyan, you couldn't board the 5 or 21 or 31 because they were so packed. A lot of people gave up and walked, or hailed a cab, especially when it started raining and they didn't want to stand in the rain forever waiting for a bus that wasn't coming, woudln't let them board, or was sitting there empty refusing to let them climb on board. Muni lost out on a lot of fares by not running enough busses. From the end of the parade to home (which is next to the USF campus) took nearly an hour for me. It should've been under 15 minutes.

Brian

Mon, 22 May 2006 11:37:11 -0800

What drove me nuts about Muni on B2B day was that the underground didn't start running until 8AM, the time that the race starts. So, those hoping to take public transportation to the race in San Francisco were left to try and board overcrowded busses, though many people couldn't even get on and were forced to walk, run or take taxis to the start of the race. Amazing.