Getting Your Money's Worth on Muni ... Even on the Days That it Isn't Free
Here's the good news: you remember how Muni had NextBus info available for all the electric lines, but declined to make that info public, saying that the data wasn't reliable yet? Intrepid SFist reader Tom has discovered that the arrival info for all the electric lines is once again available, albeit through a tricky route. Type in this URL (we're splitting it into two lines because it's too wide for our measly 500px column):
http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/
simpleStopSelector.shtml?a=sf-muni&r=5
...and substitute your line number for the "5" in our example at the end. You'll get a page that asks you to choose your originating stop, and then sometimes after that you'll be required to choose a destination stop. (We have no idea what difference your destination makes in determining when the next bus is arriving.) If you're forced to choose a destination stop, the next page will say "No current prediction." That's when you need to hack the URL again by removing the destination argument. Change this:
http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/
simplePrediction.shtml?a=sf-muni&r=5&d=laplaya&s=MRKTMTGY&ts=FULTSTAN
To this:
http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/
simplePrediction.shtml?a=sf-muni&r=5&d=laplaya&s=MRKTMTGY
... and then it'll work.
After the jump: the bad news, which involves us being laughed at by a Muni employee and also instructions for accessing Muni's Secret NextBus map, which unlike the public map, shows all the busses on the routes.
So yesterday, around 6:52pm, we checked the NextBus map to see when the next 33 would be trundling by our stop (16th and Harrison). The next one was arriving in two minutes, and the next one after that ... 39 minutes. We couldn't make it to the stop in two minutes, and we weren't in the mood to be at work for another half hour, so we called Muni information (415-673-6864) to find out if that was accurate.
"The next one should be just arriving now," the Muni Info Lady said. "And the next one after that?" We asked. "Forty minutes. So you'd better run! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Yes ... ha ha ha, what an amusing situation. Long waits in bus stops are highlarious. You must laugh a lot, Muni Info Lady.
We resisted the urge to exclaim, in offended tones, "I'm in a wheelchair!" Instead, we asked, "are you sure that's accurate? Is there another map you can check?" Because we knew that there IS another map, a secret map that the public isn't allowed to see and that Muni Info People don't consult when you call for arrival times, unless you ask them to. This secret-map shows ALL of the busses on a line, rather than just MOST of the busses as do the public-map and Info-default-map. It also shows the bus number and identifies the driver.
"I'll look, but it'll probably be the same," she said. Pause. "The next bus is at 7:14."
"Oh," we said. "That's a bit sooner than forty minutes from now, isn't it?" (For you non-math-types, that new estimate was for 20 minutes later.)
"Yes." Another uncomfortable pause.
At that point, there was really nothing left to say but thanks, and to hurry off to the bus stop because, in our experience, Muni's Secret NextBus Map is usually five minutes slow. And sure enough, the next 33 pulled up at 16th and Harrison at 7:08.
So, thanks, Muni. Thanks for your consistant dedication to providing riders with the information they need, and for always being so terribly accurate. We are in your debt.