Speed King

In one of those "no duh" type stories that always gets some play, a study was just released saying that MUNI is slow. Really slow. Like eight miles per hour slow, slowest out of all the major cities. And with the releasing of the news comes the attendant gnashing of teeth and rumblings of consternation as spokesmen for people who matter say that that's not very good. After all, the slower the busses go, the less people riders they get, and the less riders they get the less cash money. Listed as causes of MUNI slowness in the study are everything from traffic, double parking, too many stops, and clunky ways of collecting money. Not mentioned but should be are dumb-ass riders who don't realize it's their stop until the bus is just about to pull away.

So what are we to do about it?

Well, there's creating more bus-only lines but that'll piss off businesses who are concerned about the loss of potential car-driving customers. See the fracas about creating a bus only lane down Geary. Then there's eliminating some stops but that'll bring out the protestors and cries of racism. As for speeding up the collection of fares that would mean either hiring more people or buying new machines. That would cost money, money we don't really have.

In other words, good luck with all that.