September 26, 2006
Dear Mr Ford
SFist Reader Caitlin poses the same question many of us have asked: "Why does Muni seem to have fewer (and, therefore, packed) buses running than scheduled?" And we're sure the problems Caitlin describes aren't restricted to the 43.
Is there anyone who can help us understand why we all seem to be seeing fewer, more crowded buses?
How hard can it be to figure out what the busy lines are? For weeks now, I've seen the 43 blaze past me morning after morning, crammed too inhumanly full to admit another passenger. Occasionally I'll luck into a driver with a laissez-faire attitude: "If I can still close the door, you're welcome to wedge yourself in. Join the party!"
Many of us rely on the good old 43 to get us to work in the morning, and yet there seem to be fewer and fewer buses running. Do the drivers not mention that they have to bypass the entire inner Sunset on their morning runs? That they can only accept passengers once they've disgorged a pile of rumpled commuters at UCSF Medical Center? How is it possible that I rush to make it to the stop by 7:28 in the morning, only to actually board a bus at 8:02? According to MUNI's published schedule, there should have been four buses in that time. Four! Instead we watched one, packed to the gills, pass us by.
Please, please add more buses to the morning inbound run of the 43. Or, at the very least, run the ones that are scheduled.
Image of Japan's infamously crowded subway system. Is this the model to which Muni aspires?
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Here's what I don't get - today's Chron had a Matier & Ross hit piece noting that those of us in SF should just fughettabout the Prop. which mandated 85% on-time service due to
Weird that the piece didn't mention the two fare increases we've experienced since 2003. Not that I mind paying market rate, but these increases appear to be going towards fewer and fewer routes and fewer buses on the routes there are. When was the last time MUNI created a new bus route? Ever try and get out of downtown on a bus to somewhere north of Market Street after 7? No 41 after 7:15 or so. 30X stops at 6. No more 42 downtown loop (a great utility bus). 10 Townsend stops after 7 and doesn't run on weekends any more. And the 1-California is the dictionary definition of everything which is wrong with MUNI.
I say that because I witnessed a good old 3-in-a-row MUNI convoy on the 1 line over the weekend and it struck me that the reader has a good idea - either drivers should be asked to keep records of their runs (a non-starter I'm sure with the transit workers' union) or even better MUNI should start their own version of the Nielsen family. I'm sure plenty of folks who regularly use MUNI would be willing to document their use and observations and send them in anonymously. You get the employees to buy in maybe by agreeing that the submissions can't be used as evidence to discipline a driver who is alleged to break some rule by a diarist.
Here's another idea - forget this "on time" goal when it comes to buses. I have no faith that the numbers wouldn't be cooked anyway. Anyone who rides the buses regularly knows that the schedules are ignored by the drivers for the most part with the exception of a few morning and evening express runs. (To drivers' credit, on the line I ride the most, I believe many see the signs of a ridiculously unbalanced route and will skip their end-of-line breaks if they feel like people have been waiting too long.)
Instead, why not use this silly GPS system that apparently no one can access but everyone knows exists to create a dispatch system. Under a dispatch system, buses leave terminals/starting points of routes when told to by a central dispatcher who can see exactly how buses are spaced out on a given route. No more 3 bus caravans. Hopefully less crowded buses.
Ed note: This comment has been deleted, due to violation of our comment policy
believe it or not the 3 bus dance is nothing new....
http://www.njudahchronicles.com/2006/01/blast_from_the_past_with_muni.html
some of it has to do with car traffic, though. some of it though is due to duplication of routes, left over from the old days of 4 companies running lines. I really wish someone would try and figure out how to consolidate these so everyone is happier. But they haven't done so yet. It's supposed to be coming soon though, but I have a fear of book cooking like the previous commenter suggested.
The 24-Divis is the same say. The schedule will often say that buses are supposed to come by every 15 min., but when you look at the NextBus system, there might be only 2 or 3 buses on the entire route-- making it physically impossible to make this so.
Bunching of buses due to traffic I can understand, but often the scheduled bus doesn't run at all.
If I get the 43 home from the Presidio I am very near the start of the route in the Marina - either the bus is taking 20 minutes to travel about eight blocks, or some scheduled busses just don't run.