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?