September 27, 2006
Grampa Newsom's MUNI Plan
It's not a good sign when even the Chronicle points out that Newsom's MUNI plan kind of sucks. Maybe after making his big splash announcement that he was going to have an announcement yesterday, he built up the hype too much or something.
So after all that buildup -- it turned out that Newsom didn't have any new ideas at all, and basically gave out a Grampa Simpson list of MUNI complaints instead. These buses don't run on time! How come it's so expensive to take a cable car? I hate double parking! SUVs should pay more in city parking lots. Why aren't parking meters solar powered? [all actual Newsom gripes!]
Here's our favorite quote:
I don't like the [parking] meters in San Francisco. Why do we have the ugly streetscapes? Why is it that San Francisco would allow all these metal poles on the sidewalks?
Newsom also danced around the question of whether there should be fare increases: "I think we've got to be honest about fares. I do not want to see a fare increase, but we have to have an honest discussion ... let's get serious about setting best practices for setting our fares... [but] I absolutely do not support fare increases at this time." Well, thanks, Gavin, that was clear.
You know, it sounded less like a big mayoral policy speech and more like a perusal of the Dear Mr. Ford comments by our brilliant MUNI rider commenters instead. Take Newsom to town (on the 41 express bus), guys!
Update: Listen to Gavin's remarks here.
Picture of Gavin pretending to drive a MUNI bus from sfgov.org.
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Here's one suggestion: remember the cameras that caught and ticketed red line runners? Why can't we install cameras like that on MUNI and have the MUNI trains/buses photograph double parkers that are in their path and ticket them that way?
As a recent commenter, I'll take up the challenge. If this "speech" was taped and is available somewhere on SFGOV, I must find it, because the Chronicle piece on it made it sound ridiculous.
Point 1 - Newsom redefining the MUNI problem as something akin to the Cold War - a generational challenge if you like - is flat out ridiculous. D.P. Moynihan would call this an example of defining deviancy down. Recharacterizing these issues as not capable of common sense solutions is either political cowardice or incompetence. I can't decide which.
Point 2 - Double parking on MUNI routes? That's the reason MUNI is so f*&^ed up? Please. I guess I don't ride the light rail that much, so maybe this is a bigger issue than I understand. But for those of us who ride buses, highlighting this as a big priority issue strikes me as strange.
Point 3 - Nextbus. If you're reading this blog, then you know this is a big issue for some of us and I alluded to one of its uses in a comment yesterday. Who is to blame for it not being actually rolled out? Fix the problem. Light a fire under someone's ___. Instead of making a speech to some advisory committee which has no real power, go on "Mornings on 2" or something and light a public fire under whoever's ___ and help get it done. Give out some email addresses and some phone numbers. Use the freaking bully pulpit. This attitude of powerlessness - and this piece screams "I know MUNI sucks but I can't do anything about it either" - does not inspire confidence in the Mayor.
This one particuarly gets my goat because it is the most obvious intermediate solution for many of us. Sure the system sucks, but if you can check where your bus home is before you leave the office on your computer or phone, you can at least plan around the suck-dom somewhat. Being able to do the same thing from a bus shelter would be equally, if not more, helpful. It doesn't solve the basic system problems but it empowers us to at least mitigate the frustration. This seems ridiculously obvious to me and I don't get how the Mayor doesn't understand that, while not a silver bullet, it sure comes closer than anything else in the short term. (Now when the Nextbus display says "NEXT BUS - 35, 45, 46 MIN", well, that's phase 2.) Maybe they are afraid that when we get this data every day, we'll all realize how truly disfunctional the system is.
The rest - Ugly parking meters? SUVs in parking garages? No flat out refusal to back higher fares until service actually improves. Ugh. I can't even muster up any more indignation.
Gavin, buddy. If you're going to read our comments, at least pick out the good ones. I sense that many of the problems Mr. Ford and you face are big ones which involve the buy-in of the transit union to accomplish solutions. Unlike Mr. Ford, you have the ability to rally public opinion to your side. Actually involving residents in the solution (by rolling out Nextbus and/or having MUNI "Nielsen families" collect what I would imagine would be invaluable data on how the system actually works today) seem like relatively inexpensive first steps.
Ed note: This comment has been deleted, due to violation of our comment policy
I hate me-too posts, but JC is so obviously on the money here. I can't believe Newsom doesn't have a handle on this problem. As bad as Brown was, at least he was able to correctly articulate most of the city's ills. Newsom is turning out to be grossly incompetent in the same way that the Bush administration has absolutely no idea how to actually govern. I've pretty much given up on Mr. Ford. The system has gotten significantly worse since he took over and that three part interview he gave a while back was less than awe inspiring. Call me late to the party, but I just learned that his salary is close to $300K/year. What a travesty. Or maybe I shoud say what a perfect metaphor for what's happening to our country...
This was nothing more than more talk to look good and try and head off criticism for next year's mayoral run. Which is too bad, because I am sure the Mayor is a good guy and wants MUNI to work, at least for us lowly folk who ride it every day.
It really is time for the talking and posturing and doublespeak to end, and for all these high paid people (including the super high paid Mr. Ford and the Mayor who wants a pay raise) and the assorted doodads and dorks who find more ways to talk than to do, to either make things happen, or get out of the way of those who will make things happen. If I hear the world "stakeholders" one more freakin' time, someone's getting on the On Notice board.
JC- KCBS has the audio of the meeting, here. Getting Nextbus up and running is such a no-brainer the fact it isn't up and running, and barely works where it is up and running, is unbelievable.
Ed note: This comment has been deleted, due to violation of our comment policy
As ridiculous as it sounds, I've never really understood the obsession with necessarily making MUNI "pay for itself". San Francisco should study a few more cities about how this works. First off, no one will ride if things are in a dilapidated state. Currently, things are in a dilapidated state, but a lot of people DO ride, not out of want, but out of necessity. Second, to make people want to ride, you have to make things nice by making things clean and safe. We all know that's exactly the current opposite state of affairs on MUNI. It's filthy 100% of the time, largely due to the ignorant inconsiderate behavior of the riders. Educated them and FINE THEM. Same with Safety. Spend the money and start patroling the lines frequently, not randomly. When people act up, boot them off and/or fine them.
Excellent public transportation should just be assumed as being a possible money-losing venture a city will have to take on at certain periods in order to provide a clean, reliable, safe system as part of the reason you want to visit and/or live in that city.
As much bitching as I see on Chicagoist about their system, it's a fraction of what goes on here about MUNI. In the seven and half years I've been here MUNI is at its worst right now.
Spend the money. Hire the people you need to clean and patrol. Realize that you can make it better in six months by just doing a few things and realize that the two year figure should be when you might get a return on your investment.
•Replace the vehicles at a loss to the city
•Hire MUNI police that FREQUENTLY patrol ALL of the lines, again, at a loss to the city
•Hire people to CLEAN the vehicles at all end points of the lines, again at a loss to the city
•Hire a DECENT, FAST consulting or risk-assessment group to highlight the lines suffering from the worst rider congestion
•Fully implement Next-Bus
•Barrel over MUNI administration that stands in the way of this
It is NOT complicted. Frequently renewed vehicles, clean vehicles, reliable scheduling, safe passengers. That's all it takes. That's it. Those few things will show off to San Franciscans more that you care about the city than anything else. The public transportation system of any modern American city that doens't want to be Atlanta should be the shiny diamond on the ring finger when people come to visit. Currently, it's less a shiny diamond on the ring finger than it is an unwashed belly-button piercing on an overweight beer brawler.
The problem with stakeholders is that everybody wants to hold the stake, but nobody wants to pound it in.
During campaign season, Newsom was full of plans for realtime performance measurement; he was going to have a Citystat program to monitor departments, he was going to have a Compstat program to keep the cops on task, blah blah blah blah. None of that even came close to occurring.
Now he has Nextbus up and running, ready to perform the exact same task for muni, but nothing happens. He should have a big display in city hall with the entire Nextbus output on a map. He should have daily or weekly meetings about the delays, and require his managers to present solutions as soon as possible after problems occur.
We should look at what Vancouver's Translink does. It seems to me to be equivalent to the MTA, but without all the sub-agencies like MUNI, SamTrans, etc.
The buses here are generally clean (the really old troller coaches are much cleaner than MUNIs relatively new trolleys). People don't seem to tolerate litter.
The buses generally run on time. At major transfer points and multi-bay stations ("station" in Vancouver can mean LRT station or just a major bus point like Airport Station), stops are VERY well marked, and most have schedules attached to the poles. Schedule books indicate which bay a bus will arrive or depart to help in making transfers. Imagine if the Caltrain station or Transbay terminal had marked bays with timetables for the numerous buses which depart from there.
The operators are more willing to actually give out information to passengers, such as which roads the bus takes, where they can transfer to another line, etc.
They run both urban and suburban style bus services, with many trolley lines in and around Vancouver and diesel services in the suburbs. They run a West Coast Express, much like our ACE. The WCE downtown station has a clock which indicates exactly how long until departure. Same for the Sea Bus (passenger only ferry to North Vancouver). They run more mixed lines, which have both local and express sections, especially to UBC on the far west side of town. They also run 3 BRT lines (called B-lines).
The downtown buses face the same traffic issues as MUNI, although double parking here is far less common than in SF (maybe people are just too courteous to double park). The suburban routes also face extremely heavy traffic. Bus/HOV lanes are pretty common and are enforced.
They operate 2 LRT lines, with one more under construction and another planned. These run without operators and are fully proof-of-payment so there are no annoying turn styles to impede passengers.
Fares are higher, including zones to factor for distance, AND there are taxes to pay for transit.
I rode Translink all over creation yesterday and had not one unpleasant segment. I was blown away by how many people take the bus to/from UBC. The 99 B-line pulls up every 3 minutes, and many fill to capacity.
I lost it. I sent the mayor's office this screed:
Dear Mayor,
It's hard to believe you don't understand that there are steps which should be taken immediately to mitigate some of the MUNI's most serious failings. But after reading The Chronicle's two reports on your MUNI meeting yesterday, I must conclude that you DO NOT, in fact, GET IT. MUNI is seriously broken and SFO can't afford to wait even 100 days for improvement. My god, Caesar conquered Gaul in less time than you think we ought to wait for improvement.
It's already nearly impossible to get anywhere reliably in less than an hour, especially if you have to change buses. You can't expect people to have to leave 1-2 hours before an appointment just because MUNI has absolutly no schedule whatsoever. I mean, what is your definition of completely broken?
On the 22 and 33, for example, it's not uncommon to wait 45 minutes to an hour for a bus that's supposed to be there every 12 minutes during the day. And when one does arrive, it's often full, or the driver just doesn't stop for whatever reason, or there are literally three buses all bunched up together. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen drivers speed up at the 16th/Harrision intersection (where there's a bus stop) and literally run a red light instead of stopping and picking up a passenger or two (fresh out of City College Mission Campus) who were waiting for the light to cross the street. This behavior pretty much meets my definition of not even trying. This isn't a race to get to the other end of the line, this is a transporation system tasked with moving people from Point A to Point B. Get with the program or find another job. This sort of thing happens every day on nearly every line I've been on. I have an idea, how about ordering drivers to wait at stops for short periods of time to collect passengers and ordering them not to complete a run in under "n" minutes? You could even track this with no more technology than little pads of paper, like they do in Kunming, China.
I'm sure you know that a good portion of your revenue (I'm guessing anywhere from 25-30%) is lost because drivers treat the 50 cents as optional and a lot of people (still) skip the fare entirely by boarding in the rear. You do realize this, right?
We've both traveled extensively around the world. Can you name any other place where people just board buses without paying? I seriously can't. I can name places where buses are free, but I can't think of single example where people routinely blow off fares without various consequences. I have an idea, how about ordering drivers to collect fares?
And by the way, the new directive that I'm guessing has come down to not unlock the back door to try to cut down on this is a complete failure. It's annoying as hell to have to scream "back door" all the time and the folks boarding in the rear just wait patiently because they know that when they do board through the back, NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. ZILCH. NADA. Oh sure, a driver might scream and throw a fit, but I've not witnessed a single person who's ultimately been denied passage. I have an idea, how about stopping the bus and calling the cops when this happens? Do this enough and I'd bet you Mr. Ford's yearly salary that people will stop boarding in the rear.
I have a bus pass, most months, except when I can't buy one. I couldn't buy one a few days ago on the 24th from Whole Foods on 4th Street in SOMA because, although I was told they were physically present in the store, there's some MUNI directive that they not go on sale until the 25th. I have an idea, how about ordering distribution points to put them on sale when they arrive? And why can't I subscribe to them online and just have them show up in my mailbox each month? It's like MUNI is trying not to sell these things!
I could go on and on. I could relate the time I was on the 49 and the driver stopped at the driver change place near Market St. and abandoned his bus because the replacement driver was not there. Who knows how long this went on for. I got off after 5-10 minutes and walked home.
But you must have heard all of this by now. Do you just not realize which problems are the worst ones? Or do you just not care? I can't accept that this city's broken public transportation system does not rank on your top 10 list.
I'm not one who's usually into dictatorial management but, sir, a couple of simple directives from management ought to be able to address some of these core failures rather quickly. Or has the union grown so powerful that drivers just wantonly disregard management? And if that's the case, you and Mr. Ford need to figure out how to deal with that and it ought not take more than three months (100 days) to do so. And if not, there's really no excuse for this sort of randomness to continue ad infinitum.
I suggest you also read these other comments on the SFist blog; they're not flattering either, but they hit the nail on the head. In fact, I suggest you print them out and tape them to your desk:
http://www.sfist.com/archives/2006/09/27/grampa_newsoms_muni_plan.php#comment-392055
If you don't do something about MUNI, those of us who rely on MUNI are not going to want to re-elect you, period. At this point, I'll vote for whoever most clearly articulates MUNI's problems and offers serious solutions. That's about all I care about. I suggest you start on this by getting a grip on the problem and at least start saying you're going to do something about it in less than geological time.
Some great comments here, both practically and politically.
Let me venture a guess on how many of us feel re: fares. I don't mind paying a higher fare, experimenting with zone-based fares, etc...if service improves, i.e., if I feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck. However, as recently as 2002, fares were a dollar and there were more routes. Paying more money for fewer routes and truncated service on those routes really ticks me off. When they got rid of the downtown loop, they said, why worry, you've still got the 10. Well, now the 10 only runs 4 times an hour on weekdays until 7. No weekends. No evenings. This is just one example, but people do pay attention to this stuff. For the last couple of months, I've seen a bunch of different "NOTICE TO RIDERS OF THE __ AND ___ LINES" I've yet to see one that announced new routes or increased service.
SD also makes some great points about how we don't even talk about cleanliness any more. This isn't even part of the discussion because we can't even make the trains run on time so to speak. It is embarassing. My friends from out of town ride the bus and can't believe I do. Often heard? "wow, this is like the NY Subway back in the day." For a city that depends on tourism unlike any other, one would think that this would be a priority. Instead, we will solve the pressing "should we or should we not allow cable car transfers" dilemma which is casting a pall over the entire City after thousands of man-hours of meetings and hand-wringing.
KWillets is also dead-on about how this is probably one such area where the Mayor has not delivered. The recent "I know I said I'd not run for re-election if we didn't bring murders down (or words to that effect)....oh, I was just kidding" little flare up is further evidence of that fact.
Here's another nugget - how come Gavin has no comment about the ideas of some on the Board of Supes to make MUNI free at all times because ridership went up on Spare the Air Days. Can someone please explain to me how this is going to improve service and make trains cleaner? Anyone? I almost think this is a stealth plan to kill all criticism of MUNI at its roots. "Hey, it's free, what do you expect - you get what you pay for."
It sounds like SF needs an administrator. There are some mayors, Bloomberg or Daley come to mind, that can do this. But even here in Washington we have a city administrator to work alongside the mayor. (The current city administrator is Robert Bobb, who you all may remember had the same roll in Oakland.) SF is too much about process all the time and someone that is elected cannot act like the administrator that he/she needs to be. The political gets in the way of firing non-performers and setting actual administrative type goals. Having lived in Chicago, DC, SF and Oakland, I think that I've seen the strengths and weaknesses of all city politics in various cities. SF is never going to have Daley (who regularly fires employees that make him, the city or the CTA look bad -- the people demand it). So SF needs a bumper, someone that COULD set these kinds of administrative performance goals, but whom is also guarded by the same type of civil service arrangements that protect underlings. If a new mayor came into SF and fired people left and right, I fear he wouldn't be mayor very long.
I'll second the suggestion about Vancouver's Translink too. I was there last fall and that system is among the best I've encoutered.
just FYI, DC1974 -- SF does have a city administrator.
Somehow larger cities with more complex transit systems seem to keep running their trains and buses on time and be relatively clean at the same time.
I think the problem in SF goes higher up the food chain to the Mayor, Supes and the city administrators. They don't have the political will to solve endemic problems and to compound this issue SF probably has more city employees than any comparable city in the U.S. I would also hazard a guess that there are enough layers of "middle" management that fight turf wars to bring any initiative to its knees. Just look at the antics of the Fire department, the SFPD and the School Board...they fire an effective administrator, drink on the job and are unable to solve capital crimes.
My entire point revolves around the basics which we experience every day, and those things I mentioned are what we notice the most.
We notice
•long time periods waiting
•dirty buses and trains
•unruly/rowdy riders
Honestly, nothing else matter. $2 is what you pay in Chicago and many other places. Hell, you don't even get a transfer there for $2. But if you raise the fare $2 and the above three items are not addressed, hell YES we are going to be INCREDIBLY pissed off. Why? Because, again, for riders, those three thigns matter the most:
•reliable schedule
•cleanliness
•safety (and by this I mean you must feel SAFE when you are on the bus, not threatened by punk 14 year olds screaming at the top of their lungs)
A realiable and timely schedule also leads to less crowding.
Without frequent visits from MUNI police on EVERY line, safety is out.
I had a visistor from LA talk about how awful MUNI was. LA! LA has better buses than us! What else should even be said?
I agree with Derrell Piper here about the timing. 100 days is what he should be shooting for, not two years.
TWO YEARS?! No. 100 days is reasonable for us to see some immediate improvements. If you can't buy new equipment you can sure as hell implement other things to make it better as mentioned here over and over again. Clean up what you DO have. Kick off people that don't pay and are loud and obnoxious and litter. Make realiable and frequent service the TOP priority.
At this point in time I personally don't begrudge the drivers with attitudes myself. Honestly, no matter how much you get paid, imagine to yourself if YOU were the main human contact point for every person riding MUNI. That sucks. Your work environment is filthy, your customers hate you and many of them are loud and obnoxious and sometimes threatening. How would YOU react if you were doing that day in and day out? And if you were well aware that who you were working for was in the midst of its worst period and not getting better. You'd be pretty unhappy and probably pretty angry.
I see a lot of references to an "ageing fleet" - is it that bad? Apart from a few obviously older buses (the ones without digital destination displays) the fleet seems fine to me. Is their age causing reliability problems?
Spending money on new buses isn't going to improve things; Muni could do a lot better with what it's got.
I see a lot of references to an "ageing fleet" - is it that bad? Apart from a few obviously older buses (the ones without digital destination displays) the fleet seems fine to me. Is their age causing reliability problems?
I have read a few things by some drivers posted in various places about bus breakdowns, and they seem pretty frequent (often a broken down bus being replaced by a bus that subsequently breaks down on the way to replace the initial breakdown).
Personally, I'm fine with an older fleet of buses if it's kept in working order. I quite like the older 6 Parnassus buses by the Flyer corporation that makes little red wagons. :) Those are kick ass buses that would be unbelievably beautiful if they were refurbished. (I'm guessing it's cheaper to replace than refurbish, though.)
Yeah, honestly, if the older buses WORK and do so reliably, we're back to cleanliness and safety being the biggest issues along with, of course, reliability of the schedule.
I'm just worried that fleet renewal is an easy way for the administration to blow a lot of money and be seen to be "doing something", but without producing any benefits.
I have to agree with many commentors here: I have used public transportation in Rome, London, Prague, Chicago, New York, LA, and the bay area. Most of the above cities have a digital readout at each stop stating when the next three buses will arrive. How is it that the home of the tech revolution can't get Next Bus up and running?
Also, in all of those cities, never once did a train STOP MID-TUNNEL. I used to take the N between the Upper Haight and Mission Bay. It was guaranteed to stop about 10 times inbetween actual stations. Why is that? I eventually gave up on Muni when I realized that it takes me 15 minutes on my bike versus the hour and many frustrations on Muni. That's $45 lost.
The fleet is already new, except for a few old Flyers. There's no need to refurbish the fleet. If there are reliability problems, the city needs to sue the bus makers, not replace the fleet again.
The fleet is already new, except for a few old Flyers.
But... if riders already feel like it is dilapidated because of how it looks, how new it actually is is irrelevant.
I know I am harping, but... clean, safe, reliable. That's all it takes. Everything else aside, those are the things that matter. Those are the three simple things that can change very, very quickly to make very person at MUNI and the SF administration look good very quickly. And it can't be temporary. It has to be sustained.
Yeah, for example, the 43 lines is fairly new, but it's already being destroyed by lack of cleanup and ignoring graffiti riders. The "new" N Judah trains, the Bredas, have been around for about 8 years, but they really are being destroyed by the riders and the negligence of MUNI. They look 15 years old already, the A/C and heating only partially works, the doors are about 70-30 on working-notworking. Again, they smell bad due to whatever homeless person or drunkard comes on the defecates or throws up on the bus.
I'm coming to this a bit late, but wanted to chime in with a couple comments...
One thing that has been lost by the Mayor's venting was the point of the whole meeting. The MTA board and Mr. Ford are serious about changing the way things work and this was the kickoff for them to start some serious long term planning for Muni and the DPT as a single agency. They feel, and rightly so, that quick fixes and short term planning leads to nothing but budget deficits, service cuts and fare hikes.
If you set long term goals, the steps to get there fall into place.
There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to fix Muni that you don't see. Not to let Muni off the hook, but there are improvements coming. I'd like to change the view of Muni as a single monolithic thing to a very complex system where some parts are working, even working well, and others are totally f'd up and bringing other parts down.
- To JC's comment you never see anything posted about an increase in service, next april when the T-Line opens it will replace the 15 and the Castro Shuttle (T will run to Castro every 9-12 minutes peak) there will be 15 more cars on Metro, the J will be extended to Caltrain, service on the 9X, 9AX and 9BX will be extended and increased and 3 more cars will be added on the F-line on weekends.
- 11 more PCC trolleys are being rebuilt for the F-Line right now. They are taking a lot longer then was first expected because Muni decided to spend more money upfront to strip down and completely repaint, reupholster the seats and a lot other things that will pay off in the long term. 4 more have just been put out to bid.
- There is a 18 month Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) underway to get service running better short term. And within the 18 month project, there's a 6 month project to find quick fixes to put in place by the end of January. They aren't great with marketing, but the MTA does want your feedback. Know a completely useless stop no one uses? Notice a stop light that always screws up service? Mis-marked stops? Visit sftep.org and write them (be nice, these are the folks at the MTA who want to improve things, you can catch more flies with honey and all that...)
- Along with that, sensors are being installed in all busses to tell when and where people are getting on and off so service can be adjusted accordingly. There is RM-2 money set aside specifically for fine tuning and it will be needed because there are bound to be problems when the T-Line starts
- The oldest of the diesel fleet is on it's last legs, Muni already is readying newer, more efficient 60' diesel busses purchased from AC Transit for service and legally required testing is underway for the new low-floor hybrid-electric busses. This is the first of three orders of hybrid busses. And next year all diesel busses will switch to bio-diesel.
- As for the door and step problems on Muni Metro. There's been neglect maintaining them, but that's about to change. Next year mid-life rebuilding (serious overhauls) of the Breda light rail cars will begin. The cars will run for another 20-25 years if we take care of them right.
- This one will probably sound boring and unimportant, but the maintenance shops have just recently been switched over to a new computerized parts inventory and ordering system. This means busses will be repaired quicker and reduce costs.
- As for Next Bus, it's going to be branded Next Muni, the timeline has slipped, and I don't know when it's going to happen now. When it does though, Next Muni signs are going to be installed in every Muni shelter with power conduit. That's about 400 out of 1200 shelters in the first phase.
I should add that a lot of these projects are being phased to spread the cost over several years, otherwise we'd bankrupt the city.
Like I said there are going to be three orders of hybrid busses. As far as I know they will all be low floor which, without stairs to climb, speeds up boarding, especially for seniors or anyone who has problem walking or climbing stairs.
Jamison-
I appreciate the comments and information.
And I definitely appreciate the 3rd St. light rail project. Definitely important in a "larger than MUNI" sense.
If I may ask, where do you find this info? If you couldn't guess from my post, I'm a big fan of transparency and information. Rolling NextMUNI out is necessary? But how about rolling it (back) out onto the internet generally like it was last year? Or publicizing its availability on cell phones?
JC, I'm a member of the MTA Citizen Advisory Council, appointed by Gavin Newsom on Bevan Dufty's recommendation.
I get updates and information at our monthly meetings, which does provide a degree of transparency because I'm sharing information here, but you've given me an idea. To find all this out yourself you'd have to be reading minutes and documents from at least 4 different boards and commissions, so I think I'm going to find a way to post monthly updates.
As for Next Muni, you have no idea how hard it is to get straight answers. I still don't know why they pulled the trolley-bus and cable cars off the web site, only what they are planning to do now.
Jamison-
Thanks, I think your suggestion about coallating the information is a good idea. When our best source of information is a well-meaning member of the public who is being paid nothing (I'm assuming) for doing so, that alone should tell MUNI something. Maybe MUNI spokesperson Lynch needs to start a blog...Kidding. I think.