February 20, 2007
MUNI By the Numbers
Hey, it looks like today's theme is MUNI. But who doesn't love stories about MUNI?
Anyways, the Chron did a story and discovered that MUNI has a lot of problems right now, mainly that it's on time only 70% of the time. That's 15% lower than mandated by Prop E. In fact, only three lines approach the 85% mark.
To fix it, MUNI is going to trying to hire more drivers and mechanics and try to work figure out how to deal with traffic congestion. Right now, they're using the 1 California as a guinea pig. and they got that working at 88%. Next up will be the 38 Geary. Another thing they're working on is trying to figure out how to get people on the bus quicker and not have to worry about everyone holding up the buses as they either pay the fare or show the driver their fast pass/transfers.
Okay, so here's some more information, some of which is kind of interesting. There is also charts and everybody loves charts:
-Only three lines right now are over 85% percent of the time. Fifteen are on time only 75% of the time.
-The worst line is the 80-Gateway Express. We've never heard of that line, actually. It turns out it runs from CalTrain to the Financial District and considering the whole point of public transportation is to get people to and fro ontime, especially for work, that's not good. Not good at all. The Top 10 worst lines can be seen in this chart.
-The most reliable bus is the 108-Treasure Island bus.
-The most reliable train is, are you ready for this-- the N Judah at 75.8%. We're guessing a lot of you are choking on your coffee at this very moment in reading that. The J Church, by the way, is on ime only 62%, something that is shockingly bad.
-The most heavily used bus is, believe it or not, the 14 Mission. That's followed by the N Judah and the 38 Geary. The 1 California is the only one reaching 80% on time.
You can see the rest of the charts here.
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The 14Mission is busy/crowded -- boy, howdy -- but the only reason it made #1 and the 38Geary came in #3 is because the stats for the 38LGeary were split out. The 38 (30356) plus the 38L (20534) total 50890 riders/day. The only difference between the two 38 routes are that the L makes fewer stops along the way.
Side note: I tried to search the SFMTA site to get the complete guts of the on-time stats that the SFC wrote about today.
Search "all of SFMTA" for ANY word "on-time"
Results:
Search: on-time (ignoring: on )
Har har har.
The 14Mission is busy/crowded -- boy, howdy -- but the only reason it made #1 and the 38Geary came in #3 is because the stats for the 38LGeary were split out. The 38 (30356) plus the 38L (20534) total 50890 riders/day. The only difference between the two 38 routes is that the L makes fewer stops along the way.
Side note: I tried to search the SFMTA site to get the complete guts of the on-time stats that the SFC wrote about today.
Search "all of SFMTA" for ANY word "on-time"
Results:
Search: on-time (ignoring: on )
Har har har.
Um. Your server's hiccuping and not sending the "we got your message" as promised.
Regrets.
I remember living in Noe Valley in the late 1990s. I would regularly walk to Castro street and take the bus to the Casto station to get to work near the Civic Center -- it was actually faster to do that than wait for the J-Church. So this does not surprise me. Glad to see that all those voter initiatives have really done a lot to improve the situation. This is why I then moved to Oakland. I get to almost anywhere in SF faster.
Hello?! The schedules are meaningless. This whole percentage on-time thing is silly. Jeebus - These things were developed 20 years ago.
Call it lowering the bar. Call it adjusting to current traffic and ridership needs. Whatever...
When the TEP results are appropriately massaged, the schedules will change and the numbers will come up.
I feel for all the drivers that are being held to these meaningless time standards. They bust their butts trying to make good on the time commitments when in fact the schedule is unachievable... That sort of axe hanging over yr head will do wonders to improve driver / passenger relations.
The 89 Laguna Honda, that is a classic. The line is about 1/10 of a mile and only has two stops. Laguna Honda Hospital and Forest Hill Bus Station. How does that one get off schedule?
What I don't understand is why they don't use their manager-brains, and if there are 5 missing drivers for a mornings shift, then adjust the drivers to balance out the line. What we see is 3 busses in a row, then nothing for 30 minutes!
Just yesterday morning (monday) - I saw 3 #30's on Chestnut - they had just started the route heading towards downtown - in a 4 block section. Something wasn't right! I think most riders want to get from point a to point b in a timely manner - we're not so worried about "on time" as we are "coming at a regular interval"!!!
Um, why is it a "surprise" the N Judah has a 75% on time rate? It confirmed what I've always known....