Muni Drivers' Union Boss: "I feel the system works now."
Fun fact: Muni is required to pay its drivers based on what the two highest-paying transit systems in the country offer. Right now, that works out to about $27 an hour, and amazingly, the Union likes that just fine. But you can spoil their good mood pretty quick by talking about tying compensation to performance.
No no, the Union says, we'd like our pay to remain as high as possible. No need to base our wages on ridership or timeliness or safety. "The drivers have been stepping up and working with management to improve the system," the Union told the Chron this weekend. Oh yeah, they've really been stepping up. Muni's all kinds of improved these days. (After the jump, we've got some statistics on how badly last week's T launch went.)
Aaron Peskin's talking about changing that, and giving management some flexibility with salary. We do hesitate to let the Supes get involved in Muni -- in general, the quality of transit is inversely proportionate the the number of politicians involved. But Peskin's measure doesn't appear to give politicians more control; instead, from his wording, it sounds like the goal is to give the transit bosses at Muni more control. And that sounds like a good thing to us.
After the jump: numbers! Data! Proof!!!
In case you like statistics, here's some figures on how last week's T-line launch went. These numbers don't come from us, as we simply don't have the resources to compile them. And they don't come from Muni, as Muni doesn't make this sort of data available, thereby effectively thwarting convenient public oversight. Instead, this data came from a reader who's kept a pretty close eye on things:
There were 24 scheduled trains from Sunnydale to 4th/King from 5:30am to 9:30am.
Actual number, Monday: 19
Actual number, Tuesday: 20
Actual number, Wednesday: 15
Actual number, Thursday: 19
Actual number, Friday: 20
Why so few trains? It comes down to money. Muni didn't buy enough vehicles, and they haven't hired enough workers. Hey, maybe if they weren't the second-best-paying agency in the country, they could afford to hire a few more drivers.
Insufficient trains means longer waits. The train's supposed to come every 9 minutes, but look at this:
Monday: 31-minute gap (7:43-8:14 @ 4th/King)
Tuesday: 27-minute gap (7:59-8:26)
Wednesday: 49-minute gap (8:20-9:09)
Thursday: 32-minute gap (7:45-8:12)
Friday: 28-minute gap (7:24-7:52)
Yikes, a 49-minute gap? Ugh. Well, enjoy your ginormous paychecks, Union!