Cyclists: Let the Backlash Begin (or Not)
Muni Ticket Agent Arrested After Assaulting Juvenile
So Much For That Plastic Bag Ban
Verizon Droid: Big Deal? Or Just Another Late Arrival Rival?
Feinstein : Will She Or Won't She?
SFist reader Darren stopped by Muni's town hall meeting at the Ferry Building on Tuesday, and sends this account:
I thought the head of Muni was very forthcoming when stating that things did not go so well with the launch of the T and it's ripple effects on the system. Unfortunately the director of Muni pointed out that they want to "make sure they don't make the situation worse" so they are going to take their time before making any changes. They then opened up the floor to hear comments from commuters about what they're seeing and how things are going. People seemed most upset with the safety at CalTrain and the discontinued 15 line.
Seems we are stuck with the current situation until a new solution is attempted in a month or two I suspect.
Like a hiker suddenly stumbling across a bear, the folks at Muni are frozen in their tracks for the time being; their concern is that trying to make adjustments now might make things worse, so they're going to take some time to really ponder their next move. Would've been nice if they'd done in the years leading up to the T's launch.
Anyone else stop by the meeting? Leave your account in the comments, or send them to editor - at - sfist - dot - com!
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Rescue Muni has a detailed report with photos (thanks Dan) at www.rescuemuni.org.
I dropped by the meeting to hear. Nat Ford sugar coated it say "it (T-Third) was a challenge" and "it hasn't gone as well as we would have liked". In other words, it was hard and it was an abysmal failure.
Most T-Third riders saying it takes much longer than before with the 15 line.
Nat Ford said they were bringing in schedulers from other parts of the country to help. This pretty much says what I knew all along - the current Muni guys screwed everything up, now they are getting help to fix it. Hopefully soon.
polite platitudes. Nowhere did I hear anything about cleaning up the perrenial mess at Embarcadero. While I would like to believe the claim of 128 Bredas available for service I don't think they can sustain that without some serious change of culture at Green (the barn).
Seems ike Mr. Ford stepped into a mess. He told us that he got here to take the MUNI job and then found out what was going on, or not, with the $650m project, and realized that there were a few things missing. Subtext sounded like they had to open the line when they did because of politics - Central Subway Boondoggle Money, cough, cough - although they knew it wasn't ready yet.
The proejct reaks of bad design. The mess at 4th & King couldn't have been modeled to check operations, and the split platforms and lack of SAFE pedestrain space will get someone really hurt or worse at the intersection. The axing of the 15 north of Caltrain is so poorly thought out it is a crime. The fact that we spent $650m for a streetcar that runs slower than the bus is so sad in so many ways.
The one thing that does work is the new 9X service. Of course, we could have run that bus longer hours without spending $650m on red and black concrete embracing rails that carry people that miss their bus.