June 28, 2007
Bus Stop, Bus Go, She Stays, Love Grows
When not fending off rumors that he's been horking lines, Gavin has lately been running around proposing ideas to fix Muni, spurred on by the latest SPUR report and the Transit Effectiveness Project.
Two days ago he appeared at a hearing of the state Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the idea of putting cameras on buses and street sweepers that face outward and would catch on camera any cars parked in illegal ways. Cars parked in transit only lanes-- we're looking at you. The whole thing is used in London and has made a noticeable difference in busting people. If you ask us, however, the idea sounds a bit Big Brother-y. There goes smoking dope in parked cars.
Gavin is also proposing that in an order to speed up bus routes, he wants to eliminate some stops. Or, as Beyond Chron would call it, declare "...War on Transit-Dependent Populations." Which stops will be eliminated will all depend on an 18 month, $2 million dollar study. The idea of eliminating stops has been proposed any number of times but usually falls apart due to protests.
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$2million study? I can tell you which stops need eliminating right now. Let's start with the TWO STOPS ON ONE BLOCK STUPIDITY that's on McCallister right outside city hall. Gav, you can see that one from your window.
Yes, or on Sutter between Post and VanNess...they recently consolidated the 38 stop on Geary into one mid-block stop and they need to do the same on Sutter for the 2/3/4 lines.
That's Beyond Chron, published with your tax dollars by Tenderloin Housing Clinic. Just to be clear, Muni riders stopping AT EVERY BLOCK DOWNTOWN because some people can't stand the thought of walking 300 whole feet.
It's ABOUT TIME they started looking into eliminating some stops. Nothing drives me more batty than riding MUNI and stoping at *every single damn block*. Sometimes twice in one block. It's nuts. (especially the Hayes-21). Someone needs to stop the madness and speed up the buses. I can't wait. I will gladly walk an extyra block or 2 to speed up transit times.
Eliminate all stops between my workplace and home ... God, its so obvious! :) kidding...
Beyond Chron - is that the Green Pary paper or what?
I think the wheel chairs should have their own custom bus and stop holding up the regular buses.
If I was in a wheel chair, I think I would eschew Muni altogether. Chances are I could wheel myself anywhere I needed to go faster than Muni could get me there.
Unless I was going up to the top of Nob Hill or something...
hmm, horking - new vocab. thanks!
The City won’t start removing bus stops until next year, after the results of an 18-month, $2 million comprehensive study of how to improve Muni are released, said Newsom.
Okay, so the TEP study is still underway, they are still in the data collection phase, yet the decision has been made to remove stops?
If we don't need findings to remove stops, then why wait, better yet, why spend $2m for a study the results of which are already known, politically, at least?
-marc
Marc, the interim preliminary findings of the TEP have already been produced.
Will they be auctioning off the old shelters? I'd love to have one.
Ross
Marc, the interim preliminary findings of the TEP have already been produced.
Good thing I read SFist.com and that you posted it here, as I am only on the TEP Citizens' Advisory Committee.
Who knew?
I'll wager cash money that the results of the TEP differ in no significant manner from the SPUR report on fixing transit. Your Controller at work.
-marc
^ the preceeding message was brought to you by the local progressive militia. We tell you what to think so you don't have to think for yourself.
Marc Salomon/Robin hood - did you get yourself banned from the junto?
Just a thought, able-bodied guest commenters, but did you think for a second outside of your demographic when you say that "I will gladly walk an extyra block or 2 to speed up transit times" or that "some people can't stand the thought of walking 300 whole feet"? Have you never seen a 75-year-old carrying two bags of groceries and using their cane to help them up the stairs at a snail's speed try to get on the bus? Someone's grandma or grandpa, who sometimes chooses to live independently, and sometimes has no choice, but regardless still takes 10 minutes to walk that extra 2 blocks, that extra 300 feet? At the risk of sounding bleeding-heart, I'd rather account for an extra 15 minutes of travel time, and when Grandma has to walk an extra 2 blocks to get her groceries home, it won't be because of someone like me.
Of course we should all wait for the lowest abled passenger. How is it again that all those old people living in six story walkups in nyc can walk blocks to a subway stop?
Bleeding heart indeed - no wonder nothing gets accomplished in this city. San Francisco is obsessed with catering to the lowest common denominator. An entire bus full of people should endure longer transit times for one person?
I completely disagree with Kay. If Muni is going to get drivers out of their cars, it needs to be speed competitive with the car, which it is not. A short walk between stops (often well under 300 feet - like 100-150 feet or even less on many blocks that currently have two stops per block) is well worth it to improve service.
You have to be pretty badly disabled not to be able to walk that distance. In that case we have paratransit, or wheelchairs which all buses now accommodate.
Beyond Chron is written by a bunch of obnoxious SF wackos, but bless their hearts, the concerns they raise are valid. Muni needs to look at who the system is serving and who it currently works well for. As it stands, the system theoretically supports the transit dependent and people with disabilities - Although sometimes in practice... not so much. Like it or not, these two constituencies are the ones who NEED public transit the most. They should be given precedence over the Noe Valley multi-car owners who choose to ride as a political statement.
The other flaming assholes, SPUR, are not a city agency, they are a private organization. The city can listen to their concerns - but they have no mandate to follow their guidelines. Just like beyond chron, I think that SPUR is too biased to be an effective communicator.
That is why the TEP exists you dumbasses!
The TEP is around because both lunatic fringes (SPUR and beyond chron) have raised valid points. The TEP has been listening to both sides and will find a middle ground between the two to determine an appropriate way to move Muni forward. If they do a good job they will piss everyone off.
The system could stand a little effectivenation. It may need to cut the fat and change service planning and public expectations. Lord knows San Franciscan's expect too much. I see the TEP as a friendly intervention - Hopefully the Muni will enroll in a good rehab program.
And the mayor? He's probably right, in the process of building a better system and creating realistic expectations of the service - stops will no doubt be lost. But, when has anyone taken what he's said seriously? Free Muni anyone?
I remember one of the last times they brought this up. Someone at MUNI told a local TV station with a stright face,"All this means is that is that Grandma has to walk an extra block to get her bus".
Yeah but, does beloved Grandma have to do her shopping during rush hour? Like the knob-head I saw using the N to move apartments (complete with TV and sock draw) at 8:45 am, there needs to be some way to seperate the commuters on a schedule from the people with more time on their hands. Maybe prizes!
If HM is here calling SPUR a lunatic fringe, and is seriously calling for free MUNI, I think we can effectively dismiss him/her.
This sums up the nutters on the TEP in a nuttershell.
Public transit is NOT a social welfare program. It is not food stamps. It is not Medicaid. Its raison d'etre, regardless of what the Guardianista thin, is NOT to principally serve the infirm, the poor and disabled.
Do you know what was the reason for building America's first subway (in Boston)? Congestion relief. In 1897, when the first subway tunnel in downtown Boston opened, it was to relieve pressure on the city's streets from a daily logjam of horses, buggies, pedestrians, etc. that were completely clogging the main commercial district's primary arterials. Ever since then, the primary purpose of public transit has been to move as many people as possible, as efficiently as possible, to the primary places the majority of people need to go. Its NOT meant to serve as door to door service for the infirm or the poor. Are those constinuencies part of the larger constituency being served? Definitely. Should planning for the system's effectiveness as a whole be driven by primarily serving this minority subset of the transit riding public? Absolutely not.
All that thinking gets you is shitty service that serves everyone poorly. Its like Communism - everyone was equal - equally poor.
Senior citizens and handicapped folks should have their own door to door service - not bus stop to bus stop service. Win - win.
The communists built some of the most incredible public transit infrastructure.
So did NYC. NYC has local and express stops. In Manhattan, subway stops are 5 short blocks apart.
But the subway is grade separated, reliable and functional, so people will walk that extra 1.25 block to the station.
Unless MUNI is going to adopt a local/express model for the routes where it wants to "eliminate stops," and the places where they want to eliminate stops are in neighborhoods like the TL which have exceptional density, many seniors and disabled, then there is going to be hell to pay.
But again, the TEP, CAC meeting of which was cancelled again this month--third time in 9 months--seems to be findings waiting for justification.
As far as Junto goes, Barbara Early, a.k.a. Chic Deluxe, came to a Green Party meeting as part of a stacking party. She expects to be able to fuck with shit in the real world and enjoy anonymity in the virtual...it ain't gonna happen.
-marc
many closely spaced stops generate huge ridership--check out the 14/49 on Mission. speedup is much more dependent on evicting cars from transit lanes and eliminating unneeded Stop signs. ALL such signs on transit arteries should become stoplights w/ signal priority for Muni. A second solution much easier to implement immediately is expanded ltd/express routes. The major fight in the Tenderloin over eliminating 38 Local stops was a poor tactical maneuver. Much smarter would have been changing the ltd/local mix so that more ltds cruised through--'course that also would require ticketing the diamond lane scofflaws.
O0h Marc... An outing. Seems like somebody touched a nerve. Too bad, all that gibberish you were posting was so entertaining in a childish "i'm not touching you" way.
O0h like you" entertaining. Marc somebody gibberish "i'm touching Seems, Too touched "i'm. Touched bad, An, Marc, Seems Seems An "i'm touched. Outing, gibberish touched outing O0h entertaining.