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Our beloved Muni Driver has been sick for the past few weeks so we haven't been able to do our little feature. Well, he's back this week with an answer given to us by a reader.
Question: "Why do bus drivers pass up stops and what goes into the decision-making process?"
{Disclaimer: I am not an official spokesperson for anything except my opinion as a MUNI driver, San Franciscan, and daily passenger just like the rest of you sorry sods relying on MUNI to get us to work on time. If you figure out who I am, please, please don't tell my bosses 'cause I want that pension some happy day – assuming there's any money left in the fund for the lowly drivers by that time.}
There are a couple of legitimate reasons bus drivers pass up stops. The bus could be an Express or Limited bus, scheduled to pass up certain stops. The bus may be too crowded to safely allow any more riders to board the bus. Lastly, the bus could be on instructions from a Supervisor or Central Control to skip stops in order to make up time on the schedule.
There are no other legitimate reasons to skip stops. As we've all experienced, however, some drivers DO skip stops without adequate reasons. Don't tell me you haven't seen a half-full, non-Limited, non-Express drive past us to our dismay. There really is no justifiable reason for this. If this happens, there'd better be a bus right on his ass - within sight. If there isn't, I recommend calling 673-MUNI and reporting the bus number and the time of occurrence (the bus number is located in multiple spots on the outside of the bus, just look for it. If you can get the run number, which is in the small lit-up box in the lower-right-hand front windshield, so much the better).
If the driver has been instructed to skip stops by Central Control, of course he won't get into any trouble despite your call because records are kept of such commands. But if he's skipping stops on his own accord, he absolutely deserves to get into the weeds for this behavior.
Hell, if we don't pick up passengers, this would be the easiest job ever. We're not underpaid so there's just no excuse for not doing the work.
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Half full buses that don't stop really bother me, but a lot of time its both the passengers and the drivers fault. MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE BUS PEOPLE!!!!
However, the thing that bothers me even more, is when a bus tries to skip a stop because there is another bus right behind it, BUT THEY ARE DIFFERENT LINES!!!
I hate it when a #1 bus - 33rd Ave, doesn't stop because there is another #1 right behind, but the #1 behind it is a #1 Presidio. thanks driver! Now I have to get off 20 blocks early and wait for another bus to take me the rest of the way.
The same thing happens on the #38 line. Sometimes an L will keep going, and the bus behind is a regular 38.
VERY LAME.
Could our Muni driver explain what Muni does to discipline bad drivers? Do they have an incentive to not do things like skip stops, or does the union keep them safe?
Drivers often pass up wheelchair users either to avoid getting behind schedule, or because they just can't be bothered. Another fun trick to play on a wheelchair user is to board all the ambulatory passengers first. Then, OOPS, SORRY! NO ROOM!
On the 6, 7, 71 inbound from the upper Haight there are a couple of stops (Buena Vista Park East; Haight and Laguna) that the buses always delight in skipping.
I think poster #2 has gone to the heart of the matter. The problem with Muni is that it's a monopoly where there is no incentive for anyone to make the customer happy, and (apparently) no consequences for negligent employees. I think the only thing that will "fix" Muni is the scrap it all and start from scratch, or at least do a *major* gutting. And that will happen when, oh, maybe when the sun goes supernova a few billion years from now. Dear SFist/loyal readers, is there anywhere I can read an autopsy of the rigor mortised body that is Muni? Really, I'd love to know what levers of power have rusted together to keep this awful situation (for our usually vocal, activist SF residents) awful for so long.
That's horrible if they pass-up wheelchair passengers. That's a flat-out ADA violation and possibly discrimination; Muni could get sued big time.
Thanks Muni Driver for trying to answer our questions!!!
SFist - could you try to get a muni union person to answer our questions too?
I know there is no chance of getting a management person to do so!!!
Or how about the Owl drivers that just skip stops for the fuck of it? Or the drivers who won't stop to let passengers off (or on)? Or the drivers who pick fights with old ladies because everyone's complaining about ambiguous signage?
ADA violations are common, because, quite frankly, nobody cares. I had the distinct pleasure of waiting at West Portal while a train operator argued for ~5 minutes with a guy in a wheelchair instead of clearing people off the train to vacate the seats as the law requires. As this happened, two or three outbound trains backed up behind this one. When the administrative dude that doesn't do anything productive waddled up, the operator just stood their wringing his hands. Neither felt too inclined to help board the wheelchair bound "customer".
In the end I called 311 and complained (don't call 6-SF-MUNI, call 311 -- the 311 operators are way more civil). Got a nice letter back (complaint #30612), but who knows what they did to that fuckhead of a train operator.
It's really quite quaint to see that a driver would "answer" these questions. But, who really cares about the handful of times that dispatch instructs a driver to deadhead? No, what we the SFist readers care about are reasons why the drivers are too damn lazy or insolent to do their job. For all the good that these "answers" do us, we may as well be asking management directly.
Seriously.
Oh, the bus may be a Limited or an Express so it might skip stops? What the fuck? Buses are only expected to stop at scheduled stops. Thanks for the deep insight. ::facepalm::
Hey so with this whole monopoly of unionized city workers, lets make sure to vote for unionized city garbage men, and unionized city power.
I'll keep posting this over and over, but I think 311 is really the way to file a complaint about this stuff.
Call 311 (it's free)
Dial 1 (assuming you speak English)
Say, "I'd like to file a Muni complaint."
The operators are usually friendly. Say what happened, and give them the following information if you have it:
1) train number, usually on the front or back of the bus in black on white
2) the run number, the digital number in the front or back facing out the window
3) the driver number, the number on the driver's sleeve.
4) Route, direction, and time.
I usually snap a photo with my camera phone if I can't call right away.
Remember what you say *is* public record, even if you select not to leave your name. Try to be, you know, civil, after waiting for your bus for 45 minutes in the rain.
Be careful what you wish for. For every fired Muni driver, there are a lot of newly-unemployed garbage truck drivers out there looking for a good gig.