August 13, 2007
Ask a MUNI Driver
This week's installment: Bus comfort, back door hard-ons, and -- surprise! -- no official MUNI policy.
When do you decide to make an effort to try and affect things on the bus (telling people to move back or making a fuss if people try and enter through the back door). And if you don't do one of those things, why not?
This sort of thing lives in the Land of Personal Preference; there's no official MUNI policy that comes into play on either of these topics.
Drivers who are sour or who hate their jobs (everybody knows who they are) will pass by bus stops, ignore the sickening and dangerous crowding that can happen up front where their mirrors are, etc. etc. But this is bullshit from a safety and public service perspective. Personally, I'm on the microphone as soon as it starts getting crowded asking people to move to the back and make room for passengers trying to get on the bus, as well as asking for those to give up front seats for those who need them more -- elderly or disabled passengers.
But I must say that I've been a passenger on plenty of buses where drivers ignored both the pile-up at the front of the bus and the obvious flouting of signage and common decency. (e.g., 16-year-olds remaining seated in the front and chatting loudly on their cells while Grampa teeters precariously, feebly clutching the nearest pole.) It's inexcusable for the driver to remain silent in such situations.
I have a major hard-on for the back door. Under most circumstances I can't stand it when people come through the back door and will try my best to put a stop to it. Caveat is that if the bus is very crowded I will open the back door to make loading easier. But the truth is that a
LOT of the time there may be only 10-15 passengers on the bus and there're people who insist on trying to board through the back doors. In my experience, this is almost always because they're trying to evade paying the fare. You all know how I feel about that.
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But if the bus is really crowded and the driver lets people in through the back door, how do those people pay their fare with a sardine-packed half of a bus between them and the fare box in front?
At least in Seattle, if you enter via the rear doors you are expected to exit via the rear doors, go up to the front door, pay, then leave. I would suspect you should do the same thing on Muni, though I never have.
Insisting people go only through the front door when the bus is packed to the gills is absurd. As if MUNI busses weren't slow enough as it is. (Especially on Mission; it's ridiculous. I can walk faster than the 14 at rush hour. Hopefully after the Geary dedicated transit lanes go in, we can work on doing the same thing on Mission.)
Packed buses and trains is why MUNI needs fare boxes at all doors! That way if you can't get on near the front, you can still pay your fare and get your transfer in the back. It would also allow faster loading.
I suggest Muni install built-in tasers somewhere near the rear door and have the passengers self-regulate. They could then update the stickers on the back doors to replace the stop sign part with a red-eyed-devil-hipster with a cattle prod. Fun!
I am the queen of civilian patrol when it comes to shouting "move back". i hold no respect for people who dont want to move back just because they have some irrational fear of the back of the bus. it seems like for tourists the idea of going beyond the rear doors, unless there is a seat, is stepping into uncharted territory. I sometimes wish more people would chime in with me. stop trying to be so PC! seriously its okay to get pissed at those who are denying others their right just because they got on a few stops later. And I know there are times when the bus is genuinely packed and nothing can be done. the times i'm speaking to are the many instances when from the outside and even from within the bus you can SEE the huge gap after the back doors.
history-several years ago in a burst of pragmatism Muni itself encouraged rear door entry in a throwaway rag distributed on buses/trolleys via the ask Molly Muni column.
BTW Muni says 67% of riders either have a pass or transfer, if so who cares what door?
you have a hard on for the back door? nice. guess it doesn't take much for some folks.