SFist: Muni Meltdown: N and J Service Disrupted

zippy_monster

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:42:28 -0800

Greg: part of the reason... they'd derail in a straight line on level ground. They spent most of their time being unused because they weren't fit for service. Boston had that luxury because they eschewed federal funding and bought proper custom designed replacements for the Boeings. We didn't. We bought the Boeings that Boston dumped instead of coming up with a better solution. Then when those wore out, we bought the custom designed streetcars from a company that knows zilch about designing streetcars.

Greg

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:57:32 -0800

I used to live right on the 6 line, and next to UCSF, so I could either take the N and ride the elevator up to get home, OR take the 6. Sometimes though, the 6 buses can be kinda junky. Akit makes a good point about the rail cars - we should be lucky we don't live in Boston, where their Bredas literally spend most of their time in repairs, and rarely get used. Part of the reason? Breda built the cars to fit MUNI specs, and not Boston MBTAs! o hai!

Brock Keeling

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:41:37 -0800

ditto.

Generic

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:38:40 -0800

I watch Tyra.

withak

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:18:28 -0800

The 6 is awesome because it doesn't actually go down the dirty part of Haight Street. It goes uphill instead.

RinconHillSF

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:07:47 -0800

Does Muni Twitter? Maybe they could alert us with Twitter when a certain line falls to pieces... or text message, something. I just hope they emptied the passengers off of all the trains before they started playing smash up derby with them on the rails.

Angrybat

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:20:04 -0800

In other news, cowsaysmeow watches Tyra.

Jamison

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:52:08 -0800

There was "an inbound delay at West Portal" this morning around 8:15 or so as well stopping all inbound service. After 10 minutes or so many people (including me) left to take the F instead and spent another 5 minutes or so just waiting for the driver to pull up. No rush on the part of the F-line operator, it's not like the subway was broken and people were streaming out of Castro Station to take the F instead. Oh wait, they were.

Ciaran

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:43:42 -0800

But the 6 is still a bus and thus takes forever to crawl its way to and up market, while the N is pretty quick when it works.

Akit

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:32:33 -0800

I remember the 6, I lived right next to it!

zippy_monster

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:10:08 -0800

Oh you sixers. So fucking lucky to have something other than the rail to rely on. Got stuck at Forrest Hill Friday PM (after having to take an outbound K to West Portal in lieu of L service). Suspected brake failure. Maintenance tech ran it at about 45mph to Castro in train "won't even acknowledge it's in cutout mode" mode. Speed limit is what, 27mph in those conditions? 30 minutes from WP to Powell. w00t. Got stuck on 15th Ave Monday P.M., brakes wouldn't disengage. Ten minutes from WP to 17th Ave (too bad I was going past 17th). Awesometastic! 'Course, all the while the MTA says that the LRVs are more reliable now than ever (Service Standards Report FY2008 Q2). I should be so lucky to have a rubber tired alternative. Oh... wait... I do. MUNI is for suckers.

cowsaysmeow

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:09:32 -0800

Decoupling and refusing to disengage...those MUNI vehicles sure like to get it on, don't they... Tyra had a show where they discussed dating your coworkers and how it's not really that bad provided certain social mores are followed, including not doing a whole lot of PDA or letting it interfere with your job. I think there's a streetcar or two that needs some training/counseling from HR...

Generic

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:08:22 -0800

"6-ParNASTY" makes me smile.

pdx6

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:54:29 -0800

Today was a bike day, so I missed the excitement. For those in the know, the morning commute is best done on the 6. The evening commute on the 6 has exciting characters that board at 6th and Market, however.

andyc

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:32:36 -0800

if only there was some way muni could post information like on a web site so it was easy to tell something was amiss.. like a website specifically dedicated to showing train schedules? that would be sooo 21st century, almost like flying cars and moon hats i did get an awesome screenshot of 6 J's in a row in the tunnel. along with two triple-pack K's. there was a lady freaking out in embarcadero while this was going on, doing that kind of cali-style passive-aggressive freakout on the 4 muni employees who were standing there and didn't really seem to think it was that odd that the announcer voice was all "j in 2 minutes. j in 3 minutes. j in 5 minutes. j in 7 minutes" while meanwhile there was a pretty big crowd standing there waiting for anything but a j. honestly i don't even care if a disruption happens now and then, it's just annoying when it takes hours for them to recover from it

porkbun

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:29:13 -0800

I'm a 6 man, too. Takes me to the same places as the 7 and 71 and often has seats available!

Greg

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:25:43 -0800

MUNI had a failwhale yesterday too, they wouldn't let us off the damned N cars at Duboce while they played with themselves. Thanks to MUNI I had to get a nice pricey cab to make my sales meeting.

Ginger

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:22:44 -0800

If by VIP you mean very incoherent people, then you're right. There's a reason why it's nicknamed the 6-ParNASTY. I hate that bus with a passion. The only thing worse is the 71 outbound on a Saturday afternoon. Dirty Hippy Express flying down the road, just in time to ruin your calm afternoon!

Brock Keeling

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:14:11 -0800

I LOVE the 6 Parnassus. it's like the VIP bus line of the Haight. It's always seems so much calmer than its grimy alternatives.

erik_flannestad

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:11:45 -0800

At about 8:35 this AM at the Duboce stop the brake on the back train of the outbound train I was riding refused to disengage. We were told the train was going out of service and we all should get off. Several MUNI engineers arrived shortly and had no luck getting the train to go forward. They did have some luck getting the train to go backwards. Unfortunately, the train behind us had moved a bit closer and there were MUNI patrons on the track and on the train. The broken down train moved backwards at about 5 miles per hour, nearly mowing down about 6 people and then crashing into the train behind. I don't think anyone was injured but some people were pretty freaked out. I took the 6 Parnassus to work.

brittney

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:56:36 -0800

I'm just here to say Jameth never fails to crack my ass up.

zippy_monster

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:50:19 -0800

Monthly FastPass: $45 Pissing away a few hours of work while stuck on a train: $$$$ Working from home this AM: priceless

Akit

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:44:37 -0800

That's the price muni pays for these piece of crap Breda cars that are heavy, maintenance prone (sure makes the damn unions happy), loud, bulky, and those SOBs can't run 3-car trains because it will damage the overhead wires. Oh yeah, the feds told them that they can't run them faster than 30 MPH because the brakes are f-ed up too.

mushmouth

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:38:23 -0800

No one was hurt, at 8:45 an outbound train stopped at the tunnel seemed to have a mechanical problem with the rear car. Muni had a truck and 2 techs there within 10 minutes, but the train still would not go forward into the tunnel, nor would the cars decouple. After a little while the outbound trains started to stack up with no where to go, stopping in a manner which appeared to stop an inbound train from getting past it, after about a 10 minute wait to back a working train down duboce a little bit (the operator informing the passengers that there would be a wait) the inbound trains started rolling again, but unfortunately there would be no trains to fill the void, so Muni started a bus service until the broken train could get out of the way. BTW how do you expect trains to get past a disabled train?

whosthatdog

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:19:31 -0800

riding my bike past the dozens of people waiting for the outbound n right there was great this morning. bikes 1 muni 0

frankjordan

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:07:21 -0800

the operator on the T line thanked his audience for their (presumed) "patience with MUNI" this am