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?
Update: The SFMTA informs us that they've beefed up service with nearly forty buses -- NEARLY FORTY, people. Plus, the Bike Coalition is coordinating a bunch of bike parking, which is awfully kind of them.
If you are bold enough to take public transit this weekend, we urge you to document the experience. For example, take screengrabs of NextMuni predictions; as of 5:53 this evening, it was reporting wait times of about an hour on the 71. Muni assures us that their predictions are incorrect, possibly because the NextBus computers don't understand that there's supplemental service. That's awesome! You can't trust anyone these days.
Original post follows:
There's going to be big crowds in Golden Gate Park, and unless you're a pro, just don't even bother taking the bus or train. Check the excellent survival guide over at N Judah Chronicles -- there's tips about which lines will be the worst and which might be tolerable; but the failwhale-watch is already reporting flukes on the 5: big crowds at UC Hastings; long waits; tons of bunching and totally uneven service. For the next three days, Muni will be arbitrary and capricious and, in general, a waste of your time and patience.
So our advice is this: say no to Muni and double-no to driving; instead, carry cab fare and don't be surprised if you have to walk.
Why, you might wonder, is Muni failing its customers/owners so profoundly? What a delightful question. We suggest that you pose it to their dedicated and responsive customer service professionals.
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Unfortunately, I have to take MUNI to get to Radiohead tonight. It will be hellish, I'm suresies.
The last link goes to some error page.
The other options for Muni since the N and 5 will be busy is to walk up to Balboa and take the 31 or 38's Ocean Beach branch.
I'm home now and I've washed the funk off, guzzled some wine and I've pretty much recovered, but at 4pm all of the Market/Haight Street buses were ALREADY packed hell-rides.
It's MUNI. All of the nearly 40 buses will arrive at the same time. The first one will be jam-packed to the gills (and an hour late) and the next ~39 will be totally empty.
This event will be hell for the people who regularly commute through the park or live nearby.
Available info about park entrance road closures? THERE AINT ANY!
http://www.akit.org/2008/08/outside-lands-festival-no-park-street.html
Reporting rowdy douchebags walking up 41st avenue to the venue, coming from the N stop.
This is going to be a phun weekend, I can tell.
This old taxpaying hippie remains staunchly opposed to paid events in public parks, especially GGP. Not only does it go against our long tradition of free music in this park, it deprives taxpaying citizens their rightful use of public land. The chainlink fences went up around the event perimeters early this week, and cars were already being denied access into the park at 41st and 25th Avenues on the Sunset side at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Private enterprise in public places? Save your money, and donate what you would have spent to your favorite charity after you attend something like the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. I'd recommend the San Francisco Free Clinic, run by the daughter of the man who sponsors the Bluegrass Festival every year.
WTF happened to the link now? Is this some city government bullshit joke that now says "It works!"???????
detouring the 71 up 41st Avenue.
How pleasant.
What's up with the free concert on La Playa? Can't find any details.
I posted a Survival Guide for MUNI at the N Judah Chronicles which you might enjoy.
Outbound Ns this afternoon were packed to the rafters and I'm really curiosu as to what happens tomorrow when we have the LaPlaya block party AND OSL in full force.
We're going to have a MUNI FailWhale watch party at Irving and 9th sometime tomorrow. Should be fun.
Not really, now. You only need look at Irwin Lum and the merry band of incompetent fools employeed at the behest of Natty Tatty Ford.
At the vague prompting of some Rescue MUNI folks, I crunched the numbers. If I were to bill MUNI for the hours wasted taking MUNI vs driving + BART... I'd have an extra $800+ per month.
Every once in a while I feel absurd for driving all the way to San Mateo county to catch a train to work (downtown San Francisco). Then I catch a whiff of MUNI.
http://sfist.com/2008/08/22/your_friday_muni_delay.php
lol.
I spent twenty minutes this morning explaining how to use a BART vending machine to some German tourists (whod'da thunk tourists @ Daly City)... and it still took me less time to get to work than if I had taken MUNI. Sheeh.
Customer service professionals? You sure you don't mean: nathaniel.ford@sfmta.com ?
RationalGal: yes. ugh. $300 for a concert in the park? Fuck that.
Lum and Ford, bunch of scumbags. One day, the taxpayers won't be wiping their butts, they'll be wiping their own with a pink slip while waiting at the unemployment line.
I still remember the time I put Muni to a new low when I caught them in the act and put them on Youtube. Search for "Muni Sucks" and view the first vid.
I just got back from the Outside Lands festivals. DO NOT RIDE THE N JUDAH TO THE SHOW THIS WEEKEND.
Sorry for the shouting but really. We waited at Embarcadero for over 30 minutes for the first N to show up at 5PM on a completely packed platform.
Once we squeezed in, it was a nightmarish 55 minute ride to 19th ave with asses and elbows everywhere. In 22 years here I've never been on a train here that crowded.
It was another 25 minute wait to get another N out and back home. Again packed and excruciatingly slow.
We left in the middle of the Radiohead show because we were so worried about getting home on Muni. (Also Radiohead's sound kept cutting out completely in mid-song).
Ride your bike or take a cab. The increased N service is a lie.
Also, if you cab it, or take Muni anyway, go to Sunset ave not 19th like it says in on the festival web site. The entrance is a long walk from 19th.
It's past 11PM, and I can still hear music just east of the park (a few blocks past Stanyan). Anyone know what's going on? I want to sleep!
Folks from the air it looks groovy with lots of Ns on the line in and outbound. But reports from NJC agents indicate it's a perfect storm of drunks, cars, traffic, and a lack of DPT presence.
Ouch!
Some live shots from the sky
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdewar/2789041098/
Oh, Jesus Holy Christ what a nightmare that was getting home from the Outlands concert. 2 1/2 hours from the sunset to Glen Park.
We coulda walked it in that time.
I wish I would have brought my camera. My experience with Muni was miserable.
We decided to walk north and catch the number 1 at 29th and California. NextBus said 16 minutes, 39 minutes, and 39 minutes.
First bus shows up as expected, 15-17 minutes later. Completely packed. Our stop had probably 40 people at it. Bus just blew through.
So we decided to walk California inbound. Block after block of completely packed stops, everyone wondering what was going on with the buses. I'm shocked a riot didn't break out.
We walked California all the way to Maple and California (from 29th) - not one bus came on the inbound route. 4 passed going outbound.
Walked up Sacramento, and at Sacramaneto and Cherry there was a 43 line bus just sitting there. Completely empty, minus two people asleep in the back, and no driver. Unbelievable.
I called 311 on the treck down California and they said Muni were doing all they could. Filed a formal complaint as well. I wasn't very nice to the lady, and I feel bad now - it certainly wasn't her fault. But I did get the complaint filed... I just wish I could apologize to the nice lady I talked to.
Also sent a message to Mr. Ford, using this link:
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/acontact/formgm.htm
I'll try to get some photos of the bus fiasco.
Also, 60,000+ people in attendance friday night. Let's say 20,000 people don't take the bus, that means 40 buses can take the whole crowd if they squeeze 1000 people on a bus.
Last night I walked all the way to 22nd where the 71 turns, so a bunch of us caught it before it got to the crowd of walking people on Lincoln. It wasn't planned though- we were passed by several packed N trains.
i rode my bike to radiohead last night and parked it with our friends the sfbc. getting the bike out involved a hugely long line, but when i saw the volunteers running around like lemmings getting people's bikes, i couldn't stay mad. for all their shortcomings, the sfbc made getting to and from the show last night totally bearable, and the ride home through the park was one of the best peaceful, car-free late night rides i've had in a while.
Coming back last night from radiohead, two N trains in a row wouldn't even stop to let people on -- and they were empty! the extra muni fare inspectors were yelling at muni hq on their cell phones to make the trains, you know, actually pick people up.
then one N did stop, not at an actual stop, and opened the doors. it then started moving while the last door was still open. i'm surprised nobody died.
great job, muni!
Let me sum up both Muni and Outside Lands in one word: Clusterf*ck.
5 mostly jammed busses in a row (3 had space in the back, typical Muni style) flew by Fulton and Masonic, none stopped. So we walked for a while and were lucky enough to bully our way into a cab.
On the way home there was no way in hell we were getting on a bus. Every bus that passed by was full of miserable sardines.
All of the private town cars/limos and airport shuttle vans caught on but were charging exorbitant rates, $40 for 20 blocks. And they weren't willing to negotiate down.
The show itself is really poorly organized too. Such a disappointment. I hope they get their acts together today and tomorrow. Someone will probably lose their job over this.
I concur with izzyizzy. Apart from a long, but not unbearable, line at the end of the night, riding my bike to the show was an absolute breeze. If I could do it over, I would have locked up my bike to one of the many bike racks near the free bike valet parking (but out side of it) and just grabbed it myself. But one of the advantages of waiting a little while in line before leaving is that it lets most of the peds get over to JFK drive before you catch up to them, so you don't need to bike through a big mob of people. If you're going to this thing, definitely bike if you can.
re: chainlink fences again. I thought they had been put up to keep people out, but apparently they had been put up to "funnel" people in and out of venues as well. I saw a report on the local CBS newscast this morning that there was a near stampede when too many people got crammed between the fences, and the fences had to be breached. One attendee said that they had to hop over the fence to avoid being trampled. You're right, looist, poorly organized indeed. Heads should roll. Anyone out there who was there when this happened, who can give us a firsthand account?
Boy, this one sure brought the Muni-haters out in force. I rode the J Church home from work Friday, it was fine. Should I take a picture of that, or are you only interested in snafus?
We drove last night (Friday) with six in the a car. Got rock star parking at a meter at five (1 hour only until six). And didn't have to deal with all muck shit after. ¿Bikes? ¿Muni? Ha.
@Jim -
I too rode the J last night home and it was great. The festival wasn't being held in Dolores Park, though.
I think people have every reason to be upset that the transit system that they pay for can't get their shit together enough to have a plan in place to deal with a major public event they've known about for a couple of years. It's ridiculous.
If the festival was being held at the end of the J line, I bet you'd be a "Muni-hater" out in force, too, and the N Judah people would be all "What? My ride was fine!"
N Judah people never say that.
what an absolute fiasco.
my girlfriend and i had planned to go way early at 3 pm and already at this time, buses were not picking up hordes of people at the stops. at least six 5 buses passed us on the corners of mcallister and hyde/larkin and only one was full. there was tons and tons of space on these buses on the back and drivers refused to stop. one bus stopped to drop a passenger off and didnt open the front door.
we walked to market and decided our luck on the 71 and the first one we saw was completely packed so we decided to fuck any of the lines that were supposed to "help outside lands commuters" and get to the 38 geary, which we got on on our first try.
i just read an article that festivals pay muni up to 2000 - 4000 dollars to re-route their buses when they close down streets. and these are miniscule festivals. i can only imagine what the organizers of outside lands paid muni for to get us festival-goers to the park. and they can't even do their fucking job and stop for us when the buses are half-empty.
on the way home, and this might be useful to anyone going back to the financial district or nob hill or inner richmond tonight or tomorrow, we walked back to geary and their were hordes of people waiting for the 38 without much luck. we went to the starting point of the california 1 on geary and 33rd (it faces westbound and turns on 33rd) and were able to get on it right away. however, it did not stop AT ALL for any festival goers on the way even though our bus was NOT FULL at all. what motherfuckers.
No problem taking 21 to and from Embarc this morning.
Just noticed this comment on my blog:
I found the following on the 311 website in the knowledge base page under events. It brings up a calendar that I think should be on the sfgov front page.
"Outside Lands has a community hotline to respond to any issues that might affect the community during the festival which will be available 11 am to 11 pm on festival days (415) 387-1935."
This contact information is not on the Outsidelands page.
Why doesn't the ENTIRE CITY OF SF GIVE THESE BASTARDS A CALL???
Here is the official info from the city of SF on the event, with the complaint number:
http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/popup.php?&op=view&id=17696663&crd=sf311cityevents
I should have just paid someone $100 to kick me in the head
What a bust
thank god I only bought for one night
Never again
San Francisco simply can't handle something like this
I'm interested as to what you expect Muni to do. Force a whole bunch of drivers (maybe 100+) to work for a few extra hours on a friday night. I wonder if you expect the Driver's union to have an issue with that. Likely they would demand, (and deserve) at the very least overtime pay and at least a 6 hour shift. How would you feel if your employer demanded that you stick around on a friday night to deal with 1000's of entitled drunk idiots from out of town? Then you have to add how many drivers does Muni even have who know those routes or are trained to drive a Muni streetcar. As for the busses driving through with the rear empty, you blame the driver? How about 40,000 people from out of town. Maybe Outlands should have provided shuttle busses, and added a ticket surcharge.
Muni should have provided those special express bus service like they have for Bay to Breakers. Pay extra for an express bus ride to downtown.
mushmouth
If we can't provide the transportation we shouldn't have the event. Plain and simple and this event impacted thousands of regular San Franciscans
Like cops I do think drivers do have a duty to work overtime for city events
And the event organizer should have either run special buses and paid for the OT
Really though I don't think we are up to an event like this as our RT hardly functions on a normal day
Tell me, how do you think 60,000 people are going to get to an event, any event. I have attended concerts at the Rose Bowl in LA and it takes at least an hour to get out by car. It is almost as bad at The Shoreline.
So you had to wait 1/2 for a bus? How does that compare to the usual concert experience?
This board is just full of whiners. They probably complain when it rains as well.
We have big events at Dolores Park all the time and I never complain, even though it impacts me. I admit, nothing this big, but that is the "charm" of living in a big city. Ask The Castro residents what Pride Week does to their neighborhood.
When I used to live near GG Park, I would always go hang out near the stage, but outside the tape and get to hear great bands for free. If you are misanthrope and hate crowds, city life is not for you.
i hope they got paid overtime or at least had an extra day off from their normal week. i have no idea how muni is as an employer and how they treat their employees. are they disgruntled because of their employers or because of all the shit they have to deal with the crazy people that ride the buses. nonetheless, they choose to stay and do this job. clearly, alot of drivers stop on normal days even if their buses are sardine-packed and yesterday, none were stopping. maybe cuz of resentment of having to deal with this shit.
whatever the case, its poor organization from both outsidelands organizers and muni. what i expect from them is to do the math. they know the scope, they've got the numbers.
i went to hardly strictly bluegrass last year and that was a free concert that was pretty packed and i didn't have that hard of a time getting to and from.
also, treasure island did a pretty decent job by hiring shuttle buses last year. on their inaugural year at that.
furthermore, radiohead didn't even sound great. and i'm not even talking about the entire minute from both airbag and all i need where you couldn't even hear a damn thing. i stayed in the polo fields almost the whole time but from what i saw and heard, the pathways to speedway and lindley were too narrow for the crowds causing funnel traffic that resulted in what? people trying to break down the fences? that's not good....
skeletal_lamper, I just read your post and I think you have a legitimate beef. If non-full buses are passing you by, then they are violating Muni policy and you should file a complaint. Take down the bus number and go the Muni site and complain.
Everyone says it doesn't make any difference, but I have filed one complaint in my 15 years here and while it was found in the driver's favor, it was clear that he was *not happy* about the whole process.
I am going to make a real wild ass guess that Muni probably ran extra buses for this event. Does anyone actually believe that they did not? They run extra trains on days when the Giant's play and this was much bigger than that.
NoeValleyJim
From Noe Valley it took me two hours each way in a combo or walking and riding on absolutely crush loaded buses. As common sense would tell you 2 hours of walking and crushing on buses equals quite a many many hours of sitting in car
I have been riding buses in SF since I was a little so I am not someone who doesn't know how to live in a city
I didn't expect front door service but the accommodation was totally inadequate. Even the "shuttle bus" I took on the way back was poorly planned, the driver didn't know where he was going (yet every single person had to ask him and was confused), it didn't have a sign and they were charging which slowed the bus down incredibly.
The city should make the organizer pay for buses and if Muni can't handle the crush it should include private service
And it was appalling for the locals who weren't even going to the show to have to deal with this on their commute. I saw old people absolutely overwhelmed
I can walk from any spot in The City to any other spot in less than two hours. Where were you going to/from? I guess if you waited an hour for a bus then walked an hour, that would be two hours, but I would think you would have learned your lesson for your return trip.
I ask again, how does this compare to a usual concert experience? And how else do you move 60,000 people? Hey, if this is just a b*tch session, I guess that is fine, but complaining about crowds at a concert is a little like complaining about sunshine in Florida, don't you think?
NoeValleyJim, my girlfriend and I wholly plan to file a complaint, though we have no bus numbers to report. Based on our experience (every bus we saw drove past, and the one we were riding drove past every single stop), most of the buses serving the festival were surely doing the exact same thing. We will probably file the complaint as a general one regarding the lack of service.
I literally summed up all the complaints in one blog posting titled:
Outside Lands Festival - Muni Terrible, Complaints, and Not Making Friends
http://www.akit.org/2008/08/outside-lands-festival-muni-terrible.html
Ok, I had a night to sleep on the experience.
Muni's failures are still inexcusable.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, and went to several large events there - most notably, the Houston Rodeo. I was never a big fan, but if you live in Houston, you have to go to the rodeo at least once.
Anyway - most nights there are 60,000 to 80,000 people in attendance.
Never has there been a failure in the whole system like I experienced with Muni last night.
That's right - the mass transit in Houston, Texas beats the pants off San Francisco.
That's pretty sad. And disgraceful. And if I had ever gone through the trouble of changing my legal address to San Francisco after moving, I'd be embarrassed.
skeletal_lamper: FWIW, I had a pretty typical time getting to HSB last year. 40+ minute headways on the 28 ensured that I would have been faster walking.
If the regular drivers are in too short supply, why not contract out to other transit agencies, or a private company to provide service? The TWU is not a valid excuse to have craptacular service to/from a major event. There are many, many livery vehicles, why not make use of them?
There are so many potential ways to provide decent service, throwing your hands up in the air is inexcusable.
Hey houston,
How much parking is provided outside the arena where the rodeo is held? Did you actually take transit there, or did you do what more than 95% of the attendees did and drive? I wouldn't be surprised if more than 30,000 people tried to take muni, arriving and leaving within an hour, at 50 people/bus that is 600 buses, one every 6 seconds.
And as for not holding the event, your probably right, they won't have another one, and you all can drive down to concord for the Bridge Benefit or Southern California for Coachella.
Regardless of whether or not they have another I will not be going
Again I am not sure how this can be justified for the normal riders of Muni too. It was a real bad scene.
I understand it is a challenge to move that many people but why tell people to ride the N when it will obviously fail?
Why run a half assed "shuttle" without a sign and without a driver who knows where he is going? Why make people pay on said shuttle when we know none of them have Muni passes and it will cause mass confusion (make the promoter pay)? And why lie about running all of these shuttles when I saw one in an hour?
I shouldn't be surprised as Muni barely functions for Giants games where they could simply offer a redundant circulating bus service after the games that ran to BART from the park. If they fail then and they often fail for our normal commutes how in the world can they pull something like this off?
Private companies can run buses more efficiently at about 1/3 the price of a public transit agency
I will be driving the HS bluegrass or in the least leaving my car in the Sunset
Just got back from MUNIing about the west half of the city. Took a 71 from 19th ave to the ocean and then an N Judah back to Cole. No troubles, no wait. The Ns seemed to be coming steadily every 10 minutes. If this is a disaster, then MUNI is the best transit system in the world.
I've been riding around today on the N and I haven't experienced any problems at all.
Now if only I could get a 71 to stop in front of my house every day I'd be a happy camper.
Mark2000: wait until everyone decides to leave the park. It's not as if the departures are evenly spaced throughout the day. That said, I bet traffic is pretty light too. w00t.
P.S. Look at the metro right now (sfmunicentral.com). I count seven N trains (fourteen cars in all) in the subway right now. Two L cars (both inbound), five K cars, one M and two Js. One of the Ls just became an M.
Yep. That's fantastic service.
Sorry, Mark2000, you aren't a bitter angry hater, so your comments aren't welcome here.
Thank you SFBC for the parking Friday night. I went to grab my bike about 2 songs before the end and it was easy and fast. Just stood with my bike and listened to the rest of the show, then sweet ride home. If you're going to Sunday, ride a bike, it's totally the way to go.
This was business as usual, every day, under Willie Brown's Muni...
Except, add the super special bonus that most vehicles were older than your parents, so breakdowns were frequent, and if underground, could trap you for HOURS.
The upshot was that you could show up 1-2 hours late for work, shrug and say the word "Muni" and that would be the end of it.
I found an interesting loophole in the live NextBus Map. With the 71 being detoured up 41st Avenue, they don't at all show on the live map as such. For example, three 71's just passed but only three 71s in total are displayed on the map, and none nowhere near this location.
Although this isn't terribly surprising, the pertinent questions are: 1) how many of these buses are actually in service and; 2) how do they appear or disappear from a GPS located map?
It's not as though if they drive on their route they happen to be located by the satellites, GPS doesn't work that way. So either someone in a control room toggles the GPS reporting off, or the drivers have the capability to turn it off. Either way, it's a seriously fishy capability. It would be something different if there were units on the street that were dead-headed or NIS, but totally disappearing off the map is some serious accountability problem.
I miss the "Ask a Muni Driver" column! I remember a particularly enlightening comment he/she (?) made in one of the last posts. Someone asked why Muni can't ever seem to provide adequate transportation in the right places for the big events in the city (Bay to Breakers, 4th of July, etc.). The bus driver said that, due to the contracts with the drivers' union, Muni actually could not force their drivers into driving extra shifts--even though drivers would be paid overtime (and special holiday pay in certain cases). And never mind that they work for the city, since that never seems to enter into the discussion.
Not that management cares, since Nat Ford can do such a craptacular job as last year and *still* get a bonus!
So I say, complain away, my pretties. Maybe at some point someone in the MTA will wake up and heads will finally roll... (in the meantime, though, it wouldn't hurt to vote against things like that atrocious Prop A last year that gave Muni a blank check to do things JUST LIKE THIS!)
So is it fair to say that Muni fixed itself and the N and 71 are a-ok going to and from the festival?
Was anyone else on the three N-Judahs that broke down by UCSF on Friday? The drivers told everyone to get out and walk, and then, sure enough ten minutes later all three go barelling past all the former pedestrians without stopping.
Top notch, Muni.
Didn't go to OSL, but this basically, sounds like Bay to Breakers times two or five. Meh. I am *never* driving or taking transit back from Bay to Breakers again, only biking or walking, since for the last couple of years it's taken 2 1/2 hrs to bus back to downtown. I can walk it in that time. Did anyone expect this event to be any different?