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Chronicle Watch Watch, where we mock the Chronicle's award-winning efforts to improve our neighborhoods one step at a time, is finally back. Why have we returned to gently ribbing CW, you ask? Well, because of this.
See, someone wrote or called the Chron with a pressing issue about baby strollers on Muni. While we were giddy at the thought of the Chron working hard to help ban the cumbersome and space-gobbling baby stroller from public transit, this wasn't to be the case. Today's Chronicle Watch is just an article about why bus drivers demand you to take your little blessings out of the stroller and carry them during the ride. (According to SFMTA's gorgeous Judson True, "children [need to] be removed from strollers and the strollers folded up - for the safety of the children and for other passengers.") So, yeah.
While this doesn't seem like something broken in the neighborhood, at least it's not as bad as an article telling you how to explain to your kid about Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter. Oh wait, nevermind.
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I think one of the commenters on sfgate totally summed up what is inherently wrong with this: people with these huge things sit in the front of the bus and BLOCK everyone else.
Ironically I just experienced this last week on the 47. Couple with their baby get on at vaness and market and sit in the front of the bus with their kid in the stroller. At mcallister it is clear that most people choose not to move past the stroller and stand in the front of the bus. The driver ends up asking people to "move back!" multiple times stating that he could totally see all the space in the back. That stroller was the bottleneck that left 10 people standing at the bus stop waiting for the next one because the stroller took up 80% of the isle.
there is also a safety issue. if a stroller has a child in it, and the stroller is not literally tied down, the risk to the child is significant.
one sudden stop to avoid a (insert urban pest here) and that kid goes flying. and then MUNI gets sued.
plus, they block access, particularly for the disabled who need to be able to get to their seats quickly. so in this case, muni is doing what it has to do. scary, but true.
I wish we could come up with some solution for this, instead of bashing parents. I don't think anyone wants to have to take their stroller on MUNI, but isn't it better to encourage people to use public trans. than drive? What about people who don't have cars and have to use MUNI to get their kids to the doctor, get groceries, etc.?
We have spots for the disabled and elderly, and even bikes (on busses, but not light rail) what about for strollers and kids? I know this city is pretty anti-kid, but having kids is part of life. We were all kids once.
I think people stay up front with strollers because it is hard to get them down the back stairs. Of course it's bad to block the front, but what if there was a flip up seat where strollers could be stored?
Warning - dark humor ahead ....
Did you know that airline stewards/stewardesses refer to baby's held by their parents on the plane as "missiles?" Don't get alarmed if you hear a steward say there are 3 missiles on the plane ... he/she probably just means there are three babies that, if the crap hits the fan while the plane is in the air, are likely to go sailing across the plane cabin.
On Palin, Sup. Tom Ammiano had a great line the other morning at the No on Prop. 8 campaign office kickoff ... he said that Sarah Palin has a PHD - a Pentecostal Hair Do. As only Tom can enunciate it, he then said " Just teasing .. teasing it for Jesus."
sunsetstyle I can totally appreciate that. I have found that the newer busses would accomodate strollers perfectly if that space behind the last row of the lower part of the bus accross from the back door were slightly wider and could fit a stroller. Maybe we need a culture where the two seats that flip up for wheel chairs flip up for strollers too (as in, we will get up if they get on).
What pisses me off about the kid that i saw, was that there were 2 parents for ONE kid, and they still kept him there. neither were carrying bags.
i also feel like more parents need to act like the mothers i see all the time on the 14 and 24.
buy a cheap stroller that has NOTHING on it so that when you want to go on the bus the stroller takes up minimal room. You can get them at goodwill or salvation army or any of the stores on mission street.
This whole stroller with all the fixins thing is way inappropriate for MUNI. Less is more people...less is more.
Yeah, when I read the initial article it pissed me off that people were actually thinking that there's no problem with this so now I'm pissed off all over again. Thanks. :P
If the bus is nearly empty and will likely not get much fuller, fine, whatever. However if it looks more like the picture they had of the full bus in the article, it's incredibly rude to those of us who have to somehow manuever past the stroller without waking up the kid (unless we want to risk getting yelled at by the parent).
This is a city for attractive 27 year olds who make lots of American dollars, not ugly, hollering babies drooling all over the Muni bus. People who drag their prams full of whelps aboard public transit need to be rounded up.
holy crud, where have YOU been hiding? welcome back, sir.
people who think san francisco is only full of "27 year-olds who make lots of American dollars," have obviously never ridden the 44 o-shaughnessy. excellent righteous indignation, AYM. enjoy the view from walnut creek in 5 years!
judson true looks like jello biafra looks like rex grossman.
it's true.
if the stroller is bigger than the bus, DON'T TAKE IT ON THE BUS. it's probably a jogging stroller, so jog behind it.
Safety first!!
I am way more annoyed by someone trying to wrestle their giant Hummer stroller up the steps so they can block the aisle than by someone's kid drooling on me.
44 O'Shaughnessy? Where's that? Is that like the 9 San Bruno? I felt like going on an adventure one day and hopped on that bus line just to see where it went. Guess what I saw? Poor people! In San Francisco! I was totally astonished and immediately called up Angela Alioto so she could do something about it. The 9 San Bruno sure isn't like the 1 California. I mean, you like had to wait for it to arrive and everything! Unbelievable.
Strollers are no big deal and easy to walk around. Folding them up really does no good because those big cadillac strollers are the same size when folded, now you got a person holding it with one hand and controlling a wailing kid with the other. The little ones are small when they fold but also small when they are occupied.
I think for everyone's sanity its best to leave the kid in the stroller and put the brake on. Parents who ride muni often know the best out of the way spots to chill.
uh, glad to see that sociology degree working for you, angry, but you should probably do some research before blasting next time. your broad brush seems to have missed its target this time.
your suburban friends will be so impressed by your "back when i was keeping it real in the city" stories when you inevitably leave the city to have kids.
but i'm sure that 9 san bruno's a bitch. i have no idea where the 1 california goes, but if you rode the busses regularly, you'd realize that there are these neat little led readouts that tell you when the next one will arrive.
what, none of your friends told you that last time you were slugging down pbr at the zeitgeist?
okay, i read that post back. it was out of line. a little nasty. sorry.
I never understood the whole bugaboo $1K stroller craze. Someone bought me some ginormous stroller. It was a pain in the ass and wound up stuffed in a closet. The $25 kmart special was much more convenient.
Besides, half these kids should be walking anyway. Pushing them around is just readying them for a future of obesity.
@sunsetstyle: "We have spots for the disabled and elderly, and even bikes (on busses, but not light rail) what about for strollers and kids?"
We could strap them to the roof in their strollers Romney-style.
Muni drivers should be required to hold wheelchair passengers in their laps.
Hmmm, let's see here, what's the issue at hand.
- Awkward piece of mechanical equipment on wheels to transport a human that needs to be secured within a motor vehicle as to provide safety for the person in the equipment and for other passengers.
Gee...you know, I believe someone ought to make a law for this and require buses to create a secure and safe space specifically for this type of equipment. I'm surprised nobody has thought of this before.
Damn! Am I freakin brilliant, or what!
No, sweet charles, parents need to KEEP THE CADILLAC STROLLERS OFF THE BUS. The miniature folding strollers are perfect when riding mass transit. Anyone who can spend $500 on a B.O.B. can also spend $25 on the aforementioned Kmart special.
Younger infants don't do so well in folding upright strollers. They're intended for children closer to blogging age.