Chilling Account of a Muni Mugging
This Could Be Our Skyline, In a Couple of Decades
-thumb-110x110-460161.jpg)
Cops Get Tough With UC Berkeley Protesters
San Jose Swim Coach Impregnated Girl When She Was 14
Photo du Jour 512
Sure, we knew it was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock to see in this morning's Chron that MUNI is going to bump fares up to two bucks on July 1. In case you're wondering, that means that fares on our ramshackle-yet-beloved transportation system will have doubled over the space of five years.
Oh, and a bunch of bus lines are definitely going. And there will be cuts to the other ones, which means that the three packed-to-the-gills busses we rode yesterday (22, 1, and 71, if you're interested) are somehow going to be fuller. This is going to get rough. Thanks a bunch, state/federal/local politicians/unions/insert favorite blame target here!
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I guess I'll just have to start boarding through the back door like everyone else.
Finally, they are killing off the CultureBus. Everyone in this damn city knew that line should have been dead a long time ago.
Fortunately those SFMTA idiots didn't approve a 50 cent transfer fee.
This is going on everywhere right now. NYC and Chicago already raised their fares. Oh wait, their transit systems actually work as promised. You may as well put the 2 bucks in your pocket and start walking or split a cab with 2 other people. You'll save money and get there faster.
Actually, in DC they just voted NOT cut service. Instead, they'll dip into their rainy day fund. Good idea to have that, no?
http://dcist.com/2009/04/metro_board_votes_to_avoid_service.php
How funny...I almost named my post something simliar...great minds etc etc... :-)
This is the perfect time for Muni to campaign for Translink on full public rollout. Look at it this way, Muni is trying to save money, and Translink reduces Muni's daily cost on printing transfers, staff sorting the money from the fareboxes, and the bus can leave a stop quicker because there's far fewer cash paying customers holding up the vehicle.
They should follow AC Transit's lead, they offered a 25 cent discount incentive for people to use Translink for a few months.
And SFMTA is proposing to shutter "Ole Ironsides", aka the 7 Haight. She will be missed. I threw up in/on her twice and never was I judged.
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/rbudget2010/budgservice.htm
I stopped riding the best because it took an hour to get anywhere! Waiting. Stops. Lines. Delays. It sucked.
I bought a road bike for $600 and I get anywhere I want in 15 minutes ( i live in the tenderloin) and it will pay for itself in no time because I don't need cabs and I'm not buying muni passes.
Transit sucks. Wishing more people road bicycles.
+1
Except in my case, bike = motorcycle
Or in mine where bike= motorcycle=scooter. Even in the rain way better than taking Muni.
Even factoring in parking, it's cheaper (and faster) to take my scooter than ride Muni. I would never, ever leave my bike parked/locked up in public. Of course, I usually just go via foot, thanks to my location. It was actually MUNI that forced me to buy my scooter in the first place. 40 minutes to get from downtown to the Haight at 9 o'clock at night? no thanks.
If I say the union is a big part of the problem, will I get run out of town? "Liberal" SF likes to complain about MUNI but what about asking the tough questions? Sure there are problems all over...it's run horribly. But the union is also a major issue. The pay rates/benefits for those drivers is through the roof, and that's the #1 cost for muni.
I'm to the left of Lenin, and even I would give my eye teeth to bust Muni's union.
Yeah, blame the unions. I'm not saying MUNI employees are perfect, they are far from it, but the real problem lies at the state level.
The state has been raiding the public transportation fund for years, and they finally ran it dry. All over the state there are budget shortfalls because money that was promised to these agencies is no longer there.
You'd be best served to talk to the Gov first.
I like muni fine. Its not as good as DC's system, but it's fine. Before you praise NYC, have you ever tried to ride a crosstown bus or taken the G from one burrough to another?
if you're not going into or out of manhattan, nyc's subway isn't that much better.
The cabs though are way better than here. That's the real crime.
All kinds of idiots on SFGate say they'll just start driving now. Please. While I can't say I'm pleased about the increase (Muni as an organization needs far more oversight and responsibility both fiscally and in terms of service and performance), $60 is still gonna be cheaper for me than the cost of gas and parking in the Financial District for commuting 20+ business days a month. (Cheaper than if I had to BART from East Bay, too) Ultimately, the hassle and speed of trip is generally about the same, as well--driving in the city during rush hour isn't the calming experience it's being made out to be there. Biking would definitely be an option if I didn't live out on the Avenues, but I can't say I'm big on sweating my ass off riding in often wet weather like this morning's and showing up to work looking like a drowned rat. I'll keep taking public transportation while it's still feasible.
At any rate, when I was transferred here from Chicago a few years back (where the CTA wasn't necessarily a treat, either), a month pass there was $75, so Muni will still be one of the only urban living expenses that's cheaper here than most places around the country. Somebody just needs to give that whole organization a serious kick in the pants, however, not that I'm counting on it.
Don't read SFGate comments. They will make you dumber. Wish I could prove it with a graph or something.
Yeah, I really oughta know better, and withak is right, you can tell the vast majority of them don't live in town.
I'm convinced that almost none of the sfgate commenters actually live in SF. They are either from remote suburbs or outside of the Bay area or even California, and see themselves as raging against the liberal machine by posting there. You can tell by how many put "SF" in their username in an attempt to appear local.
Great point. I've noticed the "SF" username thing too. Well The Internet was made for porn and for anonymous arguing and as long as they stay on Slashdot, 4Chan and YouTube I don't care.
I'm just slacking at work right now but a ton of people don't do shit with their lives and just comment and argue all day.
I love it when Drudge links to an SF Gate article. The resulting comments are pure comedy!!
Problem: Declining ridership & widespread dissatisfaction
Solution: Increase fares, cut service.
Oh, Muni.
And the SFGate Comments are priceless. Like the reptilian brain of the Internet. If the article is about someone shoplifting, some commenter will inevitably call for the death penalty.
To be fair this isn't intended to solve the "declining ridership & widespread dissatisfaction" problem, it's intended to solve the "not enough money to pay the bills" problem.
Donut forget SF Gate commentators fetish for prison-rape!
mmmmm, donuts.
I think a SF Gate "Comment of the Day" would be a nice feature here on SFist.
Like the bumper-sticker says: Gas, grass, or ass; nobody rides for free
It seems that when other cities charge more for public transit they at least run their trains (mostly) on time. If MUNI did that for $2 a ride I'd stop bitching... for now. And if we scrap the billion dollar central subway fiasco we could use the money fixing what we already have, rather than building more junk that won't work, and will cost even more to fix.
What's worse is that it's about time for Muni to announce that it's time for periodic maintenance and overhaul of these (newish)trains.
There's more to it than what's being reported.
Grass is always greener on the other side -- there is no transit agency on this continent that magically makes non-grade-separated vehicles without a right of way always run on time. Lack of ROWs and the Market tunnel troubles are another topic though.
As for the Central Subway, we've been through this before, but once again: very little of those billions of dollars would be available for projects that aren't the Central Subway. So no, you couldn't use the money fixing what you already have.
hahah wow, we sure got some elitist-ass comments up in here, huh?
i'm buying a bike today =)
i started working on the other side of town last year and made the jump from muni (1 hour+ on the 49) to a scooter, and finally to a bicycle. i should have switched to a bike a long time ago, it is much more fun (and cheaper, and healthier, and usually faster) than sitting on a bus.
i really hope muni gets better because this city absolutely needs it. but in the meantime, thumbs up for bicycling.
my tax return just came in. perfect timing.
I was procrastinating at work so I took a look at the transit authorities of the top 12 largest cities in the US (San Francisco is $13) to get an idea of what they charge for a standard fare and standard monthly pass (if offered). I found it interesting. (Did you know Dallas' public transportation system is called DART: Dallas Area Rapid Transit?)
I'm not remarking on the quality of any of these systems (besides Jacksonville's -- SUHH-HHUCKS!!!), but whatevs.
And yes, you can't formulate any sort of table in the comment fields. I see that now.
Anyhow:
City Fare Monthly Pass
New York City $2.50 (as of 5/31) $81
Los Angeles $1.25 $62
Chicago $2.25 $86
Houston $1.25 --
Phoenix $1.25 $45
Philadelphia $2.00 $78
San Antonio $1.10 $30
San Diego $2.50 $68
Dallas $1.50 $50
San Jose $1.75 $61.25
Detroit $1.50 $47
Jacksonville $1 $40
yes. and as hard as it is for many people here to believe, most of the transit agencies you listed here are actually MUCH worse than Muni in terms of frequency of stops, reliability, etc. MOST. even with this price hike it's still less expensive than average. think about that before you start whining.
Indeed. I'd love to see people spend six months in Phoenix, going everywhere they need to go solely on public transit. Then I'd like them to come back to San Francisco and tell us if they still think Muni is such a horrible system.
Uh...hey! RobinSF means Rob who resides in SF. Some of you really need to retire the tinfoil hats and assumptions.
You obviously aren't "some_guy_SF" on sfgate.com preaching about how Muni should be privatized to make it cheaper and more effective, how taxes should be abolished and the homeless and welfare recipients should be put into workcamps to pay their way, and how all criminals should be raped by other criminals and then executed.
Good point. Speaking of which, aren't we overdue for a "prison rape" thread around here? j/k ;)
well there was a thread about Johannes Mehserle earlier today. you can go ahead and start the discussion there.
What is the "16-Noriega morning express" to be cut as mentioned by Rachel Gordon on SFGate? Does this mean the 16AX-Noriega Express? Or the 16BX-Noriega Express? Or perhaps one or both lines is being cut in the morning? The 16AX/BX is in a Muni top 10 corridor, so you'd think SFGate could get this right.
Essentially the AX is being discontinued, with the BX extended along Noriega to Great Highway to pick up for the AX and slightly more frequent service. The segment of the AX that runs up Sunset then along Lincoln is being discontinued. About 100 people use the stops being discontinued, but are within two blocks or less of either the N-Judah or the new combined 16-line.
Just to keep this argument going, I've spent quite a bit of time on public transport in other cities, and the primary difference between Muni and almost everywhere else is reliability. I don't care as much about what it costs as I do that it's going to show up, actually move, and let me know where the hell I am while I'm on the train. Rapid transport systems that do this that I've been on in the past few years:
Bangkok, Thailand
Curitiba, Brazil
Rome, Italy
See the commonality? English is not the first language. But the trains and/or BRT cars showed up when they were supposed to, let me know where they where going, and let me know where they were. The improvements that Muni needs to make are obvious (real BRT, real right-of-way, automated stop announcements over an intelligible PA system), but for some reason they don't happen, and we get endless fare hikes, service cuts, and a system that just doesn't improve.
Things should get better, not worse. Muni gets worse. That's the problem.
The buses are already so crowded. It's hard to imagine how squeezed in we'll all be after the additional cuts.