On Friday, the Chronicle ran a controversial opinion piece, tucked into the Entertainment section where it apparently went unnoticed amongst all the cacophony of bluegrass festivals and air shows and parades and street fairs and whatnot. Despite the buried headline, the conceit is something we've heard in casual conversations multiple times: Some people don't ride Muni because it has poor people on it.

Let's unpack columnist Caille Millber's piece:

I watch people's faces when they see me waiting at a bus stop. Many of them, especially drivers, look at me like I'm doing something vaguely unsavory - like I'm drinking out of a paper bag or flashing "designer" watches for sale.

To many people, taking the bus is on the same level as these activities. It's interesting to ask people why they won't take it. Usually their objections seem practical, at least on the surface: The bus is "slow" or it's "always late."

First of all: many of us drink out of a paper bag on the weekends anyway; no judgement there. On the other hand, Muni buses do have a notoriously bad on-time record, no matter how the STMTA spins it, so that's a valid excuse. But the real problem here is just who those buses are supposedly designed for:

I asked Max Hirsh, a transportation researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and he explained that bus routes tend to be designed for people who have "a smaller radius of operations," and for "people who have more time than money."

In other words, poor people.

That's the real reason why many residents avoid the bus, isn't it?

Last time we checked a commute from 42nd Avenue to Union Square on the 38-Geary was hardly a small "radius of operations." Likewise, claiming that public transit is designed for poor people with plenty of time on their hands is putting the hybrid trolley before the horse. (Or something.) In other words: Most bus-avoiding transit riders might just be fed up because it takes for-fucking-ever to get anywhere. Then there's the matter of the pink plastic bags, which are frustrating enough to make you consider (gasp!) buying a car:

The real reason why people give me that look when they see me waiting at the bus stop is what happens after I get on the bus. It's the people who are taking up two or three seats with thousands of plastic bags from low-budget food markets. It's the people who smell like they've been living on the street. It's the people who have loud cell phone conversations about their court cases or their overdue child support...

It turns out that what they really think is that the bus is "too rowdy." Some mention the "danger" of "people fighting" or "doing graffiti." Some mention the "danger" of their smartphones being snatched. The train weeds out the kinds of people who do these things - at least in their perception. And if the train can't get you to where you want to go, maybe that's when it's time to start thinking about a car.

Personally, we get a little self-conscious whenever we have to carry luggage on the 5-Fulton around rush hour, but that's just us. Our friends over at Muni Diaries, on the other hand, noted that groceries are just a fact of life of public transportation.

So, is this really where San Francisco has arrived under the transit-first banner? A city of drivers and train riders, eager to do some bus-shaming on their friends who ride the 22-Fillmore on a regular basis? It certainly seems that way when Millner concludes: "I watch people's faces when they see me waiting at a bus stop. Many look at me like I'm doing something vaguely unsavory."

And we haven't even started in with the cyclists yet.

Previously: Etiquette Week: How to Behave on Public Transportation
[Chron]
[MuniDiaries]