511 - SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports

Secret Muni Delays Will Suprise and Infuriate You This Afternoon

Brock Keeling — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:31:20 GMT

Happening right now (as of 4:30 p..m), the N Judah is anticipating big delays. Getting home should be difficult, so riders should explore non-Muni methods of getting home.

Also, is 511 withholding information about the delay from riders? Because it's completely missing from their list of alerts. Sure, 511's alert went out via RSS, but if you just browse their list of alerts it doesn't show up. So lots of people won't see it until they're trapped.

Why do we pay millions for this shitty 511 website that doesn't work? It's infuriating. Seriously.

Real-Time Muni train information is now

Matt Baume — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:52:21 GMT

Did somebody at 511.org just accidentally their website? According to an alert, you can now real-time Muni train information. Hey, that's!

But that's not all! They also want you to please ignore, test, test, test, and test one. These transit alerts certainly are valuable!

We think that what they're trying to say is that NextBus data is now available when you call 511. We just tried calling and they seemed to be using NextBus info, rather than Muni's completely fictitious pre-determined schedules. Way to communicate, 511!

Unlike 511.org, We're Never Too Busy for Transit

Matt Baume — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:29:55 GMT

BART will be there to do a presentation, and Caltrain, and NextBus, and the MTC; they'll be joined by a ton of eager software developers and UI designers and social-engineering-types. Will Muni be there? Er, maybe. Possibly. In an unofficial capacity. Muni's been suspicious of information-sharing in the past, but maybe they can be convinced by the peppy energy of the Transit Campers -- and the success enjoyed by their projects such as IamCaltrain, and Zimride (for carpooling), and RideSpring (for incentivized rideshares and transit), and Efficient Palo Alto.

Camp happens this weekend, the 23rd and 24th, from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM in Palo Alto. Yes, Palo Alto. Good luck figuring out how to take transit to get there! It's at the SocialText HQ, 665 High St. We won't be attending; but our friends are, and we'll be anxiously waiting to hear how it goes.

DANGER: Muni Cars Return to Claim More Victims

Matt Baume — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:54:00 GMT

Muni issued an alert yesterday afternoon that said simply, "Emergency - Powell line cable cars back in service." Oh no! Emergency! Cable cars unleashed on an unsuspecting public! Save yourselves! Run for the hills! Oh no wait -- the hills are exactly where the cable cars WANT you to run!

Okay, okay, we jest. Obviously it's just a poor choice of words, not peril. We can't begin to guess why someone thought that "emergency" was an appropriate word to describe the reopening of cable car line -- perhaps the only good news to have come out of Muni in recent memory -- but anyway it made us giggle. Oh how we giggled. The giggling fools, that's what people called us.

Watch Muni's RSS feed for more exciting updates, such as "Sound the Alarm: F Line Appeals to Visiting Tourist Family" and "CATACLYSMIC DISASTER: New Bus Seats Found to be Cushiony, Soothing to Buttocks."

real

Give the Gift of Consumer Insight to 511

Matt Baume — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:00:13 GMT

If you're done with your pagan tree-worship holiday, head on over to MeTransCo's 511 Survey, and let them know just how bad they suck. 'Tis the season! You could win an iPod, as if you didn't already have four or five of them already.

The MTC is interested in how people use their services (if at all) -- for example, which of 511's many sites do you use most often? Or were you, like us, totally unaware that 511 even HAS multiple sites? Apparently they consider bicycling.511.org to be totally different from transit.511.org. Because nobody EVER mixes multiple forms of transit! That's like transportation-miscegenation! Which would be an awesome name for a Schoolhouse Rock song.

Anyway, go give 'em a piece of your mind. Let them know what you think of their worse-than-Duluth trip planner, and their circa-1995 mapping tech. And also how they STILL don't use Nextbus info. And how's about that navigation! No sir, not confusing at all. The holidays are a stressful time, and this is a great chance to let off some steam.

Unrelated: check out the '70s-pornstar busdriver in this bus rack instructional video.

511 Has News You Can Use! Or At Least, News That SOMEBODY Can Use, Hopefully

Matt Baume — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:27:49 GMT

But hey, this is 511 we're talking about! The most competent information service since Larry, Moe, and Curly's ill-fated map-selling venture! Maybe this new Embarcadero-based "InTransit Kiosk" is actually useful. Have you run into it? Have you used it? Is it, you know, ? We can't help but notice that in the attached press photo, the screen is telling visitors to "visit 511.org for more info," rather than asking the kiosk staff who are standing INCHES AWAY.

But go check it out for us if you have a chance -- it's apparently located in a "mezzanine," which we think is Italian for "operating room." The booth is staffed with friendly helpers from 7am to 7pm on weekdays (because nobody ever needs transit help at night, or on the weekend). Better yet: stop by for a free pin! While supplies last! We tried to find a number for the kiosk so we could call and ask if they still had any pins left; but shockingly, 511 was unable to provide us with that information.

good

San Francisco's 311 Gets Its One Millionth Caller

Brock Keeling — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:19:27 GMT

"This is Gavin Newsom, what the hell do you want?" Newsom (might have) said when he answered yesterday's one millionth call to 311.

Since its launch in April, 311 helps SF residents bypass "over 2,300 telephone numbers that existed previously to access city services...[and] reduces calls to the City’s 911 center, where over 50% of calls received are for non-emergency services." (Really? Like, "Hi, I just called to chat, is all" or "I just saw Loni Anderson over on Chestnut!" kind of non-emergency calls? Because there should be an eleven-number just for those. That would be awesome.)

And what was the one millionth call concerning? A report of upturned newspaper racks at Geary and Kearny. Newsom told the man that he would make sure the problem was fixed right-quick, and to have a nice day. Us, we would have asked him if his arms were broken.

San Francisco's other and inferior eleven, 511, has no comment as of this time.