Results tagged “dearmr”

Reader Bob Loblaw sends us yet another rant about Muni in the mail bag and this one details another thing about Muni that annoys everyone to no end. And remember folks, if you have questions or comments or need to do some kvetching, send those cards and letters over to us.

Muni driver is no longer with us, but that doesn't mean the questions won't keep coming. Reader RK sent us this last week and his completely frustrating experience is something we've all been through. And just why do they sometimes stop trains in the middle of the run anyways? And why can't drivers at least tell everyone why?

A reader writes in to ask one of the biggest questions there is about MUNI:

It's not a good sign when even the Chronicle points out that Newsom's MUNI plan kind of sucks. Maybe after making his big splash announcement that he was going to have an announcement yesterday, he built up the hype too much or something.

SFist Reader Michael has had it! And we're sure he's not the first person who has had it with the Series of Unfortunate Events (way to take ownership of your screwups, Muni!) we call a transit system.

We've seen a renewed interest in tidiness (not their own) from Muni drivers, and we couldn't be more thrilled. For example, this Tuesday we recieved a lecture from our N Judah driver on the neatness of the tear we made as we removed a pass from our booklet. The irony of getting harassed for an uneven perforation by a person driving a train that smelled strongly of urine and hard liquor would have made our head explode, were we not more concerned about the mess we'd make. We're sure that this attention to detail is the harbinger of a new era of Muni cleanliness.

Per SFist Rita's joke in the comments last week, we have found ourselves living in the "NOT IN SERVICE" district. Man, does it feel good!

SFist reader Bob writes in with an issue we hear about almost every holiday: Muni buses that appear to be running, but blow by stop after stop after stop with "Out Of Service" on their displays. We not-so-fondly recall Thanksgiving, 1998, on which we had not one, not two, but six 5 Fultons pass us by. We have to wonder if drivers are celebrating by running their routes sans passengers!

Reader Nick quite intelligently sent his feedback to Muni, and even more cleverly sent his experiences to us. Here's hoping he gets a response from Muni on his concerns -- Nick, keep us posted!

We were stumbling around the internets yesterday and discovered that our very own Ms. Pelosi has set up a YouTube page. How with it, our Ms. Pelosi. And what will you find there? Oh, just clips of her playing soccer, lip-synching to pop hits, and ranting into a web cam whenever Tim Russert refuses to take her phone call. And boy, is her "Lazy Sunday" parody, "Lazy Appropriations", hilarious ("Lazy Appropriations start debate in the late afternoon/call Steny Hoyer just to see how he's doing/Hello? What up Stens?/Yo Pelosi what's cracking?/You thinking what I'm thinking? (Earmarks!)/Then it's happening"!). No, actually, you'll find clips of her and her peeps giving speeches on the House floor. Sadly, none of them appear to be mash ups with clips from anime cartoons.

While we encourage you to report all immediate commendations, concerns and complaints to Muni directly, we'd also love to hear about them. Venting can be fun, and our clever commenters can frequently provide you with a solution or, at least, some sympathy. Send your good and bad Muni tales our way!

SFist reader Caroline sends us this rotten story of Muni misery, which we have also encouraged her to submit to Muni's complaint department. While we're always thrilled to get your Muni tales both good and bad, we hope those of you who can will make sure to send your complaints and commendations to Muni, as well -- and let us know if they follow up with you!

Thanks to the super-secret source who sent us the email address of the Executive Director of Muni, Nathaniel P. Ford! We emailed him to let him know about this column, and to request an interview. So far he hasn't written us back, but we hear he's really busy with work. Never fear, we're not giving up until we get an answer from him or his people. But when (not "if") we do interview him, we plan on bringing up the concerns all of you have raised to us, so please send your Muni stories of happiness and sadness our way.

Wait 15 minutes, then drink two beers at once -- and join us for another installment of Dear Mr Ford, the column where we come to praise and bemoan Muni. Send said praise and moaning here!

We don't know who is the U.S. Postal Services equivalent of Mr. Ford, but here is our open letter nonetheless.

Remember when SFist Matt emailed Muni about the 21's schedule? Well, he followed up again, and here's what he learned:

By our count, The new head of Muni has been in office about 7 weeks, but so far the most interesting thing we've heard from him is his letter to employees, in which he states:

Another week, another crazy Muni story. It's kind of amazing -- we're ordinarily a pretty fickle person, but our capacity for Muni discussion is infinite.

Dear Mr. Ford,

At about the same time that Nathaniel Ford takes over as the new head of Muni, using the subway is going to get very confusing. But don't panic: we've got tips here for avoiding delays, and also predictions about how Muni could make this a smooth process, but will instead opt to completely f**k things up. (PS: And don't forget to submit your Muni stories for our Dear Mr Ford feature!)

Oh, how to choose, how to choose. There are simply so many Movements in this town that it's only to be expected that some would utterly fail to have any impact whatsoever on our lives, other than giving us something to bitch about. For example, there was all that chatter a few months ago about banning pit bulls. And that citywide gun ban thingy that is probably, um, well, just a wee bit unconsitutional. And did you know, there's big-business-advocacy groups like SFSOS that want to see MORE cars downtown? Sure, that'll happen. And then there's folks like Jack Myers and Supervisor McGoldrick trying to delay the building of the Transbay terminal; their only impact on its construction will be to push it even MORE over budget. And the proposition about military recruiters not being welcome at state schools -- it's nonbinding and probably won't have any impact on recruiting, or gays in the military, or the war in Iraq. But it does provide us all with excellent new scenic overlooks of our own navels.

Email us your Muni stories, observations, and concerns. If we publish yours (we reserve the right to edit for copy, length, and clarity), we'll send you an SFist pin, which we predict will be the "it" accessory of 2006.

Where in which SFist readers share their Muni concerns, anecdotes, and suggestions. Email us with your stories, and if we print yours (which we reserve the right to edit for grammar, spelling, usage, and length) we'll send you a snazzy SFist pin.

Our posts on Muni are among our most popular with our commenters, right up there with pizza, coffee, and copy-edits. Every post we do on bus madness is greeted with a thousand stories, each better than the last.