Growing increasingly worried about safety, the union representing MUNI bus drivers have requested that the SFPD provide them with a dedicated police force. MUNI currently has 1 sergeant and 10 officers assigned to it, with most of the officers working only a single shift. While crime on MUNI has dropped 22% in the last three years, the union would like as many as 300 cops assigned to the MUNI beat for safety and peace of mind.
In 2003, there were 1077 assaults, burglaries, thefts, robberies, and homicides on MUNI in 2003, and this year so far there have been 516 such crimes (though no homicides yet, phew). In 2001, there were 47 assaults on drivers, and this year, there have been 13 to date. However, lines like the 14 Mission have seen a recent uptick in potentially gang-related violence, with a shooting, a stabbing, and a woman robbed by two men waving a gun stuffed in a sock. Drivers face difficulties as well, with one driver relaying a harrowing tale of his 12 assaults while driving the 33 Stanyan line. (The 33 Stanyan! SFist takes that bus to Amoeba! Everyone on it always looks vaguely stoned.) The driver was most recently hit in the eye last week by an angry passenger who didnt understand why he couldnt get off the bus at a corner which was not designated as a stop. Other drivers report being spat upon, or angry Financial District riders throwing coffee on them. MUNI hopes to put up more driver safety shields and install more security cameras on buses and trains, but also concedes that some of these confrontations might maybe be caused by belligerent drivers as well (MUNI estimates around, oh, 5%. Sure.)
SFist and SFists friends and acquaintances all anecdotally report witnessing MUNI violence. SFist saw a man break a J Church window once when he missed the train, for instance, and a friend of SFists recently saw a passenger getting off a bus pull a knife out on the driver, and then watched the driver get out of the bus, pick up the long pole they use to put the electric buses back on the wire, and chase after the passenger, shouting "You wanna fight? You wanna fight?" And when SFist was called to jury duty (for a MUNI-related dispute), someone in the jury pool reported that she was on a 5 Fulton once that drove through gunfire in the Western Addition and ran over a dead body. Maybe that person was just making it up to get out of jury duty, but certainly that doesnt sound like a good commuting day. Any good MUNI tales out there to share?
