I do think the entire Bay Area needs to work on the transit system. It needs to be more unified, less cash based, and more accessible to all. It’s really, really hard to live here without a car. I have to leave for work about an hour early every day, even though the journey should only be 20 minutes at most by bus, because it’s so unpredictable when the bus will come and what the traffic will be like. But I can’t imagine it would be all that much more convenient to have a car, because parking is hard to find and prices are exorbitant, and rush hour traffic is a nightmare.

What they really need to do is improve the public transit bay-wide and then TAX drivers a LOT so people stop driving. Really, there shouldn’t be any need to drive in a metro area like here. But because the transit system is so unreliable…

Good news is they are moving to a bay-wide TransLink program, so you get a debit-card-like thing that will work on BART, ACtransit in berkeley/oakland, and SF MUNI. So you won’t have to carry cash, won’t have to go to one of the few locations on one of the few days of the month to get a muni pass, and can even get it online and re-load it online. Pretty cool.

As an example, they had this monorail idea that they tried to implement by heavily taxing yearly car registrations. My car went from 100 bucks to 600 bucks. That’s pretty ouchie. Anyway, they never did reach a consensus and wound up wasting all the monorail tax money on nothing. They called the whole thing off and (finally) removed the tax.

The reason this happened, in my east coast opinion, is because people strive to reach consensus here. It is nearly impossible to get EVERYONE to agree and when you feel it necessary to make everyone’s opinion important, you never reach a decision.

I see it all the time at my place of work, too. We have 15 meetings about something that could have been decided in two. There is a reason things get done faster and often better back east… people are more aggressive. Sometimes the decision that is pushed through doesn’t work out, but hey, at least a decision was made.

Instead, those of us doomed to live in liberal-thinking, consensus-driven cities are stuck with no decisions, ever.

(Don’t even get me started on the two-story viaduct we have here that is in serious need of replacement. The city won’t admit it, but it’s dangerous. They’ve been quietly making repairs for years now. There have been discussions about whether to tear it down and rebuild it or to tear it down and leave it down, but you want to know when the decision will be made? When the next earthquake knocks it down, probably killing a lot of people. I’m so not kidding either.)

Thanks for listening to my rant!

I thought all public service vehicles in SF were electric? I’m sure I read that somewhere…anyway it’s a shame about the taxis not being like that, it would again say something positive for SF and would be a good thing, surely.

Now that we’ve abandoned tokens, to buy tickets we have computerized machines that accept cash (and give change), ATM cards and charge cards. You can reload your CharlieCard with cash on any bus and most trolleys or at 90% of subway terminals. CharlieCards don’t have to be swiped either…you can just leave it in your wallet or purse and it reads right through–a definite time saver. On buses you get an automatic transfer for a connecting bus put right onto your card that lasts for a limited amount of time that day and then expires. You get a discounted fare for getting a free CharlieCard and reloading it with cash as opposed to buying a paper ticket each day. At the subway vending machines, limited sales offices and a bunch of retail stores in various cities, you can still buy your monthly CharlieCard pass on the last 5 days and the first 5 days of each month. At the vending machines you can always buy an all day pass for $9 which entitles you unlimited buses, subways, trolleys, ferries and limited commuter rail stops and $15 for a weekly pass…great for visitors. Monthly passes range from $50-$198 depending on how many different bus/train lines you want included. The subway and trolleys go by color,,,orange, green, red, blue and purple lines…and it is very easy to figure out how to transfer to get where you’re going. There is also a website that tells you which buses and trains to take if you put in your destination). It is true that service can be interrupted by switching problems or a disabled train more times than we’d like, but we are an impatient people and it is not nearly as often as riders would have you believe…though it may SEEM like a lot when you ride it 2 or more times a day! If they were honest, people would have to say that on a daily basis it’s a pretty smooth running system. (And no, I don’t work for the T but have been riding it for over 30 years!)

The best is when a Muni driver kills someone. Sometimes they get put on administrative leave. After they are back out there for one year, their record gets wiped clean. Yes, every year they start with a clean record.

The second best is a few drivers who refuse to stop for people in wheelchairs. That’s public service at its best.

True, driving in SF all day is stressful, but for 80 grand a year, I would deal with it. And not curse at people, yell at them, intimidate them, slam on the brakes in order to knock all the people standing in the aisles over, all the normal things drivers get away with on a daily basis here.

And don’t get me started about describing dealing with a muni bus while commuting to work on my bicycle.

Thanks for the rant.

people ask me how a muni blog can stay current and the thing writes itself. they need to reorganize and stop spending so much money on salaries for managers and instead spend it on things to make the system work better.

July 3rd was a legendary fail whale day:

http://www.njudahchronicles.com/2008/07/wow_todays_commute_just_plain_sucked.html

Slightly off topic but SF related. Was Mrs. Blurbomat’s session recorded? If yes, will it be available on the web for others to view.

Thanks

John

I rode buses too, but with local friends guiding me. I think they avoided MUNI on purpose.