The Snake-eating-tail Problem of Muni Fare Increases
Photo by Flickr user eb78
This sad story comes to our inbox from Muni rider kevinas:
I was riding the F line on Saturday morning, going toward downtown. The car stopped in front of DeLessio’s cafe, near Valencia, to pick up passengers. One young man got on and placed a dime in the fare box. The driver told him, “The fare is $2, not ten cents.” The kid said, “That’s all I’ve got.” The driver replied, “That’s not my problem.” The kid got off through the back. Shortly after the car started going again, he trough a rock or some similar object at the car, smashing one of the windows, and covering a terrified woman in broken glass. Fortunately, it did not appear that she was hurt. I briefly considered chasing the kid down and doing my best to whoop the shit out of him. But I thought better of it.
Yeah, we know the $2 fare can seem steep. But smashing a window? What’s that really gonna solve, eh, kid?
sometimes, we’re just wishing that the driver will just cut us a break every now and again. I don’t blame the kid for being pissed, though he clearly could have chosen a better way of dealing with it… the driver really could just let that one person slide. I’ve had drivers give me longer transfers when I’ve asked nicely and mentioned that I really couldn’t afford two fares that day and would eventually need to get home (or go pick up my daughter from school later in the day.) And I’ve also had drivers be complete assholes and kick me off the bus just for asking.
Well, that seems to be how people handle being told NO these days.
My work involves a resource that’s offered in limited amounts, at no cost, to whoever wants to use it. In order to ensure that as many people as possible can use it, there are limits on how much a single person can access the resource. The amount of pure rage directed toward us when people are told they can no longer access this resource is amazing, and we do it a hell of a lot nicer than that Muni guy did (and we’re not actually charging!). Some people just need to grow up.