Muni News: Transit savings, Muni stop consolidation, BART changes
Photo by torbakhopper
- Improvements to Bay Fair BART Station in January and February (BART.gov)
- More parking changes on the Dublin side of Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station (BART.gov)
- BART paper discount tickets mostly phased out in 2012; Clipper outreach events held (BART.gov)
- APTA: Commuters save big by taking mass transit (Rescue Muni)
- Muni Wants to Eliminate Stops Again (The Bay Citizen)
- S.F. considers how to boost Muni ridership (SFGate)
- SFMTA wants 1 in 2 trips by car before 2020 (Rescue Muni)
- Victim In Broken Bottle Attack Takes Muni To SF General (BCN via SF Appeal)
Muni does need to consolidate stops. For example, the 33-Stanyan near me has stops EVERY block between Castro and Mission (Castro, Noe, Sanchez, Church, Dolores, Valencia, Guerrero, Mission). There really don’t need to be that many.
IMHO, there should be stops at most every 2 blocks (depending on transfer points). For the case in point, the stops that should remain are Castro (24 transfer point), Church (J-Chuch transfer), and Mission (14, 49). At least a couple of the others should be removed.
The SFGate article about Muni trying to boost ridership cracks me up. Of course nearly 2 out of 3 trips in the city are by car — Muni is too undependable and often unpleasant.
I recently tested the pros and cons of car vs. Muni. I ran the same errands in the City two Friday afternoons in a row, once by car and once by Muni. Nothing special: dry cleaning, drug store, post office, book store, etc. By car these errands took 2.5 hours. Running the exact same errands using Muni took nearly four hours and I was wiped out when I arrived home. Spending the afternoon with Muni can be stressful, involving much waiting around, and the streets are often dirty and there are few places to sit.
This result illustrates Muni’s biggest obstacles to increased ridership. Muni isn’t going to get more riders from the working poor — they often have no other choice — or the truly affluent, who wouldn’t ride a bus if it had gold-plated hand rails and butt-warmers on every seat.
So the only demographic they can target is mine — people with cars who are willing to take Muni if it’s convenient and somewhat stress-free. Muni has a long road ahead to accomplish that.