Category: WTF: Weirdness on Muni

Don’t be this guy. Ever.

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It’s really too bad that BART nixed its whole “Who’s the biggest asshole on BART” contest, or whatever it was, because this guy could be a contender.

He was on a super-crowded SFO Airport-bound train, not only hogging both halves of the disabled seat but pretending to be asleep so nobody could oust him. How do I know he was pretending? He did finally relinquish half the seat when a woman asked him to, and she didn’t have to wake him up to get the job done.

Seriously, people. If you sit down in one of these seats, and you are not disabled, elderly, pregnant, etc., it is not yours to keep. It’s your responsibility to keep an eye out for the folks who DO need these seats, and to make sure you give it up if someone needier boards the train. In fact, it’s against the law NOT to.

Looks like I’m not the only one peeved about this.

— Beth W.

* originally posted 2.4.09 at Muni Diaries.

Category: BART, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags:

The shaved-headed Muni Fare Inspector from hell

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Photo by Flickr user Keisuke Omi

This delightful tale came to us from Muni rider Daishin:

I had the interesting and bizarre experience of meeting and engaging with the shaved-headed Muni fare inspector from hell. I would like to use her name but I might get sued by the Muni union.

It was a calm weekday afternoon this summer when I was accosted by this rather heavy-set youngish-looking fare inspector on the escalator coming out of Powell Street Station. She had a shaved head and looked a little like my Kung Fu male instructor. She asked for my proof of purchase, which I showed her. She then made a comment about my appearance. I think she thought I was a terrorist since I have dark hair and eyes. Laughingly I told her I WAS a terrorist and that she was a nazi with her lack of hair and attitude. She screamed at me and started talking into her walkie-talkie. I then told her she was a “cop-wanna-be”, and was insane for calling me a terrorist. I also told her to call a real cop if she wanted to arrest me.

I’ve had other friends who’ve run into this beast from Muni and complain about her surly attitude and disrespectful ways. But of course it does no good. Muni employees can only be fired if they commit murder while on the job, and even then it would be a stretch to get them convicted. Fare inspectors are the scariest bunch of fools in Muni’s employee pool.

Had a noteworthy experience, good or bad, on Muni lately? Let us know: muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,

It’s 5:45 A.M. at El Cerrito (w/update)

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crowded BART train
Photo by Flickr user susan magnolia

Update (7:52 a.m.): The Bay Bridge is open to car traffic, according to CBS 5.

Original post: This just in from Mac, who doesn’t seem to think this unexpected day of no Bay Bridge has started off too well.

It’s 5.45am, and the platform at El Cerrito plaza is unusually busy. I hopped the first sf train (8 cars), and there are 4 open seats after I sit, and we’re not even in berk yet. Bart announced that despite the bridge remaining closed for un unexpected extra day, it won’t be running extra trains today. The bridge carries 250,000 cars per day. BART’s suggestion to commuters on KRON news last night was to telecommute (aka ‘snow day’). Newsflash to Bart: People don’t commute in for jollies, they commute because they have to. And today looks to be especially unpleasant.

Let us know how your commute is going today: bartdiaries@gmail.com.

Category: BART, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,

Not Mincing Words for Muni or Gavin Newsom

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Muni HQ
Photo by Flickr user Dawn Endico

Well, well. Our friend Matty Matt is never one to BS. That’s especially true in this eviscerating post he just published over at the NBC Bay Area website, trashing Mayor Would-be Governor Newsom and MTA for their self-congratulations of Muni’s improved* on-time record for the previous year. Some choice quotes from Matt’s article:

How could the Gavinator be so out of touch? Maybe it’s because Muni’s keeping the mayor’s office in the dark, just like they keep their own customers in the dark.

[A]lthough the longer-term average is up, the most recent metric shows that on-time performance has recently gone down. Not included in either article is any mention of the wide latitude that Muni affords itself for determining “on-time”: drivers have a window of about five minutes to deviate from schedule.

SF Gate’s article about the on-time report, here.

The Examiner’s, here.

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags:

Cameras, plugs and actually correct engineering choices

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bart-camera-power1
Photo by Devin

Several months back, BART replaced all the cameras in Embarcadero station. I have no idea why — there were tons of cameras in that station already. “Replaced” isn’t the right word, of course, because they didn’t remove the old ones, just installed dozens more, often pointing at the same things. At a guess, the new ones don’t work yet and they won’t remove the old ones until that’s corrected. Or, knowing BART’s ability to do technological upgrades, the new ones will never work properly, so they’ll all stay up, gathering dust and grime and preventing no crime or disorder at all. At a wild guess, the only reasons Embarcadero is so richly endowed with cameras are (a) it’s full of tourists getting their pockets picked, and (b) part of the station is underneath the Federal Reserve Bank, engendering a sort of mutually reinforcing bureaucratic paranoia.

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