Glen Park BART stairs more dangerous than the escalators?

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Photo by Wiltastic

Rider Beth has another observation about the Glen Park BART station. She wonders whether the escalator’s being shut down for six months led to more serious accidents on the stairs. Read on.

The Glen Park BART station down escalator reopened last week to little fanfare. You can see some diaries on this repairwork at these two posts: Woe Unto Glen Park BART Riders and Further Glen Park BART Woes. The escalator was out of commission for about six months, from sometime in February until late August.

During that time, lots of passengers were forced to use the very long stone staircase to get down to the platform (or use the elevator). At least once I stumbled on the stairs, and I know other people have had similar mishaps. Once, when we were heading out, my partner Devin and I saw that the stairs were blocked off because someone had taken a serious fall on them and paramedics were attending to him/her.

That made me wonder whether the escalator’s breakdown had led to many more serious accidents on the stairs, since so many more people were using them. So, I requested documents, first from the SF Fire Department (since their paramedics handle such incidents) and then from the SF Department of Emergency Management, who had the records from the 911 calls.

In short, no more people suffered serious injuries on the stairs — serious enough to call an ambulance, anyway — between February and mid-August, 2011 when compared to the prior year.

On June 9, 2011, a 67-year-old woman fell on the stairs and broke her ankle or left lower leg (the report mentions both). The only other report of a fall of any kind in the Glen Park BART station came on June 30, when a woman fell onto the tracks and a train rolled over her, causing no injuries.

Rewind one year. On April 16, 2010, someone fell down the stairs and broke his or her leg. Ironically, three days earlier, on April 13, an elderly patron fell down the escalator and required paramedic evaluation for unknown injuries.

It’s possible more people suffered really minor stumbles and falls, but fortunately, it looks like this extended escalator outage didn’t lead to any more serious injuries than you’d see in a typical year. Whew.

Did any of you Glen Park regulars take a tumble on the stairs while the escalator was out of commission?

David Chiu vs Volunteers in Transit Race (w/results)

David Chiu and Chiubacca in Dolores Park

Update (10:05 a.m.): And the results are in, per @DavidChiu:

Final #SFTransitRace order: 1) David, Bicycle, 10min | 2) Cab-$8 21min | 3) Car-$10 parking 22min 4) Underground #Muni 25min | 5) Streetcar 30min 6) Walking 35 minutes.#SFMayor

Muni, fourth place? Ah, we’ll take it. At least we beat … walking.

Original post: Mayoral candidate David Chiu is set to race four of his volunteers and his campaign mascot “Chiubacca” this morning at 9 a.m. to see what’s fastest: bike, underground Muni, street car Muni, taxi, or walking. The press release said that the race starts at the Polk steps of City Hall and ends at the Ferry Building. Chiu will be on his bicycle, but it wasn’t clear whether Chiubacca will be taking Muni, so if you’re on transit and you spot the furry political beast, tweet at us and let us know.

The campaign staff says that Chiu is a regular cyclist, but even if he weren’t, it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win this race, right? Unless Chiubacca decides to get on a motorcycle, Chiu’s probably going to be waiting at the Ferry Building for the Muni-taking volunteers.

Before and After Muni Sightings with OldSF

Jeff and I fell down the OldSF.org rabbit hole again and found some photos of Muni in the old days. The photo of Cala Foods above is the site of an old cable car barn near California and Hyde. We found a lot more before and after photos where Muni makes a cameo. A closeup of the old building on California and Hyde:

The superintendent checks out the fleet in the barn.

We found some more examples — see if you can spot some familiar landmarks.

At Embarcadero and Market today:

Embarcadero and Market in 1954:

Or how about this, on Fifth and Mission?

Today:

Fifth and Mission in 1955:

We have a ton of old timey Muni ephemera over at Muni Time Capsule too. Check it out or share your own story and photos in the time capsule with us.

Muni News: BART, BART, BART, oh, Muni, BART

muni moving
Photo by chainsmokingbluemonkey

  • Anonymous Says Protests to Continue Unless BART Cops Are Stripped of Guns, Chief Fired (SF Weekly)
  • BART proposes adjusting Senior, Disabled and Youth fares downward (BART.gov)
  • Protests do little to scare off commuters at SF BART stations (SF Examiner)
  • BART Board Faces Few Critics At Meeting To Discuss Cell Phone Block Policy (SF Appeal)
  • SFPD Releases Details On Those Arrested In Last Week’s BART Protests, Vows “Quicker” Response Next Week (SF Appeal)
  • Muni looks at clearing all bus driver route picks (SFGate)
  • BART protest costs spilling over to Muni operations (SF Examiner)
  • Man Walking In Caltrain Tunnel Near SF Disrupts Service For 50 Minutes (SF Appeal)

Does the Muni worm need a redesign?

On the Twitter frontlines the other day, I came across the image above. It was created by designer Robert Padbury, a self-proclaimed “pixel provocateur.” It’s slick, for sure. But does it in any way match Muni itself? It reminds us more of packaging for exotic candies than a beleaguered urban public transit agency logo.

We’ve already seen people tweak the Muni worm, as noted in our post about Jeremiah’s handiwork.

What do you think? Does the Muni worm even need to be redesigned? Should it be scrapped altogether in favor of something more … now?

Photo Diary: Baby Muni in the Window

Mini Muni
photo by Janna

While diving in our Flickr pool, I came across this photo that look extremely familiar. Isn’t this the Muni Diaries baby onesie being sold at Secession Art and Design? That’s one hip baby!

If you’re looking for transit goodies in a real, brick and mortar store, don’t forget to check out our wares at Secession, 3361 Mission and 30th. Our Fast Pass Clipper Card holders are also available at Bay Crossings in the Ferry Building.

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