Should You Pay When the Clipper Card Reader Is Broken? (update from MTA)

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New Clipper Card and Carrying Case
Photo by AgentAkit

Update (12:45 p.m.): We just heard back from SFMTA. Apparently, when the machines are broken, drivers are not supposed to make cardholders pay, regardless of whether the rider has his/her Fast Pass loaded on the card. Here’s a document SFMTA says they sent to operators notifying them of this change in procedure:

So, in Lisa’s case (see “Original post,” below), the driver was wrong to ask her to pay. Maybe that driver didn’t get the memo, literally. It’s dated June 29, which was Tuesday, the day before Lisa’s incident.

Original post: What do Fast Pass holders do when Clipper readers don’t work? You’ve paid $70 or so for the Fast Pass, but should you still pay the $2 if the Clipper reader can’t read your card?

Muni rider and Clipper Card holder Lisa shares this story (excerpted):

I was trying to catch the 28 [Wednesday] morning around 6:30 a.m. at 19th Ave and Holloway and the translink readers on the bus were down. The driver tells me I have to pay cash fare when the reader is down and that’s policy. I tried to explain to her that that made no sense as I had a monthly pass and, therefore, had already paid regardless of the reader.She said no, it’s policy, that I had a translink card and not a pass. I said, I paid for a pass, your readers are always down, I ride everyday and no one has ever said this to me before. But she still said I had to pay. So, in the end, I refused to pay on principle, and the driver would not allow me to ride, despite having paid my $70 for my monthly pass. I was 20 minutes late to work. I should have just gotten on the back with the rest the fare dodgers.

We don’t see any information on the Clipper site about this situation (neither the FAQ page nor Clipper with specific transit agencies pages). And we can easily envision this situation happening with increasing frequency as more and more riders use Clipper with their Fast Pass loaded onto the card.

What do you think? How do you think this situation should be handled? Even better, has Clipper considered this situation and devised a fix for it?

We asked SFMTA and will update you as soon as we hear back.

Related: Akit has a post up today about Clipper/Fast Pass holders whose passes aren’t loading by the first of the month, and aren’t being given the 3-day “grace period.” Kinks, they abound!

Category: diaries Tags: ,

A better way to transfer between Muni and BART

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The awesome Mr Eric Sir has a great idea for easier BART-to-Muni or Muni-to-BART transfers:

See? We eliminate two flights of stairs and save up to 5 minutes or so.

So what’s the rub, why didn’t they build the station like this in the first place?

It seems there simply isn’t enough room to have all the extra faregates and ticket machines we’d need on the station platforms. Or at least, it USED to be that way.

But now that we have Clipper, couldn’t we make do with less? All you’d have to do is exit Muni and tag on to Bart. Or in the other direction, tag off Bart and on to Muni.

Muni trains already have Clipper machines inside the train, and it’s a proof-of-payment system, so gates aren’t really needed. Bart could just have a couple faregates at the platform level. It wouldn’t have to take up too much space.

Wethinks this should be on a list of shovel-ready, high-priority stimulus jobs. You listening, Mr. Prez?

Above ossum grafik by Mr Eric Sir.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Stand Up For Your Muni Line

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Muni lover
Photo by Flickr user ekai

Don’t let the picture fool you — we love the N-Judah plenty. In fact, we’ve got a whopping 51 stories about the N-Judah here on Muni Diaries. How do I know? We just added a drop-down box on the sidebar to the right over there so you can select stories by bus route. This was one of the most often-heard requests during our redesign, so here it is.

But don’t let the N, the 22, or the 49 steal the thunder from other lines. Can it really be that there are only 8 stories for the 19-Polk? What about poor 3-Jackson?

We know stories happens on Muni all the time, so if you’ve got a story, photo, or art for your line, send it over so you can show some love for your route!

Category: diaries, News Tags:

Muni Playlist: From Kanye to Kerouac

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SF Muni
Photo by laughlin

Early last week, we asked you what you were listening to on Muni. We can’t help it: we want to know what’s emanating from those sexy earbuds you’ve got in there, drowning out the noise around you as you slip into your own private headspace.

Today’s playlist is the A side, if you will, of the musical selections you sent us via comments and tweets. The B side (in no way inferior to this one) drops next week. Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out what your fellow Muni riders are rocking out to. Here they are, in their own words:

  • @anniebanannie kanye west (we took the liberty of choosing “Heartless”)
  • @revunderpants #Pavement! (we chose “Gold Soundz”)
  • @tonyriggins Jeezy “Put On” … for my city. Perfect for people watching on the Embarcadero
  • Lola LCD Soundsystem (This is Happening), Massive Attack (Heligoland), Matt and Kim (Grand), and Broken Social Scene (Forgiveness Rock Record)
  • Dancing Penguin Dog&Panther – Love Make // The Sweet Serenades – Die Young // Neon Walrus – We Don’t Matter // We Are Enfant Terrible – Seagull // Bonaparte – My Body is a Battlefield // MNDR – I go away…
  • Andrea My morning entertainment this morning was . . . Blues and Haikus – from Jack Kerouac, Al Cohn and Zoot Zims.
  • Sam “Bulletproof” by La Roux

For your listening (and possibly viewing, if you’ve got that kind of time in your day) pleasure, we’ve created another Muni Playlist on YouTube. Enjoy!

Want another soundtrack from the bus? Check out last fall’s Muni playlist,

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni, diaries Tags:

Wendy MacNaughton is drawing you on Muni

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We found artist Wendy MacNaughton on 7×7.com earlier this week. Wendy draws people on Muni, BART, and other public transportation on their way to and from work five days a week, twice a day, imagining their thoughts and dreams. We caught up with her to ask her more about her amazing drawings on Muni. She also sent us some more of her drawings done on the bus. In her own words:

I went to an incredible art school for my undergrad (Art Center College of Design), but life took some turns and I stopped drawing for almost a decade. Years later, I found myself commuting from Oakland to San Francisco and back again on BART, with 20 minutes of free time each way and I started drawing the people I saw around me. It was like having professional figure drawing models, except with more interesting features, life histories in their eyes and ties, and they weren’t naked. I still have the first drawing I did — and I’ve drawn every transit ride since.

I draw on the bus and paint at home, using micron pens and watercolor, mostly, with some ink thrown around every once and a while. I don’t sketch. Everything I draw is permanent, for better or worse.

When I draw on the bus, generally people don’t notice. People are immersed in their thoughts or lists or regrets. Or their books. Or iPods, or games, or sleeping.  If they do notice me drawing them, they usually smile. They might be a little embarrassed or flattered, or maybe pretend they didn’t see me, but the smile seeps out. A couple of people have been upset — either refused or got a little physical, But no permanent damage has been done.

You can find Wendy on the 10, the J, the 12, or southbound BART. And here’s more of Wendy’s drawings — I love them all so much! Get this artist a commission! Enjoy.

Category: diaries, reflection
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