Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
From smallerdemon, just another of the 1,000s of ways Europe kicks our asses.
This reminds us of Muni operator Tammy, who showed her appreciation for her 33-Stanyan passengers by throwing bus parties her last couple of days driving that route. Any 24-Divisadero riders out there get to meet Tammy yet?
Thx, Neatorama
Photo by Troy Holden
A week into the service cuts, you’ve let us know in pictures and in stories how these cuts are affecting you. Meanwhile, new audit and cut backs on fare enforcement drove most of Muni news this week:
– St. Francis Circle Rail-Replacement project schedule changes to being Monday (SFMTA)
– Muni Says It Agrees With Its Audit, Still Wants to Rebut It (SFAppeal)
– Fare inspectors aren’t law enforcement officials (Bay City News via SFAppeal)
– Graffiti moniker helps solve Muni case (Examiner)
– Supervisors Prepared to Reject SFMTA Budget if Muni Service Cuts Stay (StreetsBlog SF)
– Muni cuts back on fare enforcement in light of profiling concerns (Examiner)
– New Muni attendance policy in the works (Examiner)
– City Audit Slams Muni Labor, Management (SFWeekly)
– Suspicious package (burrito) disrupts the N (CBS5)
This Sunday is Bay to Breakers so if you’re not running/walking/stumbling under the influence, be sure to check out the impacted Muni schedule due to the race.
Oh hey, is that a Muni Banksy in that photo below?
Enjoy the pictures and your weekend. And if you take any Bay to Breaker photos on Muni, we want to know, like, asap!
Photo by Thomas Hawk
Photo by Flickr user dumbeast
Photo by Flickr user optimal tweezer
Sure, yesterday was bike-to-work day, but for a lot of us, every day is bus-to-work day. To celebrate being car-free and to raise some funds, an organization called TransForm is holding a “car-free challenge” whereby you can set a personal low-mileage goal and have the chance to win some movie passes, a goodie bag, and moral points for the environment. Transform’s promo video, “The Best Wedding Exit Ever,” is pretty hilarious too.
Photo by Shaun Roberts
I found this photo of the 38-Geary by photographer Shaun Roberts by chance on Flickr. The man in the foreground looks very Jason Bourne to me, very me-against-the-world, alone in the big city kind of thing. Or maybe I’m just projecting…you decide.
Got great photos of Muni? Send it our way and join our Flickr pool.
Photo by Flickr user Rubin 110
Update:
Perhaps as evidence of service cuts hurting everyone’s commute, rider JimmyD sent in pictures from his commute this evening and asks why a single car train is running at rush hour. Here’s the crowd at Embarcadero Station around 5:10 p.m. today:
Photo by JimmyD
How has your commute been this week?
Original post:
It’s now been five days since Muni enacted its latest service cuts, a whopping, decimating 10 percent reduction on just about every route in town. In less serious times, we’d be forced to joke about how service couldn’t possibly be reduced further, right? Wrong.
We see people’s toils and troubles on Twitter. We experience them ourselves in our commutes and our attempts to simply connect with our friends and colleagues. The cuts are real, and we feel them.
But now, we want to know how they’re affecting you. Share your stories in the comments, please.
(In related news, Streetsblog SF reports that the Board of Supervisors was set to discuss the SFMTA budget and the recent Muni audit at today’s 1:30 p.m. meeting.)
Photo by Flickr user catbagan
This week sure has seen an onslaught against Muni operators. First, we had the mayor slamming the TWU for not agreeing to a set of budget-reducing concessions. Then, on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors-commissioned audit of Muni found that excessive overtime and other employee behaviors are costing the agency (and thus by extension, you and me) millions of dollars. Though, it should be noted, not nearly enough to have closed a $28.8 million budget deficit.
Hell, even Tara had a post this week griping about a bus driver’s behavior.
So, what do things look like from the other side, from the driver’s seat, so to speak? This brings me to a letter we received a few weeks ago from a veteran Muni operator’s wife. This is the second letter we’ve received from the spouse of a Muni operator (read the first one here), wanting give their views on what it’s like to drive the bus here. We want to share with you some of the salient points of this most recent letter.