Transit Digest — Where’s SFPD on Muni, and Is the $2 Fare Coming? [UPDATE]

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Update: Per the item below about SFPD’s responsibilities to Muni, SF Appeal has the dirty details.

Original post: At yesterday’s public hearing, details of Muni’s budgeting and funding got a lot of people up in arms. Now that Muni is looking at a huge deficit, it’s time to drill down to where the money goes. Apparently various city departments are charging Muni for services, to the outrage of Supervisor Bevan Dufty. Among the charges to Muni: SFPD actually bills Muni $12 million to “help fund traffic enforcement division” and provide “police services,” which leads SF Appeal to ask: “Have you ever seen SFPD on Muni?

Hmmm. Nope, I haven’t either.

Everyone wants to take a closer look at these “work orders” from other city departments, but to balance the budget, we’re hearing talks of fare hikes again.

In other news, Tom Prete has a roundup of San Francisco’s Central Subway discussion at the SPUR forum, and if you live in the Sunset, there is a public meeting next Wednesday about repairs on the N-Judah and L-Taraval lines.

Photo by Flickr user allaboutgeorge.

‘Anyone Got Change for a $5?’

changeguy1What a scam. Some guy on my morning commute presented the driver with a $5 dollar bill, apologizing that that’s all he had. The driver said too bad, pay the fee or get off. Without hesitation, the guy turned his attention to the passengers.

“Anyone got change for a $5?”

No response.

So he dialed up the tone, “Anyone got change for a $5?!”

As I started to reach for my wallet, I realized the bus wasn’t moving. The driver was waiting for change. Unfortunately, no one had change for a $5, which left us all inconvenienced victims of a Muni standoff: The guy wasn’t budging from the bus and neither was the driver until change was produced.

Change guy starting yelling at the bus driver that he was an asshole for not moving. The bus driver seemed unphased, and continued to idle. The riders, including myself, stayed silent. After all, the guy was pretty big and intimidating (did you check out his picture?).

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Unintended Consequences on the 49

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Submitted by Muni rider Erich

The 49. Inbound at 8:45. The bus makes its stop and this guy in wheelchair asks to get off. The driver is kind enough to push him toward the lift but the guy starts bitching him out. He lets the guy go on his own and the guy makes it to the lift. He then proceeds to fuck around in the lift and flip his chair, wedging it in the railing. The bus driver had to stop the bus and call an inspector so they wouldn’t get sued. We walked from there. The guy was still bitching.

If you’ve been stuck, had to walk, or have any other tales from Muni or BART, send it to us.

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