Muni Is Like a Crack Whore
Last Friday, Allan at Mission Mission alerted us to this gem of a Tweet from arlenarlenarlen. Indiddly …
Transit News Digest 2.6.09 (Update)
Update: More bad news for BART, as a train apparently struck an object on the tracks in the Transbay Tube and had to be evacuated. BART is claiming no injuries, but we’ll wait for this one to shake out a little.
Original post: SFGate brings us an update on the BART train collision from earier in the week. Apparently, human error was more than just partially to blame. And the Examiner’s John Upton brings us news of that other BART tragedy of late, as some of Oscar Grant’s fellow passengers are filing a $1.5 million claim against the agency.
BeyondChron informs us of the star-studded (or is it dudded?) National Biodiesel Board Conference, taking place in the city this week at Moscone. This is perhaps only marginally transit-related, as BC points out that S.F. is home to one of the largest fleets of public biodiesel vehicles, including many of Muni’s coaches.
TPM’s Elana Schor looks into competing schemes to bring real stimulus to public-transit projects nationwide.
Got more transit news? Muni stories of your own? As always, let us know!
Fracas on the F train on a Saturday Afternoon
This is a story about a scary altercation between two huge strong men on the F train — yes that scenic line, ideal for tourists, lovers and leisure seekers.
Dave and I hopped on the F train on Market and 5th at about 4 pm this last Saturday and were immediately enveloped by the smell of urine. Seat checks seemed to indicate everything was dry and we counted ourselves lucky assuming that was the worst of it. Then this very tall, angry and crazy homeless man walked up from the back of the bus straight to this small young woman sitting on one of the single seats and grunted for her to move. She did so immediately, going straight to the seat facing the driver. She was probably about 4 feet tall, Asian-American, 15 years old or so, listening to her iPod quietly, nice as can be. But then Crazy man proceeded to stare at her and yell out that she should move to the back of the bus, among other crazy and angry remarks, leading up to just calling her b***** several times, in a loud and angry manner. No one did a thing. The middle-aged tourist couple sitting in front of us continued to consult their maps. And so the girl did all she could do, and rang the bell, and got off at the next stop. How the bus driver didn’t seem to notice was dumbfounding.
But that’s when things got really ugly. Crazy man must have been looking around for other people to pick on, when I heard the big guy behind me say, “What are you looking at, ugly?” This started a booming shouting match, which could have been amusing if we were not sitting next to the center of the hullabaloo. But it went something like this:
“You call me ugly?”
“Yes you dumb dumb stop looking at me.”
“Maddafakka!” (note Crazy man had a very thick Caribbean accent.)
“Stop looking at me or I’ll straighten you out you scum bag.”
“Why you call me Maddafakka?” (Demented point #1)
“Turn around you nasty. Mind your own business.”
“Why are you picking on me.” (Demented point #2)
“You turn around and stop causing trouble.”
Don’t be this guy. Ever.
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.
Transit-News Digest 2.3.09
Bad news on BART tonight, as two trains collide beneath downtown Oakland. Reports of minor injuries and 15-minute delays systemwide.
The agency today announces that a third-party vendor will provide wifi on its entire system, a welcome addition. Now, if wifi weren’t such an iPhone-battery-killer. And in other press-release news, the agency announces ways in which it aims to deal with budget cuts.
Meanwhile, KPIX reports on the latest from the Oscar Grant hearings, in which a BART cop’s lawyer claims his client was provoked shortly before another officer shot and killed Grant.
Greg from N-Judah Chronicles does his civic duty by announcing an open invitation from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano to drop by and discuss budget matters at Ammiano’s downtown SF office.
On the stimulus front, now that the bill is in the more-esteemed chamber of Congress, surely it’s about to become more intelligent where mass transit is concerned, right? Wrong.
Ahead of today’s vote on an amendment prescribing transit-infrastructure spending in the bill, TPM’s Elana Schor analyzes what the bill would and wouldn’t do. Shortly after the amendment’s defeat, Schor comes back with a few nay-saying senators‘ forked-tongue responses, including a Democrat who voted “No.”
And finally, because we need a little humor as it appears that No We Can’t, we thought we’d throw this gem from Jason Linkins at Huffington Post. Apparently, our war-criminal ex-secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, had a little trouble boarding a bus in Washington, D.C. Join the crowd, Rummy.
Coming 2.18.09: The First-Ever Muni Diaries Pub Crawl!
You’ve heard the rumors. You’ve felt the chatter. You’ve smelled the … oh, never mind.
We’re pleased to announce the first Muni Diaries Pub Crawl, set to take place Wednesday, February 18. Whether you’ve been following this blog, our Twitter feed, or best of all, submitting stories, come join us for some beer and cocktails and meet fellow reader-riders!
We’ve carefully crafted a public-transportation-friendly route: We’ll start things off at our official supporter, Lucky 13 (Market and 15th Street), then head over to Dalva on 16th Street near Guerrero. From there, we’ll close the night out at Doc’s Clock on Mission (near 22nd Street). Getting home, well, that’s your problem. And Muni’s.