Another Short Turn at Arguello

I really thought I had seen the last of this. But apparently not.

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph N. Hall
Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Subject: Short turns on the N Judah again
To: Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Cc: Greg Dewar , Carmen Chu , Fiona Ma , "De Leon, Elvira"

(Greg, feel free to post an excerpt from this on the N Judah Chronicles. In fact I encourage you to. You can edit it as necessary.)

Dear Ms. Gordon,

If you recall your article of August 6:

Muni operators who shorten runs given warning

I was on an outbound N Judah last night (Nov 10) that made a short turn at Arguello, and it was *25 MINUTES* before another train arrived to pick up my fellow passengers on me. We were left IN THE DARK LATE AT NIGHT ON THE SIDEWALK FOR A HALF HOUR by the operator who said he was "ordered to" do this by control. This is probably complete bullshit; if it isn't then someone in control is equally responsible for this inexcusable action - and the operator should have ignored the instruction anyway. The train was labeled "Ocean Beach" when I boarded it at 4th & King and the roller did not change to Arguello until the operator exited the Market St. subway.

There were plenty of trains returning inbound (no shortage, in fact one passed us while the operator was switching back), and few outbound trains, so this train was needed outbound. Ahead of us some outbound passengers would have been waiting over 30 minutes for a train.

This is totally, spectacularly inexcusable and is the kind of unnecessary stupidity and callousness that creates such a negative perception of Muni customer service - when in reality it is only a small percentage of operators and managers who are responsible.

I've filed a complaint with Muni, and will contact Fiona Ma, Carmen Chu, and at least Sarita Britt (Green Division Supervisor), possibly Ken McDonald, today, to find out precisely why this turn occurred, and whether or not some kind of disciplinary action will in fact be taken.

Thank you very much. If you have a little time to continue pursuing this story I would very much appreciate it.

Best regards,

-joseph