Cash Passengers the Wrong Way and the Right Way

So on the day when I met Greg Dewar a couple of weekends ago, we were both riding the N inbound on a sunny Saturday. It was a fairly busy day and the N was about 20 minutes late (I called 311 to complain while I was waiting). By the time we got into Cole Valley we had stopped for a couple of wheelchairs and had also no doubt picked up a number of cash passengers (being a sunny weekend day and all). Greg and I were in the second car, however, and although there were a few standees it was nothing approaching full.

To my surprise, the operator closed the doors pulled away leaving a dozen or so people standing. He announced, "There's another train right behind us," which means only, "There's another train. Today." And from that point he passed up most of the passengers who would have paid cash, between Cole Valley and the Market Street tunnel - all the while with room for 50-100 passengers in his second car. So I called 311 again.

I was on an inbound N this past Saturday around 11AM - during Outside Lands - and we had the same situation, but with a huge number of cash fares. So when we got to Cole Valley, I started hearing "didididididi shing BEEP! dididididi BEEP! didididid shing BEEP!" faintly over the PA. Apparently the mike was open and I was hearing zillions of cash passengers boarding. Then, after a little delay, people bearing transfers began to trickle into the rear car. Yes, the operator was letting people board and pay, and then asking them to move to the rear car. This repeated for the rest of the surface stops until we entered the tunnel with a full load and hadn't passed up a single passenger.

Almost like he was trying to get everyone where they wanted to go.

Weird, huh?

Pass-ups meets Most Ignored Federal Law #1

From the driving-is-hard-let's-go-shopping dept.

A flawless double performance by today's morning driver on the 29 Sunset:

1. The bus was an old one with no annunciator. This allowed the driver to strive for complete perfection, by saying not a single word between Irving and Ocean. Not a single stop was announced audibly or visibly in any way. Score: 10.0 / 10.0.
2. And evidently as a Muni driver, when the mood strikes, you no longer need to pick up passengers - even if your bus isn't full. Although the bus had room for 10-20 more passengers, the driver didn't make even one stop between 19th and Ocean - same as yesterday. Score: 10.0 / 10.0.

1) is illegal; next.

With regard to 2), Muni counts a refused boarding as a pass-up only if there is no bus with room following within 3 minutes. But what about when the first bus isn't full? Why should a passenger have to watch a bus go by when it still has space, even if the wait for the next one is "less than 3 minutes."

Not even thinking of picking these people up....

Anyway, I've been on the 29 3 out of 4 mornings this week, and we've blown by 30-40 (would-be) passengers so far. Nice work, Muni!

And also:

Oh my God, this is funny. I thought it was only in South America that people ride on trains. I wonder, is or isn't fare evasion one of the things you could be charged with for doing this? You're not inside a paid area when you're clinging to the outside of a vehicle, are you?

Little Tyrants at 4th and King

It's always the same. I get off Caltrain at 4th and King and there's an outbound N Judah waiting on the platform with its doors open. People are getting in. Good for them; it's 50 degrees and windy, or raining, or midnight. Or 50 degrees and windy and raining and midnight.

My fellow Caltrain riders and I wait for the traffic light to change. As we cross the street, the driver looks at us, closes the doors, and moves forward on the platform a few feet to the red light. The very long red light. Or waits until we have reached the platform then closes the doors and pulls forward. Sometimes someone outside pushes a door button and says to the driver, "Hey, the door's not opening." Regardless, the driver doesn't make eye contact. The train continues to wait at the platform while the people who haven't experienced this regularly suddenly understand the reality:

The weather sucks ass, and the driver's not going to let me on.

A quick glance at the NextMUNI sign shows that the runs-every-few-minutes N isn't going to be along for 20 or 30 minutes. The driver knows the next train is late, and that he or she is about to leave people standing out in the cold/rain/dark/wind until it shows up. The driver contemplates this in self-satisfaction, and the people on the platform look through the windows into the warm train and tighten their coats. Time passes and the light changes, and the train slowly recedes down the street. Would-be passengers mill about, powerless and humiliated.

Admit it: If you could inflict misery and outrage on complete strangers, every day, with total impunity, you'd do it too, right? If your answer is actually "yes," then the San Francisco Muni Metro has a job for you.

F You, Old Chinese Lady, Take the Next Bus

Would you refuse to stop a empty bus for an elderly Chinese woman trying to get on about 50 feet past the bus shelter? Apparently, if you are the driver of the 26 Valencia that left Balboa Park northbound around 8:08 this evening, you would.

Un fucking believable.

This 26 was waiting for 5-10 minutes in the northbound bus lane, completely empty. As the 26 pulled away ... slowly ... and stopped about 50 feet away from where it had been waiting, a frail, elderly Asian woman walked up to the door and waited to get on. The bus, I should mention, was still very much in service.

Unlike a normal human being who hadn't been raised by wolves, the driver kept the door shut and honked repeatedly at the old woman while the bus was still motionless. After a short wait, the bus entered traffic, then drove to the light at Geneva. The light was red so she stopped. Slowly, the woman walked up the sidewalk toward the light. After what seemed like an impossibly long time (the light was red forever) she once again approached the door of the bus. For the second time, the driver refused to let her on and drove off, leaving her standing all alone in the bus lane.

This is an old woman who can't walk at a normal pace, and who looks so thin and frail that one assumes that if caught in a breeze, she would be snapped like a twig.

And this stuck up twat won't let her on?

Me, I would fire her and ban her from ever working for Muni again. I can't imagine a scenario where she should ever work for the public, or in a service capacity, let alone public service. I can't even imagine a scenario where she should be part of the human race, but maybe that's an overreaction. Maybe.