Nice!

I'm glad I caught the first one.

Balboa Park: Where's NextMuni?

Balboa Park is a busy beehive of Muni activity, and yet, if you're a passenger new to the station, you probably have no idea what's going on there or what to do or where to do it. Unless of course you're taking BART, where confusion and chaos is thought of negatively. As a regular at Balboa Park, I have a few questions. Let's start with:

Why isn't there a NextMuni board anywhere at Balboa Park?

Or any kind of arrivals board?

I forget whether Balboa Park is busier than any of the downtown stations, but it is the busiest terminal that isn't underground. (It must be considerably busier than Van Ness when you combine the bus and LRV traffic.) All the downtown stations have some kind of arrivals board, whether based on the ATC (Automated Track Control) system or on NextMuni. (Remember the NextMuni displays that keep coming and going in the subway?) So why doesn't Balboa Park?

Balboa Park doesn't have anything.

What's up with that, anyway?

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?

Pass-ups Part 3: Back in School

From the see-ya dept.

The kids are back in school and the 29 is full again in the morning. The bus ran 5-10 minutes late and it was almost standing room when it arrived at Irving. We blew past Noriega, completely full, leaving about 10 people standing there. We passed up every single stop between 19th and Ocean.

The cool thing is, this time, I have pictures! With any luck you'll be able to see the sad faces of people holding out bus passes as we drove by.

Yesterday the bus also ran late and was full when it arrived at Irving. However, there was another bus right behind it, as in, right behind it.

My back-of-the-envelope calculation is that if you board the 29 somewhere between Judah and Wawona, between 8 and 9 in the morning, you will be passed up by at least one out of every 10 buses. Probably closer to one out of 5. If you live on the hill between 19th and Ocean, maybe one out of every 20?

Hey, it's only $1.50; what do you expect?

The Hybrid Power Switch: Updated

By the looks of it, Muni has got the power switch problem solved. The prominent labels are gone, and the doors are now screwed down. (Riveted, actually.) Of course, the lower left hand side of every door has been bent up in an unsuccessful attempt to pry it open. Old habits die hard.

[Photos to come.]

I seriously doubt it's pry bar resistant though, and I'm guessing that on a normal day there are more than a few pry bars being carried in pockets in Hunter's Point.

Most Ignored Federal Law #1

Heard over the radio on the 29 today:

Attention all operators. Federal law requires that all mass transit operators announce all transfer point stops.

Huh. I'd always wondered why two or three N Judah drivers announced "transfer points," particularly the driver who we all know as MAJOR TRANSFER POINT Guy. Personally, I like the guy on the L Taraval who announces "Safeway" and "Walgreens."

Through the wonders of the internet I came upon the source for this. It's a product of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990:

The U. S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) contain two requirements that are meant to assist persons with vision impairments and other disabilities to use fixed route transportation services. Section 37.167, subsection (b), which applies to public and private entities that operate fixed route systems, requires that:

...The entity shall announce stops as follows:

(1) ... at least at transfer points with other fixed routes, other major intersections and destination points, and intervals along the route sufficient to permit individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities to be oriented to their location.

(2) ... stops on request of an individual with a disability.

Section 37.167 (c) requires that:

Where vehicles or other conveyances for more than one route serve the same stop, the entity shall provide a means by which an individual with a visual impairment or other disability can identify the proper vehicle to enter or be identified to the vehicle operator as a person seeking a ride on a particular route.

I think that the signs and voice announcements on buses would satisfy these requirements, mostly. But of course the signs aren't working about a quarter of the time. I hear and see just fine and I can't tell what street I'm passing on Sunset if I'm on a bus where the sign is out, the windows are scratched, and the driver hasn't said a word in 20 minutes. At least when I'm getting off at Irving, I can make a panic pull if the bus turns off to the right and only have an extra block to walk.

The N Judah, forget it. Without an announcement, the only way you can tell where you are on that train is by looking out the north side windows for street signs. Carefully.

Quiet on the 29 This Week

With school out, the 29 is empty in the morning. It's a good time to do those pass-up stats!