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SF Muni gets you there eventually or not


Charles Pearson

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San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) goes just about everywhere in The City or at least 2 blocks from whereever you're headed, so that part of our public transit system is terrific and more than a lot of places have. If Gavin Newsom's plan get approved, MUNI will become free for all. There should be less car-people then; but I wonder will MUNI even run on time or run worse since it can hardly keep schedule now...

Of course, this past week in THE CITY, "the Muni that could" was a nightmare with the full-debut of the T-Third Street Line that caused delays up to 1 hour during rush hours and other delays that disrupted people's lives just about all day...Fortunately, I've been commuting across the Bay to Berkeley via BART (which takes only 30 mintues...compared to about 1 hour from downtown SF to Ocean Beach via often very crowded but slower than snail's pace N-Judah) I went out to visit a friend on Faxon Avenue in the Ingleside district Wedneday night and MUNi was horrible. I had been shopping downtown...and needed to take the K to get to my friend's house. However, I noticed the computer screen in the Muni Station said there was no predictions when the next K would arrive. Confused, I asked the Muni worker what did that mean? He told me that the K was coming but I would have to transfer to Castro...due to maintenance work or whatever...So I took the T-Third shuttle to Castro from Powell St...after we got delayed at Van Ness Station for 10 mintues or so...At Castro, there was no bus on the surface for at least 30 minutes (unfortunately, I have very little patience)...so in digust as I was already very late, I hopped into a cab ($16 fare!!! over my purchased $1.50 Muni fare ticket) at Castro & Market to get to my friend's house out in the Ingleside district on Faxon, 4 blocks south of Ocean Ave...

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Grr...my post disappeared.

What I had said is that MUNI's on-time performance has been a point of contention for many years, especially in the 90's. It's died down a lot lately. I know my brother's never complained about its on-time performance, he's lived there since 2002.

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Grr...my post disappeared.

What I had said is that MUNI's on-time performance has been a point of contention for many years, especially in the 90's. It's died down a lot lately. I know my brother's never complained about its on-time performance, he's lived there since 2002.

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  • 3 months later...

What a small world! There's my friend Mike W. (the tall guy standing who's a native San Franciscan; M has a photostudio downtown) pictured in Aug 13th's Chronicle...in an article about the J-Church...that really gets you there--eventually...J-Church goes all the way from The Embarcadero, then underground under Market Street, then on the surface down Church Street to San Jose Ave. and all the way to Balboa Park out on Ocean Ave...a ride that stretches for about Seven miles... Mike and I used to work together in the Financial District at CharlesSchwab and hung out back in the hood in the No-Name Bar on 14th Street...

MikeWang.jpg

J-Line Route

jline.jpg

MUNI Comments from "Muni hopes second time's the charm with J-Church service study"

by Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer...

philomela82000 wrote:

The #1 line runs on time all the time. Problems with on-time runs on the other lines is mostly a matter of there being too many lines. The city does not need all of these lines - some of them should be removed and the number of stops per line needs to be reduced. Cut out some of these stops - in some parts of town, the bus stops every block.

Posted 8/13/2007 6:16:01 AM

Recommend (4)Report AbuseBobSF_94117 wrote:

Too labor intensive??? Stationing a couple dozen interns (it WAS summer) along the route with little clickers is too much for Muni to manage? How about sticking one of those little radio transmitters on every bus and installing readers along the route that keep track of passing busses? A REAL transit system would have had those years ago. REAL transit system keep track of their statistics all the time.

Posted 8/13/2007 11:29:24 AM

Recommend (2)Report Abusenadador wrote:

I'm aware that traffic and stoplights can affect the speed of the surface lines, but after years of riding Muni I still don't understand why a little CONTROL at the ends of all the lines (like at Embarcadero station outbound and the end of each line) couldn't vastly improve things. For example, there's no excuse for any one line to have two trains in a row come down the tracks outbound. And no excuse for two trains to start heading inbound too close together. It shouldn't be hard to keep all the trains reasonably spaced and the various Metro lines interspaced to get some decent service. I suspect there's more to the story (like work rules, which aren't easy to change) that are at the bottom of some of these problems.

Posted 8/13/2007 12:05:10 PM

Recommend (3)Report Abusemalmec wrote:

I used to ride the N Judah or the L, gave up on them and switched to the 16x. Just as problematic. Easiest and quickest way from the Sunset to downtown? Drive to Noe Valley, hunt for parking, walk to 24th street and Mission and take BART. Drive time 18 minutes, BART time 8 minutes, walking time 8 minutes. I dare anyone to get from the Sunset to 1st and Market on Muni in 34 minutes.

Posted 8/13/2007 2:00:45 PM

Recommend (0)Report Abusesalparadise63 wrote:

LOL. Easiest way to get around the city? Bicycle. Muni sucks, it always sucked, and it will continue to suck. You think the politicians in this Manhattanized city care about you and what you get for your dollar fifty fare? HA! AH HA HA HA! Dump Muni. Get a bike. Get healthy. Muni stinks, from the top management to the last grumpy driver. Muni: BAH!

Posted 8/13/2007 2:56:42 PM

Recommend (0)Report Abusejlbrown wrote:

THE J CHURCH NEEDS IMPROVEMENT?!! Are you KIDDING?? Obviously the problems with the L are taking a backseat. At least once a week I am doomed to waiting for the L for 30 minutes or longer, while several N, J and K trains pass me by, one after the other. Why is it that cities that are much LARGER and have MORE buses and trains can seem to manage this public transportation issue yet SF continues to grapple with THE SAME ISSUES?? And lets not forget the buses: the 28, the 29, the 22...they all suck. There's nothing like waiting for a bus for 20 minutes on a dark windy evening at 11pm. Why SHOULD be rely on public transportation and leave our cars at home?? CAN ANYONE ANSWER THAT QUESTION???

Posted 8/13/2007 4:22:01 PM

Recommend (0)Report Abuseezmo2000 wrote:

MUNI? I gave up on SF's MUNI long ago. Driving is safer and on time.

Posted 8/13/2007 9:02:49 PM

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