Friday commute: Déjà vu of disaster

Hmmm... another Friday afternoon commute of agony. Had to walk home today, because the tunnel was inexplicably shut down (again) during evening rush hour. I think I'm going to start a database of Muni Metro shutdowns and doing some data-mining to find patterns. Some friends who work for Muni told me that the afternoons are always worse than the mornings, and actually had an answer for me about WHY.

The problem is one of line and yard management. In the morning peak, each yard sends out the service with a team of line-management pros (they called these people by their official titles but I don't remember those). The problem is, when Muni balanced their budget they had to cut something so they eliminated a lot of the line management folks in the afternoon shifts. Those are the people who make sure that the vehicles aren't bunched together and are leaving the yards at the right time. Without that, the drivers just sorta "wing it".

So finally, I think I understand why the afternoons are worse than the mornings. How many times have YOU sat in the tunnel watching the next-train sign show that it's going to be N, J, N-N, J, K...

Any chance we can get that line management back by, oh, pulling staff off the outrageously expensive Chinatown subway project?

Please just let me pay my fare!

No other transit system I've ever used is so hostile toward infrequent riders. Ask anyone who's ever visited San Francisco how maddening it is to take BART into the city, and then try to transfer to Muni at Civic Center or Embarcadero. No cross-platform transfer; no useful signage; no integrated ticket (except fastpass but that's for residents).

The kiosk agents don't take cash (half of the kiosks sit empty anyway); and the change machines won't take $20 bills, or the ones that do only return four $5 bills which are useless at the Muni turnstiles.

My friend visiting last weekend actually got yelled at by the BART kiosk agent, telling him "This is a BART station!! If you need change, go upstairs to Burger King." Which he did -- and they wouldn't change his $20, so he ended up taking a taxi cab.

Plus, the daily and weekly passes are almost impossible to find unless you already know where to go to get them. Even visitors who want to ride Muni are discouraged every step of the way.

Here are some suggestions which would make Muni more inviting to infrequent users, thus encouraging them to become more frequent users:

1. More, working change machines or automatic ticket vending machines.
2. A simplified Muni system map, which shows high-frequency lines and major stops only. Portland has a nice downtown PDF and the SF Transportation Authority had a good start here but it would need some work.
   
3. Real live kiosk agents at the kiosks, actually helping! Or like in other cities, actually doing something like accepting payments.
   
4. Now I'm just dreaming: how about really funding and implementing TransLink so you can get one ticket for your entire ride?
   

Computer Glitch -- Tunnel Closed!!!

I knew it as I approached 17th and Market... that crowd standing at the F-line terminal could only mean one thing. Yep -- The station agent at Castro announced a "computer software glitch" had seized the entire Muni tunnel. No trains in either direction, good luck getting anywhere this morning.

Judging the size of the crowd at the terminus, I decided I'd race the F-line on foot, and hoofed it down Market street. The mass of people on the sidewalk were all walking the same direction I was. Two women chatted me up along the way -- "Nice day for a walk anyway, eh?"

I was well ahead of the F-line until Octavia, when it finally overtook me. But alas, by the time I hit Gough street I was ahead again as the crammed rail car got stuck behind an overcrowded bus. I love the cute little trains in midday when they aren't crowded, but when they get packed in like today, without any ventilation systems, those little trains are really uncomfortable. When I arrived at my destination near Van Ness Avenue, the train had just pulled ahead again, beating me by about 45 seconds.

Some thoughts for the proponents of Muni's expensive toy railroad, sometimes called the Market Street Railway:

• F-line streetcars are very slow -- I almost beat the train in my walk from Castro to Van Ness
  
• F-line streetcars are surprisingly low capacity, compared to the Breda cars and certainly compared to BART
  
• You cannot base a real, modern city's transit system on such old technology and expect residents to be well-served. Maybe it's nice for the tourists
  

I'll see if I can find out what exactly happened to tunnel service today and will update if I get anything.

Friday commute worse than usual -- as usual

Dealing with a transit system that is overcapacity is a nightmare. The service cuts from last fall really made offpeak travel unbearable. And, mind you, offpeak means just seconds after 6pm in the Muni Metro tunnel.

Waiting at the Van Ness station for a K/L/M train to Castro that isn't completely full is frequently an exercise in patience. This Friday I only waited for seven trains before giving up (this time it was NN, K, NN, NN, J, L, NN). The Van Ness platform was completely filled with people obviously trying to get into the Castro for the evening, all quite frustrated that none of the trains were heading in the direction that the most people want to go. I took the N, which was completely full; had no A/C; and in fact even the fan was not running.

So here's my question. Why does it seem like the mix of trains in the tunnel is the most screwed up on Friday afternoons? Even if more drivers call in sick for the weekend (something I don't know is true or not), it doesn't seem like a driver shortage should mean that only N-Judah and J-Church lines run.

And while I'm at it, since there only needs to be one driver per train, why are so many of the K/L/M trains one car during rush hour? Is Muni saving electricity?

Experience the Muni Meltdown

Welcome to my new blog, Muni Meltdown.

After ten years of suffering, I'm finally going to document all the awful antics we all endure on Muni. More to come.