Mission Mission

OMG the Mish stumbled onto this scene on Sunday.

Are you disturbed? I’m kind of disturbed, although, even though I’m a vegetarian, I’ll try anything once. I’d try some lion.

I mean, at least it’s not smorked.

Previously:

Special Tiolet Flushing Instructions

Thanks for being honest, MUNI.

(16th and Mission, via reader Chris K)

 I get woken up by a monsoon outside my window at 4am, but by the time I’m leaving for work at around 8am, the sun is shining.  So I mutter a quick ”WTF SF?” and diligently forego BART to get on my bicycle.  Nearing Civic Center (Yay for Wednesday Farmer’s Market!) on Market St, I notice the Muni buses are beginning to pile up again, which can pretty much only mean one thing.

this doesn't look good

I approach an officer and ask what’s going on, and he just kind of shakes his head and more or less says (ridiculous paraphrase warning):

Well sir, a cyclist was trying to squeeze between some cars and a bus, and she slipped on those white circular raised bumps (in sweeping arrow formation) that attempt to separate the Muni and car lanes.  So she loses balance on her bike and thuds against the side of a bus, and then to add insult to injury Muni rolls over her bike.

I couldn’t talk to the “victim” because she (deduced from officer’s pronoun usage) was in an ambulance, but she didn’t appear to have any life-threatening injuries, and luckily Muni rolled over her bike instead of her leg or face.  Totally could have been much worse.

the culprit

Fellow cyclists!  We are very aware of how dangerous and slippery Muni rails can be in inclement weather, but there is another enemy in our midst!  Don’t let these unsuspecting lumps ruin your day!

More pics of the damage (and UPDATE) after the jump . . .

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And then we’ll be devoured like a bucket of KFC or a ham and cheese croissant.  Muni is insatiable these days, and even with unfair fare increases (see what I did there?) and service being cut all over the city, its new director will make $225,039!!!  And despite all that, it’s still a self-admitted sinking ship.

So, how does everyone feel about the proposed March Against Muni boycott?  It’s not a “march” in the classical sense but instead a rather clever pun which asks participants to “pledge not to buy a March Fast Pass and stop or reduce riding Muni for the month of March 2010.”  Some of their demands are reasonable (no more rude drivers), some are pure fantasy (no more delays–sure dudes, whatev), and some are completely contradictory (no more paper fast passes AND no more exploiting seniors–make up your minds!). 

Jeff over at Muni Diaries thinks that since Muni’s problems resulted primarily from Governator-imposed budget slashes, a boycott will only worsen Muni’s monetary outlook and ability to serve the city.  He makes a good point.

So what do you think?  Will this lead to cleaner, on-time buses?  Over-crowded bike lanes?  Or will it just push Muni past the event horizon into the swirling vortex of bankruptcy and deterioration?

Whoa. Street art is starting to read like tweets. … 2010!!

Photo by KayVee.INC.

Between their service cutbacks, perpetual lateness, shameless venting on twitter, colliding with pedestrians, and providing free showers to residents on Fillmore St., it’s clear that MUNI is in the middle of an epic downward spiral of fail. Why? State budget cuts, they say.

But waitaminute… I can think of this other city that also happens to be in this state: Oakland. You know, that place you never go to in the “Eastern Bay”?

Ooh, shiny! This picture is from my phone, not an AC Transit informative brochure.

I work in Downtown Oakland every day and I sometimes use AC Transit. During a recent ride, it occurred to me that there are some really amazing things about it:

1. I’ve never had to wait longer than 10 minutes for a bus. The “walk or ride” calculation never becomes a factor.
2. Buses are modern and clean. Seriously, look at the picture. It looks like interior of an airport shuttle.
3. The realtime Nextbus predictions are actually accurate and seem to be able to distinguish between buses going in the opposite direction.
4. No one sneaks in the back door of the bus or flashes a dubious expired transfer. Everyone walks in through the front and pays their fare.
5. There’s this awesome concept of “Rapid” lines. Example: the 72 stops wherever you want, but the 72R will only stop at major intersections, often shaving off 10-20 minutes of travel time. Does the 49 really need to stop every block on Mission St? A 49R that stops at Van Ness, 16th, 24th, then Valencia would change my life.
6. As far as I know, no one has ever had to defend her seat with karate on AC Transit (less tempers, less crazies).

So why doesn’t AC Transit suck? I’m sure there are a lot more factors here, but their annual operating budget is $320 million, while the SFMTA is a whopping $808 million.

Damn, maybe I just need to get my bike fixed already and stop thinking about MUNI.

Twitterer @holleratme snapped this shot on MUNI:

That’s a bit harsh isn’t it? I prefer the kid-friendly signs at the Daly City BART station:

Congratulations to @ronjamesfisher, I guess. At least someone is a winner here.

Biking to work down Market today, I noticed the Muni buses begin to pile up.  It was rather narrow to squeeze through but fairly safe since traffic was stagnant.  The drivers all had their doors open and were casually chatting with one another, and some were even hanging outside their buses.  Looks like this was a good day to take the Letters, unlike yesterday.

I finally approached the scene, but only emergency vehicles and the offending taxi remained.  However, my friend Aiko-Sophie witnessed the ordeal and provides the following account:

I was on the 21 and saw a pedestrian that had just been hit by a taxi.  His head was resting on the curb with his body still in the street.  Blood was coming from the back of his head.  His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving.

Doesn’t sound very good.  Let’s hope this turns out ok.  Please be careful when crossing the street, pedestrians!  Those taxis can be maniacs, but you would not believe how many pedestrians just blindly cross Market street right in front of my bike (without looking) every week!

The taxi in question can be seen being inspected here.  MORE PHOTOS of the scene of the crime after the jump (always wanted to say that):

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Wow, this brings me back to the AOL days. It’s hard to imagine, but those Translink add-value kiosks are probably making these sounds somewhere behind the scenes. I wonder if it says “Goodbye!” after it’s done with your transaction.

MrEricSir might be able to clarify on this, but if it’s true, that’s OLD SCHOOL.

That being said, I guess if it aint broke don’t fix it. Oh wait, it is broke. On the bright side, when those kiosks go down, the bus drivers usually just wave me on when I flash my rendered-useless Translink card. Playing these odds probably works out in your favor when compared to the ever-inflating MUNI pass prices.