Muni increasingly booting passengers before they reach the beach
It’s not your imagination: Muni really is turning back more N-Judah and L-Taraval trains before they reach the end of the line, leaving Ocean Beach-area residents to walk the rest of the way to home or work, even though they’ve paid the same fare as riders who got off at stops farther east.
Muni is increasingly using so-called “short turns” to deal with train delays and traffic problems, according to the San Francisco Examiner, which reports that Muni has detailed the practice in a report addressing inquiries from members of the Board of Supervisors.
Short turns happen when Muni operators force riders to get off at a stop before reaching the end of the line. Operators then turn the train around in effort to make up time when there are delays, according to the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which operates Muni.Switchbacks have increased on three lines in The City: the N-Judah, the L-Taraval and the M-Oceanview.
In 2009, the N-Judah line tallied 226 short turns. That number increased to 378 in 2010. Likewise, 177 trains have been turned around midroute on the L-Taraval line this year, an increase from 97 times last year, according to the MTA.
You complainers need to invest a little time to understand how the system works. This is called a switchback. It is done when a vehicle, for any number of reasons, gets too far behind schedule. When this happens, at least on the buses, it is usually accompanied by bunching, i.e. two or three buses right behind each other, another situation that people are always complaining about. The lead bus is so far behind that his follower has caught up to him. The lead bus calls Central control, and describes his location and how far behind schedule he is. Central control then makes the decision whether or not to switch the lead coach back at one of many predetermined places, depending on how far behind schedule they are. This action actually puts him back on time going in the other direction and gets the buses back to their proper spacing. Is it inconvenient for those who have to get off one vehicle and board the next one? Of course, but If any of you have a better idea how to handle such a situation, your suggestions would be a lot more productive than your ignorant complaining. But keep in mind we already know from decades of experience that there is no better way.
Here’s the problem as I see it. People are suddenly dumped from MUNI in a strange neighborhood to wait in the dark. Last time it happened to me on the L, a group of frail looking senior citizens were huddling in the doorway of the KFC for 20 minutes until the next train came along. They were trying to stay out of the rain and stay warm. KFC did not want them there and it is a high traffic area for troublemaker young people (check the police reports for the area). It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out that eventually there will be an assault, possibly a death and then the city will be sued and we the taxpayers will pay a million dollar settlement.
If a train is not going to the end of the line, MUNI HAS TO ANNOUNCE IT AT A SHELTERED TRAIN STATION! If these scared, shivering people had known they would be dumped off on some random street corner in the middle of the night, they would have waited at the West Portal station for the next train!
So, dear MUNI, either stop the practice of dumping passengers, or tell us in time for us to shelter and wait.
Has Muni ever looked into running a real short-run N in addition to the one that goes all the way to the beach? Say, turning trains around at 10th or 19th Ave and clearly marking that on the destination sign? Many operators do that on corridors like the one the N runs down in order to serve the higher demand of the inner stops more frequently.
This isn’t news. I’ve lived in the Outer Sunset for 16 years and this has been going on the whole time. I’ve been dumped by the N at 19th, then the subsequent train dumped me at Sunset.
Riders need to protest by refusing to get off the train, or by sitting and blocking the tracks to prevent the train from turning around. I’ve heard of incidents on the N where passengers refused to get off the train at 19th and/or Sunset and the driver finally relented and went all the way to the beach. (Greg Dewar: have you heard that, or is it just urban legend?)
I personally solved this problem a few years ago by buying a scooter — a Fast Pass costs more than gas and insurance.
Every year we hear this story, and every year there’s a big promise to “stop it” and yet the operators do it anyway. It was just a year or so ago where Muni said anyone doing this would be fired on the spot (And naturally our politicians bathed in the glow of such bold words) and yet, it continues:
http://www.njudahchronicles.com/2008/08/catching_up_on_the_days_news_will_butche.html