This morning my Muni driver told me to get a car

By Paula Connelly

When I saw that it was rainy this morning at 8:00AM I decided to take the 48 Quintara line bus rather than walk, as I usually do. After waiting just shy of an hour for the bus, two arrived at the same time and half way through the ride the less crowded one reached a spontaneous end-of-the-line. When my bus driver told me that I should run if I want to catch the first bus, I explained why that was bothersome. She told me, "Get a car." Et tu, bus driver?? I have been a city girl my whole life, never had a car, and don't plan on getting one.
After the recent i880 accident, Muni should not only be encouraging people to ride, they should be demonstrating all the viability of the option to take public transportation. That's just bad marketing. It took me twice as long to get to work as it would had I walked. That's an hour and a half commute for 2.7 miles. When dealing with any large, diverse group of people, you can expect complications. But just about once a month, the frequency with which I take public transportation to work, my fervor for walking is reaffirmed by a similar experience. I can't trust Muni when even it's employees have lost faith in it's reliability. Wet socks are a bargain for my sanity.

Comments (4)

Colfax

I used to passionately love Muni and Muni alone, but now it's just a common hussy.

"How is it, living in San Francisco?" they would ask.

"Great," I'd reply, "I'm in love with a train named Muni, and we don't care what anyone thinks about it."

When Muni stopped coming by, I was heartbroken at first...but now I'm just disappointed. I hear about things like this "Get a car," debacle, and I really just feel pity.

Doesn't Muni notice that it has runs in its pantyhose? Even its daddy knows.

Posted by Colfax | May 2, 2007 12:29 PM

NoeValleyJim

File a complaint with Muni. The MTA is looking into doing something about the drivers who are the chronic problems. 25 drivers are responsible for over 90% of the complaints. Muni has put up with this in the past, mostly because the union stuck up for them, but change is in the air.

Posted by NoeValleyJim | May 3, 2007 12:36 PM

gwschulz

Colfax, that was among the best comments I've seen around these parts. I love you almost more than you used to love MUNI.

Our MUNI system would do it in a dirty pick-up truck for a ride home from a football game WITH HARDLY A BLUSH.

-G.W. Schulz

Posted by gwschulz | May 3, 2007 01:24 PM

WillySF

MUNI has plenty of bad apples. I wonder exactly what percentage of its drivers live outside the city and commute by car? I think such a statistic would be quite telling. I am very pro labor, and I belong to a trade union, but I think abusers should be disciplined. Ultimately, I believe in order to truly fix MUNI, we should consider the possibilities of employee ownership.

Posted by WillySF | May 4, 2007 03:33 PM

This morning my Muni driver told me to get a car

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