<[snipped]>
>Friday night, since I was not on a fixed deadline, my experiences were
>more >amusing than aggravating. I got off work late, a bit after eight,
>and decided >I didn't want to go home. I took the N-line to the Contra
>dance at 42nd and
>Judah.
>I walked the block from work to Embarcadero, and there was an ominously
>large >crowd in the station, but most of them cleared out on the first car
>to leave (I >forget the route). The first N to arrive, a Breda, stopped
>far back in the
>station and couldn't open its doors. It turned out that most of the
>people in >the station wanted N, so we all trooped down and waited outside
>the unopened >doors. Several people inside were standing to get out. The
>driver pushed
>some buttons and nothing happened. The "platform director" (I don't know
>what >MUNI calls these people) reached in the open drivers' window and
>pushed another >button. The train jerked to a rapid speed, causing those
>inside to stumble,
>and rushed out of the station. The director, who had got his arm out in
>time, >told us that the operator had accidentally set the controls for the
>next >station.
>Fortunately (for us), the next car was also an N (I don't think we'll live
>to >see that get fixed). We all trooped on. Everything was fine until
>Church >Street. Yup, an N to Church Street station. The operator told us
>his "light >was set wrong," whatever that means, and we would all have to
>get off and walk >to the N stop on Duboce. We did. A few minutes later,
>a _third_ N showed up, >and we had an eventless trip out.
>However, coming home around 11:15, I had to wait well over half an hour
>for a >train.
>-- Donald
_________________________
>Donald F. Robertson
>San Francisco
Donald's post sums up everything that's bad about ATCS. First, if the
doors don't open at the spot where they are supposed to, there is supposed
to be a procedure to open the doors manually. Sometimes even that doesn't
work, and the train goes on its merry way with riders fuming. And if you
can get the doors open, don't try to call Central; by the time they come
online, you'll have reached the next station.
Next, wrong routes. This happens too often in ATCS. And when you are in
automatic mode, you can't tell if the switch at the top of the grade is set
properly before you cross it. If you're an N, and the switch is set for
the straight move, you, and your passengers, are out of luck. It's not the
operator's fault; it't the fault of the ATCS system. Perhaps if, at this
critical signal, we can get an "A" over yellow (for diverge) or "A" over
green (for straight), the operator can prepare for the wrong route by
keying his car to manual mode.
Peter Ehrlich
<norcalrr@sprynet.com>