Actually, things were fine until we reached the curve at UCSF where the
train turns left and then back right again. The train in front of us was
stuck because some moron had parked his minivan with it's ass-end two feet
across the big dashed line, and the train couldn't pass. What proceeded to
occur was that a truck with the big wooden bumper tried to push it up on the
curb, which was very unwise, when you think about it, because the emergency
brake was on, and the truck began to spin its back wheels. Had he managed
to get it on the curb, the momentum would probably had carried it forward
into the wall of the building nearby, or any of the foolish passers-by who
walked in front of the minivan. So eventually a tow truck came and yanked
the car from the street with a chain before towing it away.
After all was said and done, we were there for ~20 minutes during the height
of the evening rush hour. Dozens of trains were backed up behind us. What
I want to know is, how bad will this person's Christmas be?
He had parked in the red zone, so that was a huge fine. Then he got towed,
so that was another big fine. Then he was blocking the intersection, so
another fine. Plus, I think the truck that was pushing him munged up the
minivan's front axle, so hopefully he'll have to pay for that. Does muni
have the right to use any means necessary to remove a car that is blocking
the tracks? If not, maybe it should. I thought we should have rammed it.
Can we as passengers get out and physically move the car? Are there any
other fines I'm missing?