Andrew
Subject: Dangerous situation at the MUNI platform at 4th and King
Steets
Sent: 1/25/19 3:43
Received: 1/31/99 12:17
From: Wiebracht, Mike, MWiebracht@northpointcom.com
To: RM steercom, rescuemuni-steercom@lists.best.com
Dear Honorable Mayor and Supervisors: I grant permission to print
part or all of this letter.
I would like to bring to your attention a frequent problem on the N Judah
line at the terminus at 4th and King Streets.
Travelling from downtown to the Muni station at 4th and King Streets, the
driver will stop just before the crossover switch when both sides of the
platform are occupied by streetcars. We continue to hold there until one
of
the cars departs allowing us to proceed to the platform. However, many
times
we sit there while our connecting trains depart from the CalTrain station.
Last Thursday on January 28th, the operator let us out on the center
meridian of King Street so that we could walk the rest of the way to the
CalTrain station. Since it was a crowded two car train, there were over a
hundred people running through traffic to try to connect to CalTrains.
There
is a very real risk that someone will be killed running through the
traffic
that is already accelerating toward the 280 Freeway only two blocks away.
Even when the N Judah does pull into the platform, MUNI is almost always
late to make the connections to CalTains. This results in commuters
running
across King Street through traffic headed to the 280 Freeway to try to
reach
their trains at the CalTrain Station. This dangerous situation occurs at
least 3 to 4 times per week. Some weeks it occurs every day because MUNI
just can't seem to arrive at 4th and King in time to make our connections.
This in spite of the fact that we arrive at 5:00 PM at the Embarcadero
Station giving MUNI 35 minutes to connect to the last express train
leaving
at 5:35 PM. It is so frustrating that it frequently takes MUNI 30 to 45
minutes to reach CalTrain for a 22 minute ride down the Peninsula which is
13 times longer than the distance the CalTrain Station is from Market
Street.
My question: What is the purpose of making so many people miss CalTrain
while two empty N Judahs sit at the platform?
If the supervisor does not want a car to get ahead of schedule to prevent
bunching, why not have one car depart the platform and proceed just beyond
the crossover and wait there until ready to proceed? Then there is space
for
a fully loaded car to pull into the platform to allow people to make the
connection to CalTrain.
One point that seems completely lost on MUNI: CalTrains departs at 5:20
PM,
5:25 PM, 5:30 PM and 5:35 PM. If we miss those trains, the next trains are
either at 6:00 PM or in many cases 6:20 PM due the fact that the 6:00 PM
does not stop at every station. This means that if MUNI is a few minutes
late for the express trains, the penalty to for us to wait is between 25
to
45 minutes for the next train.
I strongly recommend that you address this situation not only for the
improvement of MUNI serving the Peninsula commuters to connect better to
CalTrain, but to reduce a dangerous situation. I would like to remind you
that the Peninsula commuters pay the regular fare or a monthly pass at $30
for a service of just over one mile to Downtown where most commute to. As
a
Technical Recruiter for the past 21 years in San Francisco, I can tell you
that CalTrain is a vital service to bringing well skilled, highly paid
professionals to work in the City. If businesses in the City cannot obtain
these workers, we risk these businesses moving down the Peninsula to be
closer to this vital labor pool. You know that this would have an adverse
impact on our tax base.
If you would like to call me, I would be very happy to discuss this
situation with you.
Regards,
Michael Wiebracht
1222 Oak Grove Avenue #103
Burlingame, CA 94010
415-659-6566 (office number)
Mike Wiebracht | Recruiter, Human Resources
NorthPoint Communications | 222 Sutter Street, 7th Floor | San Francisco,
CA
94108
EMAIL: mwiebracht@northpointcom.com <mailto:mwiebracht@northpointcom.com>
DIRECT: 415/659-6566
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www.northpointcom.com <http://www.northpointcom.com>
Andrew Sullivan
s u l l i . o r g andrew@sulli.org - www.sulli.org
1668 Grove, SF CA 94117 - 415 673 0626