------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: Dave Snowden <dvs519@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups: ba.transportation
Subject: PCC seats
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 03:48:32 -0800
Message-ID: <36C95B10.A51EBC22@earthlink.net>
I spent A couple of days in San Francisco 2 weeks ago riding
various lines and syatems.
PCC SEATS
I rode several ex-Philadelphia PCCs and the seats are very
uncomfortable. Somehow the pitch is
wrong. I tried both the single seats and the double seats
and did not include the ADA-compliant
tilting seats near the front. It felt like the seat back was
wrong for this type of vehicle. My shoulders were back of my
hips in a very uncomfortable "leaning back" position. I am
tall so my knees were jammed into the seatback in front of
me so it wasn't that I did not have my butt all the way
back.
SCHEDULES
Now don't rush the booth, but I found some schedules at the
Powell Street Muni Fare Booth. Of course they were the
latest ones for Summer 1998. These are the much abbreviated
"headway schedules" that do not show most trips.
SUNDAY NIGHT SUBWAY CLOSING
I was at the Caltrain Metro Station at 7:40 P.M. The cars
running towards the subway were all signed for J-Church.
This even included a 2-car train. At 7:30 the N-Judah busses
were running. No announcement was made on the platform or on
the car to tell everyone that this was the last train and
that you had to transfer to a bus. I exited the train at
Montgomery and the escalators were already turned off. A
K-Ingleside to West Portal bus arrived and he would not
allow L or M passengers to board. About 5 minutes later
another K bus arrived and he allowed everyone to board. I
waited for an F-Market car to arrive. At the end of the F
line I walked across Market to get a bus connection. After
15 minutes a bus finally showed up. It stopped at the Forest
Hills Station but jumped the curb while the driver was in a
hurry to exit the loop. It was a good thing everyone was
seated.
Upon arriving at West Portal we were all discharged because
the trolleys were still running until midnight. Of course
Muni's upper management can not apply simple rules of
scheduling. A K trolley car arrived and discharged it's
passengers and then made a left turn like it was going to go
out the L line, but instead it changed ends, used the
crossover and went back out the K line. Meanwhile an L car
was held up at the crossing. The L car discarged her
passengers and crossedover and made it's stop at the
library. The operator did open all doors so everyone could
board. I was lucky, because my ticket which I purchased at
the Caltrain stop had now expired.
I guess upper management can not figure out how to run an
efficient system. Combine the K and L for through service.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
RUSH HOUR SUBWAY SERVICE
Well, it seems that the management at Muni does not care how
the subway is run. Or maybe, perhaps, they have no idea how
it SHOULD be run. Muni should be telling the contractor what
they want, not taking what the contractor is giving it.
The trains are crawling into Embarcadero in both directions.
Only 1 train on each track can open it's doors at a time.
WHY??? The platform is long enough for 8 cars on each track.
Multiple berths can be utilized. Signs could be posted
saying all J & N cars WAIT HERE. All K-L-M cars BOARD HERE.
This has been tried on many other systems and it works very
well.
Somebody should call the Fire Marshall. It is a very
dangerous situation at Embarcadero with all those people
comming down the escalator with no place to go while people
are milling around while the cars are creeping into the
station.
NEW MUNI GENERAL MANAGER
You don't really need a transit expert. What you really need
is an efficinecy expert who can motivate his staff to
produce the results. They need to find the problems and
evaluate the solutions and then get the job done or get
fired. If it means hiring more operators, then DO IT. If
they don't have the money, then GET IT. If the politicians
won't give them the money, then let the public decide at the
next election.
BREDA NOISE
I stayed at a motel that was right at the L-Taraval
terminal. The only noise I heard was from some diesel busses
with noisy motors. he busses were much louder then the
turning Bredas.
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