Better than sliding off the fiberglas bus seats at every turn. BTW, one of
the reasons more people--tall, large or small--ride the PCCs is precisely
*because* they enjoy the cushioned seats. And they have the most
comfortable, high-tech, ergonomically-designed operator seats in the system
(unlike the Bredas, which have seats identical to the ones the PCCs had
originally. Go figure.).
>
>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.
It's too bad that the book was obsolete 2 weeks after it was printed. For
example, it doesn't include the new N-Judah schedules to Caltrain, and the
first printed southbound run on the 43-Masonic on weekends and holidays has
been eliminated. I found that out the hard way, just after the August 22
signup began, and I had to get to Green Division to pull out by 6:17 on
Saturdays. The first morning, I ended up taking a taxi from 9th & Judah.
Subsequent Saturdays, I woke up 30 minutes earlier and took the 91-Owl to
Ocean, then the K. Elimination of timetables--This is one of Cruz's
legacies I'd rather forget!!!
>
>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.
>
Since this is only a "temporary thing" while ATCS testing in the subway is
still performed (it's only been going on for over a year now!), don't ever
expect signs to be posted at Caltrain to inform riders of this fact.
As for the curb-jumping, this, sadly, is commonplace among motor and
trolley coach operators. Back before I joined Muni, operators got written
up for even having their tires rub up against the curb. It's part of the
"New Muni" non-chalant attitude.
>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 its
>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 crossed over 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.
>
Perhaps the K operator had just received a new piece of equipment after
his/her old Boeing or Breda became defective, and the operator had to get
back on schedule.
>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.
>
On Sunday nights, this is precisely what they do. However, I agree with
you that upper management cannot figure out how to run an efficient system.
>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.
>
The platform really can only hold 5-6 cars. Boarding J-N and K-L-M cars at
different locations would probably hold up service. And I agree--Muni
should be telling Booz-Allen what to do. But it can't, because it doesn't
know, or want to know.
>Somebody should call the Fire Marshal. 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.
>
Why not move the outbound stop for one-car trains back to the west end of
the platform, where it was before ATCS?
>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.
>
Like politicians, the bureaucrat's main job is to hold on to what he has,
regardless of whether he is worth it.
>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. The busses
>were much >louder then the turning Bredas.
>
Breda noise has dropped considerably since the first days.
And now, MY pet peeve: The writer uses "it's" instead of "its". This
improper usage drives me up the WALL! (For the uninitiated: "IT'S" is a
contraction of "IT IS". "ITS" is a possessive pronoun.)
>------- End of forwarded message -------
Peter Ehrlich