»In which MUNI shuts the stable door

After the public-transit horse is long gone, MUNI is looking into ways of shutting the stable door. According to an article in the San Francisco Examiner, the transit agency still has no idea about how many people ride the various bus routes. Not only do I find this embarassing -- London Transit conductors and ticket-takers knew this by examining the day's ticket stubs, one hundred years ago -- we should find it doubly embarassing as we are in the region known for its technological innovation.

Muni is currently facing a multiyear deficit and has been forced to raise fares twice in two years while cutting service. Some transportation advocates have called for the agency to become more efficient by becoming faster — streamlining some of its busiest lines.

Having already inflicted a double-whammy on the transit-taking public, a dwindling population, the transit agency is now looking into half-baked computerized statistics collection. Have they not already installed TransLink smartcard readers on all streetcar and light-rail lines? Enforce the use of those, and you will get a vast data set without the need for additional infrastructure.

Data that the fare collection will not provide:

• Amount of time that people waited for the 22 Fillmore while the NextBus sign ticks away the hours. "Next Bus in ... 3 minutes ... 7 minutes ... 12 minutes"


• Number of fare evaders jumping on at the back door at the intersection of Market and Van Ness


• Amount of time wasted at the N-Judah stops that do not note the bus bridge in effect after 2200 daily

If you wanted to get to SFO this morning, I hope that you did not take BART. In fact, if you ever want to get to the airport, you probably do not take BART.