This morning, the Chronicle ran a story about a Muni mechanic nearly tripling his salary via a gaudy $164,000 earned in 1,954 overtime hours.
Going through Muni's books is a bit like wandering through one of its vehicles -- you're going to step in something unpleasant very quickly. But reporting that Muni is blowing out its overtime budget -- or even that electrical mechanic Khoa Trinh is earning metric shitloads of overtime pay -- is a bit of a gambling-in-the-casino story.
When it happens every year, you can't be shocked. Muni habitually swallows nearly half of the city's overtime dollars. And Trinh's massive overtime payments aren't new either: In calendar year 2011-12, he took home $139,602 in OT in addition to his $102,000 salary and $16,500 in "other" pay.
See Also: The Muni Death Spiral
Muni Has Neglected Maintenance For Years -- And It Shows
San Francisco Police arrested three men who allegedly followed five juveniles onto a Muni bus last month and robbed them of cash and electronics.
Police say on Dec. 28. Denzel Anderson, 21, of San Francisco, Lazarus Thomas, 21, of Daly City, and Cornelius Taylor, 24, of San Francisco, were taken into custody after Muni officers reviewed surveillance video showing the three suspects splitting up the stolen property after the robbery.
A bus rolling up to a bus stop is an event as mundane as pulling a rabbit out of a rabbit hutch. So it wasn't outwardly shocking when a dozen painfully cool people all of the same age group -- late 20s -- and outfitted in conspicuously tight and stylish clothing filed onto a bus this morning at Hayes and Steiner.
These folks weren't waiting for a Muni bus, however. A large, white-and-black corporate shuttle purred up to the stop and the cool folks ambled in. A 21-Hayes, however, was right on its tail. It strained the limits of its electrical cables to pass the shuttle and stopped, awkwardly, in the middle of the street. Muni passengers ran to make the open door. A disabled person would have been out of luck.
Asked how often he must make accommodations of this sort, the Muni driver curtly responded "Pretty goddamn often." He shook his head. "It's inconvenient for you and certainly inconvenient for me."
Per the city, at least 18 "intra-city shuttle services" pick up and drop off locals at more than 200 locations in San Francisco. If you or I idled our cars in a bus stop zone, we'd be facing a fine of at least $250. It does not appear those parking far larger vehicles and loading and unloading many more passengers are suffering the same penalties.
As much grief as Muni got over its "Defeat Jihad" ads it ran last summer, it's somewhat surprising to learn that the transit agency would want to risk starting a holy war in San Francisco.
According to ABC, for the next few weeks, buses in San Francisco will be carrying more than just passengers -- they're toting messages of jihad -- again. However, it's not ads that started the mess that entangled Muni before; rather, these ads are meant to help Bay Area residents accurately define the politically charged word.
See also: Muni Runs Pro-Israel Ad on Buses, Calling Palestinians "Savages"
You might not like Muni but maybe you like free stuff. If you do like riding Muni and you just so happen to love getting free things, then today is your day.
In honor of its 100th birthday, cash-strapped Muni is forgoing its need for, well, cash and doling out free rides to all passengers until 5 a.m. on Saturday.
That's kinda like losing your job and your home, then buying a round of drinks for everyone at the bar.
An unidentified woman using a wheelchair is in critical condition this morning after she was hit by the F-Market streetcar last night, according to police.
Muni Spokesman Paul Rose tells us that the incident happened about 5:45 p.m. at Market and Church streets. It appears the woman was on the platform when she leaned over and was hit. However, police are still investigating the incident to figure out what exactly happened.
What we do know is that the streetcar dragged the woman for about 700 feet, pinning her under the Muni car, Rose said.
Medical authorities have identified the man who was found dead early Saturday morning at the Mission Bay Muni station as 57-year-old Bradley Gainous.
Police say Gainous was found on the walkway leading up to the Muni platform on Third and Mission Rock streets at about 7:50 a.m. on Saturday. They're not sure how he died, but listed the light rail vehicle as a "possible suspect vehicle."
In today's print edition of SF Weekly, we featured a story about a diesel articulated 14-Mission Muni bus incongruously resting on the side of the road in Wadsworth, Nev., a 250-mile jaunt from here.
It turns out that, per veteran Muni employees, buses end up in strange places. But this is still counterintuitive. Muni spokesman Paul Rose told us that the bus -- No. 6090 -- was sold to an unknown buyer in the late 1980s. Carmen Tobey, the proprietor of Smith & Tobey Towing, says the vehicle was hauled onto his land following Burning Man. The owner, a "San Francisco guy," was purportedly past due on his commitment to move the bus elsewhere, and Tobey and his wife's patience was growing thin. But, Tobey now tells us, a deal has been struck and the 14-Mission will be sitting in Wadsworth for the foreseeable future.
See Also: Muni Vehicles End Up in the Darndest Places
After surviving Critical Mass, Fleet Week, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and of course the Giants' World Series celebration on top of your daily commute, city streets will once again be packed with one too many cars.
San Franciscans can expect the longest traffic delays in the nation, followed by New York, during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to INRIX, a leading global provider of traffic information.
In effort to help people better understand why BART escalators constantly break and take so long to fix, the transit agency released this sorta insightful video that might answer your questions.
The nearly 2-minute "Ask BART" footage features an escalator expert who gives a rundown on all the obnoxious ways in which people are screwing up the moving stairs at BART.
See if any of these apply to you:
