Three Kinds of Muni Trains

It might be Barack Obama's fault that I missed my stop this morning. I was right there with Barack as he drank moonshine in a rural Kenyan village with his uncles and brothers and cousins. I only looked up when the driver grumbled, "Last Stop." Not a big deal. I crossed the platform, enjoyed a couple more of Barack's paragraphs and arrived back at Montgomery in minutes.

Walking to the office, I had this thought:
There are three kinds of Muni trains.

1. The kind with the driver who makes nice announcements like, "Powell Street. Cable Cars, transfer to the 5." Stuff like that. I like this kind of train. It makes me feel connected to the city in a more human way. It makes me like the driver and Muni. Even when the train is stuck in the tunnel, we feel like we're all in this together if the driver says, "They're stacked up at Civic Center. We're going to have to wait a bit."

2. The kind with the automated female voice. "Next stop, Montgomery." This is okay. It prompts engrossed readers to put down the book and get off the train. It's helpful when the train is so full that you can't see where you are. It's smoothly efficient, even if it's a little impersonal.

3. The silent kind where the train proceeds from one end of the track to the other, leaving passengers wondering whether there's even a person at the controls. This kind of train mystifies me. All you hear is the tinny noise from iPods and the heavy sighs of grumpy commuters. This is the kind I had today. I don't like this kind of train.

Today's Muni mysteries:
Do drivers get to decide which kind of train they want?
Do some drivers just switch off the p.a. and the automated voice so they can ride in silence?
Or are the p.a.'s broken on some trains?
I suspect that it's the former.
Again, I ask, how hard is it to flip the switch and let the passengers know where they are?

Today's Stats:
Wait time: About 2 minutes.
Ride time: 15 minutes including my back track.
Muni Reading: Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama. The third section is riveting.
Irritiation level: Low. "But still."