Cause & Effect?

On Monday, I wrote about the new flat panel screens that are supposed to give Muni passengers detailed information about trains. As of this morning, I still haven't seen a single one working. Most have a standard windows message: This page contains secure and non secure items. Do you wish to continue?

Click yes and the page is updated. Do nothing, and well.... Maybe Muni has a requisition out for someone to click yes. Can I get that job?

Having suffered through statistics in college, I understand cause and effect, and logically I realize that the presence of these silly and redundant screens likely has little effect on Muni's efficiency. But....

Ever since the screens went up, the trains have been all screwed up. Weeks of smooth rides have given way to completely unreliable service.

Yesterday I had to take a taxi after learning that trains were "running, but slowly because something happened between Powell and Embarcadero." I exited the station, thinking that I'd just get the F streetcar, but there was no streetcar in sight. I shared a cab with a nice guy.

I had a mid-day Muni opportunity as I was meeting a friend for lunch at Embarcadero. I figured I'd save a few minutes by hopping on one of the six Muni lines that pass through Montgomery, only to find that the next train wasn't due in the station for 15 minutes. WTF? BART and got me there in seconds.

Yesterday's trifecta was complete with a classic Muni meltdown in the afternoon. A 2:00 accident at Sloat & 19th had snarled all traffic on the western side of the city. I checked NextMuni before my evening commute and saw that nearly every KL and M was stuck on the other side of the accident site and that other trains were stalled in downtown stations. Why, if everyone in the city knows that the intersection is shut down and will be for hours, would the Muni people keep sending trains into traffic Hell? Why not shuttle them between West Portal and Downtown and at least keep some passengers moving?

Perhaps the managers were huddled around a computer screen, trying to figure out how to click the YES button on their new toy.

Again, I took BART, taking advantage of the little-known perk - MUNI PASSES WORK ON BART as long as you begin and end your ride within SF. (Balboa - Embarcadero.) I had a nice walk home from the Mission on a lovely evening.

So.... this morning. Once again the trains are screwy. A T enters Castro station. The disembodied voice announces, "This train will not stop." Nobody moves. The train stops. The doors open for long enough that a sprite might have been able to pass. The doors close. The train sits there for a couple of minutes, then departs.

A few minutes later, an L arrives. We get on. It stopped in the tunnel 4 times. No explanation. Just sitting there.

Maybe our driver was thinking about the flat panels screens. Maybe she was thinking about how that expense might have gone toward her salary, or more trains, or better managers who can actually keep her passengers happy. Maybe she was stuck on Taraval for hours yesterday, and she was still in a bad mood.

Cause and effect? It's starting to make sense.

Today's Stats:
Wait time: 12 minutes
Ride time: 22 minutes
Muni Reading: The New Yorker fashion issue. I finished the article on Donatella Versace. The part about the ballet she commissioned to honor Gianni made me weepy. I must have PMS. Or maybe it's the flat panel screens.
Irritation level: High. These screens are bugging me. So are the stats.