Muni Operator Refuses Disabled Passenger to Board Bus - IT WAS ME

On my bad days, I had to wear an orthopedic boot.

Being injured is not fun.  I've been suffering with a foot injury which also causes ankle pain for about a month, and I have to use a cane and ankle brace on most occasions.

Just today, I was waiting for the 38L-Geary Limited going outbound from 20th Avenue and Geary, and here came bus number 6415 approaching the stop.

As I'm waiting on the curb, the bus doesn't even make an attempt to pull to the curb.  He lets the rear doors open to let passengers off and board, but he notices me standing at the front door as I had no choice but to walk ten feet to the bus.

I indicate to him that I want to board the bus.  He refuses to open the doors.  I even said to him that I am disabled and showed my walking cane to him.  Still refuses to board.

I was pissed.  He let others board the back, but refuses to let me in the front?  The bus may have been crowded, but the passengers getting off should have provided enough room for me to get a front seat for the disabled.

And to make matters worse, just before he was able to leave, he briefly opens the front doors, then shuts them.

I've never been so pissed-off at Muni as I am right now.  I've already filed an ADA complaint against them.  Just because I filed a complaint with Muni, odds are, the operator will not be punished.  So what better way than use my blog to further humiliate the driver and this agency.

Info to know:
Line: 38L-Geary Limited
Direction: Outbound to 48th Avenue & Pt. Lobos
Location of incident: 20th Avenue and Geary
Time: Approximately 2:00PM
Bus number: 6415
Operator: Male, Asian, mid age

On a final note, I boarded the next 38L-Geary Limited and behind me was a lady with a walker needing the wheelchair lift.  After I boarded and took a seat near the front, the person sitting on my left commented to the lady needing the wheelchair lift "you've got to be kidding me."  I wanted to slap that person; learn to keep your mouth shut if you don't have something nice to say.

My Opinion about Outside Lands - Not So Bad After All

There's been a mixed reaction about Outside Lands and while my blog used to be the hotbed of controversy when the event had its first year, The Richmond District Blog of San Francisco got over 170 comments, and it was pretty heated.

There's a handful that says, it was fine, others argued it wasn't fun because the noise was so bad. Even one of my friends who lives in University Park North (a.k.a. Stonestown Apartments) could hear the bass, and that's a far distance away from the park.

The Sound
As for me, life wasn't so bad in the Outer Richmond. Last year, I could hear some of the bass rumbling my walls and my ears, but this year, I didn't hear anything. That's a little odd, or maybe it's because the stage and speakers on the Polo Fields was facing east instead of west. I did notice some sound when I was on Geary and 19th walking around having some Joe's ice cream, but I surely didn't hear any music when I was inside earlier having curry at Volcano.

Traffic
Traffic wasn't that bad to go north and south. There was some rumor mill that Great Highway was closed all weekend, but that wasn't true at all.

I took my car on Friday and traveled along Great Highway in the morning without any difficulties. Going back around 6PM was a little troubling with heavy traffic between Lincoln and Fulton, but this was normal traffic people would expect on a weekend during a gorgeous day (those who wants to enjoy a day at the beach).

On Saturday, I decided to go out for an evening at the movies. Things went quite smoothly because I left my house at about 8PM and returned around 11:15PM encountering no traffic; only just a few stragglers walking around for a bus stop.

Muni
I'd have to say that Muni was my only major complaint for this entire event. I took the 38L inbound with no difficulties to reach Japantown for the Nihonmachi Street Fair.

Going back was a total hellhole. I just missed the 38L and looked at the Nextbus sign for the next vehicle. It said the next limited bus would be nearly 25 minutes. I waited and waited while four 38 local buses passed by, each one packed to the maximum capacity. I finally hopped onto a limited bus for a horrendous bus ride to Arguello to stop at the bank. I then had to wait for the next limited... the next one was packed, and so was the next few local buses. Muni had a bunch of out of service 60 foot articulated buses just buzzing by, and finally had to force my way on the next limited bus just so I could get home.

I knew most of the passengers on the bus was Outside Landers because they wore a green wristband, and a huge wad of them got off at 25th and 33rd Avenues.

I'm curious of why they took the Geary lines. More direct service is provided by the N-Judah, 71-Height Noriega, and 5-Fulton. I knew Outside Lands rented the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, but it looks like a lot of people went cheap and didn't opt for the express shuttle service. What's strange is the Geary lines are much further away from the Civic Auditorium at Civic Center than the other lines people can take that goes closest to the site in Golden Gate Park.

What did you think of Outside Lands? Leave a comment.

Lastly, regarding the photo, I couldn't find anything amusing to use, so I used a Muni training bus accident photo.

Akit's Huge Victory Over Muni - No More Stranded 38-Geary Riders

I can now declare a huge victory! Akit's Complaint Department has been successful in having Muni adjust their bus schedules to fill in the two and a half hour gap of no inbound service at the 48th Avenue & Point Lobos terminal for the 38L-Geary Limited and 38-Geary.

A little background...
I've known for months that Muni has been leaving passengers stranded for nearly 2.5 hours on Saturday nights at the 48th Avenue starting point. The time gap is when the last inbound 38L-Geary Limited (5:37PM) departs and the first local 38-Geary departs (8:02PM). I finally got fed-up with the problem after seeing lots of people standing there with no bus in sight to take them home.

On January 5th, I wrote a blog entry to expose this huge gap that left passengers out in the cold and my proof was reviewing the schedules posted on 511.org.

The blog post got Muni's attention when they decided to take the easy route by posting an online notice to the public about no service on Saturday, January 15th. The next day, I criticized Muni for not trying to find a better solution, and for not placing signage at the bus stop to tell people of the 2.5 hour gap; nearly a dozen people were left stranded for hours for a Muni bus to take them home.

A Huge Victory!
The victory is super sweet today because Muni added extra 38L-Geary Limited buses to pick-up passengers on Saturday evenings from 5:37 to 8:02PM. 38L buses departs from 48th Avenue every 10 minutes starting from 5:30PM to 7:10PM, and the last three are 7:22, 7:35, and 7:48PM (see 38L Saturday inbound schedule). The next bus would be the regularly scheduled 38-Geary local bus at 8:02PM (see 38 Saturday inbound schedule).

But the victory celebration doesn't end there...
If you didn't read the above paragraph carefully, this is what makes my victory party even better, the 38L-Geary Limited service will now operate for TWO MORE HOURS!

Why? That's because the old schedule said the last 38L is supposed to leave at 5:37PM and therefore the 2.5 hour gap until 8:02PM. Instead of adding extra 38-Geary local stop buses, they added 13 MORE LIMITED RUNS! (5:40PM to 7:48PM), which means, you can go out and eat dinner, and still catch that inbound 38L-Geary Limited bus home.

A little blogger can make a big difference to our great city of San Francisco (Akit for Mayor or Supervisor?). Now, let's celebrate, sing it Kool & The Gang! Anyone want to dance the electric slide?

UPDATE 1/25: I'm in today's SF Examiner! Click here to read article or get today's print edition and look at page five.

All-Day Express Bus Service for the 38-Geary?

As I'm sitting here at home taking the day off work due to the cold, I spent time watching a bunch of YouTube videos about bus rapid transit (BRT) used in places like Bogota, Colombia. They spent a dozen years developing their transit system to allow people to travel long distances quickly with unique features including level platform boarding, free feeder buses to major stations where passengers pay only for the BRT ride, and a central control office that operates like an airport's traffic control tower.

While us San Franciscans can dream of the day when we can have bus rapid transit on corridors like Geary Boulevard, Van Ness Avenue, and 19th Avenue/Park Presidio, there are some serious issues when it comes to implementing BRT here in San Francisco:

• One of the reasons why a city would build BRT is due to severe traffic congestion. Sure, it would rip away a few lanes of traffic, but if the system works successfully, more would ride the bus instead of taking their cars. San Francisco does not have a huge traffic problem, even though we do get grumpy about how long it takes to drive along 19th Avenue.
• Another reason why a city would build BRT is because it either serves multiple cities/counties or the city is so large, it truly needs a transit service that is fast. San Francisco isn't that big and Muni only serves San Francisco (okay, part of Marin County on Sundays). AC Transit and VTA operates in a larger area, thereby the BRT service was a necessity to move people around.
• Lastly, BRT would be built in areas that are not highly developed, but having the line would actually help build development. If Muni targets Geary and Van Ness corridors, it's likely they'd face some heavy resistance from store owners and residents about the construction and/or loss of business and parking. Muni got lucky with 3rd Street, since it wasn't that much residential and was mostly industrial, it was an easy build to get the T-Third line running, and the new transit line helped build new housing projects and the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

I was thinking to myself, could Muni fix the 38-Geary to provide faster service to our city's residents without the huge expense of building BRT?

Sure, the 38L-Geary Limited was a smart idea to shave about 10 minutes from end to end, but it still has a reputation for being slow. The Geary express buses during peak morning and evening hours are fast and popular, but they don't run all day long to provide that great service to the public.

If the city can't build BRT service, why not modify the Geary bus line service? Instead of having a skip-stop service like the 38L, why not split the limited buses into three segments and have an all-stop local/feeder bus?

• The "A" line service provides skip-stop service (using existing 38L stops) from downtown to Presidio.
• The "B" line service provides skip-stop service from Park Presidio to Presidio, and expresses to downtown.
• The "C" line provides skip-stop service from 48th Avenue to Park Presidio, and expresses to downtown.
• The "local" line services all stops on existing 38-Geary bus stops for those who cannot walk from the skip stop to their final destination.

Presidio Avenue and Park Presidio Boulevard are the two main transfer points for the skip-stop buses. A passenger needing to go from 6th Avenue to 48th Avenue can ride the "B" bus to Park Presidio, and a timed transfer for the "C" bus is there to take the passenger to 48th.

The three lines is made for passengers to go to & from downtown with express service for those living far away from the downtown region, but it can still be treated like the 38L-Geary Limited because the transfer points still allow those to ride to their destination that's not in downtown.

I'm not exactly sure how faster the ride might be. For sure, the "B" and "C" lines would be quicker because it doesn't have to make additional stops between their region and downtown, and can utilize the Masonic tunnel and Fillmore underpass. If Muni also implements ticketing machines at stops, the buses don't have to idle at their designated stops that long.

Muni is Paying Attention to Akit's Blog - But There's One Mistake They Made

As a result of some recent Akit's Complaint Department reports, Muni has taken the positive steps to make changes after I challenged them to do better.

Youth and Senior Muni Paper Passes - Extended Until May
I was the first to report before the news media and the press office of Muni said it was official: the youth and senior paper passes was extended from January to May.

I first got word from Clipper on their Twitter account, and not long later, Muni quietly updated their website to say the paper passes will end in May.

My initial post about the delay.
My second post about Muni quietly confirming the delay.

But I still challenged Muni do to a little better; they needed to at least get the word to the general public, and their press room did. Read the press release here. They also sent out the same press release via e-mail to local media outlets.

The 2.5 Hour Gap for Saturday evening service for the 38L and 38-Geary
I argued that it was not appropriate for Muni's most heavily used transit line to have a 2.5 hour gap of no service on Saturday evenings when the last 38L departs 48th & Point Lobos at 5:37PM, and the first 38-Geary (regular) bus leaves at 8:02PM.

One of my commentators pointed out Muni posted a service alert over a week later to give notice to the general public about the 2.5 hour gap. Sadly, the agency took the easy route by publishing a notice, and did not correct the bus schedule to at least fill in the large gap.

(The best solution is to have all Fort Miley operators during the 2.5 hour gap to make a right turn on Point Lobos at 43rd, pick-up the folks at 48th Avenue, and start their run inbound towards downtown.)

To make matters worse, I drove by the bus stop just after 6PM on Saturday the 15th and noticed about a dozen standing at the 48th & Point Lobos stop. Some of them looked like tourists while the rest are locals. Since Muni made an effort to put a public notice online, did they post at a rider alert sign at the bus stop? The answer is no. There was ZERO signage at the stop. I saw the 38L outbound that just dropped off passengers drive off back to the garage. There wasn't even a Muni supervisor at the stop, unlike on Saturday the 8th when I noticed the white city truck at the location.

As a courtesy, I decided to pull over my car and give a call to 311. I told the person about the issue and asked for a Muni supervisor to go over there and inform the people because there was no signage telling them to walk six blocks to 42nd Avenue.

It took five minutes to explain this to the 311 operator. Why? The operator is a total moron; he said: "the 38-Geary doesn't run to 48th Avenue from 8AM to 6PM." Well, no shit Sherlock, I live in the Outer Richmond district and know the 38 and 38L lines very well; were you listening to a word I said about the problem? I told him to go to the SFMTA website and look at the alerts.

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I like it when one person can make big changes to a major city agency; but it's only bittersweet for me because Muni messed-up by not modifying 38-Geary service or posting a notice at the bus stop.

2.5 Hour Schedule Gap Between Muni 38L-Geary Limited and 38-Geary Service

If you ride Muni's 38-Geary lines, including the 38L-Geary Limited, you could be standing at a bus passenger shelter for up to 2.5 hours waiting for the next vehicle.

For those who ride the 38-Geary Limited or 38-Geary (local stops) inbound from the 48th & Point Lobos terminal stop on Saturdays, there's a 2.5 hour gap from when the last 38L departs and the first 38 (regular bus) begins.

Here's the Saturday schedule:
The last 38L-Geary Limited leaves 48th & Point Lobos at: 5:37PM.
The next vehicle to leave 48th & Point Lobos would be a 38-Geary bus starting at 8:02PM.
See schedules from 511: 38L inbound Saturday, and 38 inbound Saturday.

UPDATE 1/24: Schedules have been updated with coverage during the 2.5 hour gap. Read here.

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Some could argue that passengers waiting at 48th Avenue could walk to 42nd Avenue to meet-up with the 38-Geary buses that departed from Fort Miley/VA Hospital, but the tourists don't know about that.

Many tourists wanting to visit the Cliff House and Lands End on a Saturday takes the 38L-Geary Limited to the end of the line (48th & Point Lobos), and expect a bus to arrive at that same location for their return trip back to their hotels in downtown. But... for those who arrive at the bus stop for the next vehicle back to downtown starting at 5:37 will be waiting until 8:02 for the next one due to a huge gap in the Muni schedule.

Sometimes I see a handful of people between those two times just sitting there and waiting for the next vehicle. I kinda feel sorry for them that there's no bus that's going to take them toward downtown with such a huge gap in service. The walk between 48th and 42nd Avenues is a little hilly but very pleasant, but for those with disabilities, it could prove too difficult to walk the six blocks.

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I have to wonder, what was Muni thinking by leaving a 2.5 hour gap in service? They can't take the 18-46th Avenue bus as an alternative to reach either 42nd and Geary or the Ocean Beach terminal at LaPlaya & Cabrillo (the former terminal of the 38-Geary line) anymore because the route going around the Cliff House was eliminated over a year ago.

I would suggest Muni should at least do one of two things: Start 38-Geary Saturday inbound service earlier from 48th Avenue, or force drivers dropping off the remaining outbound passengers between 5:37PM and 8:02PM to pick those passengers up and at least drop them off at 42nd & Geary for an opportunity to catch the 38-Geary inbound coming from VA Hospital.


Sorry for all the edits. I published it prematurely, so you e-mail and RSS subscribers may have noticed a blank post, and I also changed the title of the post three times.

On the "Last Ride" for the 18-46th Avenue

It's tough to say goodbye to the 18-46th Avenue's route that serves Geary, Point Lobos, the Cliff House, and a small portion of La Playa.

Today is the last day of service for this segment before it is re-routed to take over the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch segment from 33rd/Geary to the Ocean Beach terminal. This will make it more challenging for me to catch this bus line that goes directly to my workplace at SF State as I have to walk the notorious steep hills between Balboa and Geary.

Today's "last ride" did not have my usual driver (actually, I haven't seen her in a week), and one of those orange vested SFMTA "ambassadors" was on the bus as well to remind people of the deleted segment starting tomorrow.

Even more interesting is the buses had their automated announcements fixed. The bus announced every single stop, but only the street names. The modified announcements did not mention any major attractions/locations like this one: "Lake Merced and Font; San Francisco State University" or mentioning the SF Zoo.

Even more amusing is listening to the announcements that mentioned that the bus line will be modified and service hours reduced in three different languages, but also noticing that it kept getting cut-off every time because the stop announcements had priority over these reminders.

Read my obit-lette for the 18-46th Avenue and 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch on Muni Diaries.

New Idea for Fixing the 38 Geary - Fort Miley Shuttle

Since my previous posting about the possible changes approaching in the months ahead for SFMTA/Muni, I was wondering how feasible it would be to modify service on the 38-Geary and save money.

Muni's original proposal (the "TEP") says the agency wants to eliminate service on the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch and force the 18-46th Avenue to take-over that eliminated route.

I argued that changing the two bus lines serving the Outer Richmond was not a good idea mainly because of access issues for disabled passengers on the 18 serving the Cliff House, and regular commuters who depend on the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch being forced to wait up to 20 minutes for an 18-line to take them home. You can read about my arguments on page 19 (PDF document). As expected, Muni didn't give a damn in their response.

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I just spent my weekend riding the 38-Geary local because the 38-Geary Limited on Saturday was a holiday and Sunday service does not provide limited buses. I thought to myself, is there a better way to cut service on Muni and limiting the frustration and damage to the public?

I knew the solution!

Instead of deleting service to Ocean Beach, why doesn't Muni consider deleting service to Fort Miley (a.k.a. V.A. Hospital) and replace the short segment with a shuttle service?

Here's why taking away the 38-Geary Fort Miley service is a useful idea:

1. 95% of the route covering Transbay Terminal to/from Fort Miley is already being served by the 38-Geary Limited (weekdays and Saturdays to 48th Avenue), and 38-Geary (regular/local to 48th Avenue) on Sundays and holidays.
2. I see many hospital workers exit at 42nd Avenue and walk it to the hospital. This includes the passengers riding the 18-46th Avenue towards Legion of Honor who also exit at 42nd Avenue.
   
3. Ocean Beach passengers can continue to take the local bus directly to their destination.
   
4. 18-46th Avenue passengers who have limited mobility can still access the Cliff House without struggling the steep hill.
5. 18-46th Avenue passengers who work at Fort Miley hospital will not have to transfer at 33rd Avenue/Geary for the Fort Miley bus (assuming if TEP eliminates the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch).
   
6. For disabled passengers and people who cannot make it up the hill to the hospital, Muni should provide one shuttle bus (a mini bus used on the 89-Laguna Honda) that serves the hospital and serves all local stops up to 33rd Avenue. Why 33rd Avenue? See below.
   
7. 33rd Avenue should be a transfer point for all local bus passengers riding the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch so they can cross the street and wait for the Fort Miley shuttle. For 38-Geary Limited passengers, they can exit at any point between 33rd Avenue and 42nd Avenue for the shuttle.
8. If Muni wants to save money by only using the shuttle on days when the limited bus is in use (weekdays and Saturdays)... the regular 38-Geary service (weeknights and Sundays) should revert to their old service that was "48th Avenue via Fort Miley" where outbound passengers can request service to the driver for Fort Miley, and when waiting for the bus at the hospital, they press the signal button that notifies the driver at 48th Avenue/Pt. Lobos to pick them up.

I believe this is a great solution that does not drastically affect an entire neighborhood.

If Muni can run one shuttle bus that serves Laguna Honda hospital from Forest Hill metro station, why can't they do that from 33rd/42nd Avenue to Fort Miley? Why run 60 foot buses every 15 minutes with so few passengers to Fort Miley terminal, when one shuttle bus can just run in circles for the short hop down a hill to ride the super fast 38-Geary Limited or to 33rd Avenue to catch the local 38?

I see plenty of passengers wait for the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch going towards downtown (I shop at Safeway frequently and eat at Kam's), and the 18-46th Avenue can continue to serve the Cliff House where accessibility problems are a big concern. I wonder why the hospital workers who depend on the 18 doesn't complain to Muni of making it a big inconvenience?

Plus, the Ocean Beach terminal has plenty of bus parking spots; if Muni eliminates that segment, extra buses will be forced to crowd-up at 48th Avenue or Fort Miley, and they are usually full during the day hours, and forces buses to park illegally.

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I would love to hear your comments about my new proposal. Will it work or will it fail? I know that folks from the MTC, Muni, and elected officials read this blog, so what you suggest may work!

It worked for me when Phil Bronstein and Eve Batey helped me out by getting Muni to BART discount coupons accepted for AT&T Park fans, and I'm still thankful for their help.

(Photo from Flickr user: ocu-master using a Creative Commons license)

Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP): SF Muni's Bad Ideas for 38 and 18 Lines

Many people may or may not know that I live in the Outer Richmond District. I noticed a little while back that San Francisco Muni had released these new proposals to modify many of the transit lines that we are so used to. But two of my local lines really started to hurt.

Since I cannot go to the hearing on Tuesday the 16th because I'm stuck at work, I e-mailed the SFMTA Board of Directors as requested by the TEP representatives, but I don't even know if they will even read my lengthy comments. So I'm going to post my ideas here:

For the 38-Geary line, the proposal by Muni will eliminate the Ocean Beach branch of the line. Currently the three major branches is: Ft. Miley (38 regular), Ocean Beach (38 regular), and 48th Avenue and Pt. Lobos (38 limited). I really think they are going in the wrong direction with this and should plan to restore service to the Ocean Beach terminal. I can understand that having huge articulated vehicles running on Balboa Street is not the best idea due to bus noise and the narrow lanes in certain sections, so it might work best if the line runs the 38-Limited route, but goes down Pt. Lobos past the Cliff House to the Great Highway and turns at Fulton to the Ocean Beach terminal. The inbound route will follow the opposite direction, but stop at the 38-Limited terminal for an easy transfer to the limited line.

(Inbound daytime service starting from Ocean Beach Terminal)

(Outbound daytime service to Ocean Beach terminal)

Muni's TEP people also proposed changing the 38-Geary Owl service to not terminate at the Ocean Beach terminal, but to stop at the Fort Miley terminal. I think Muni should take an opportunity to increase their coverage on the owl service line by serving all three terminals. People are used to taking the 38 Owl to Ocean Beach, so why not restore it and also serve the neglected areas like 48th & Point Lobos, and Fort Miley hospital? The area around here is very hilly, and for people who live north of the Ocean Beach terminal live on an extremely steep hill. Still, it follows my proposed route modifications, but will eliminate the loud noise on Balboa street since that line runs 24-hours a day in a neighborhood. Passengers who live on Balboa can easily take the 5-Fulton owl service and walk two blocks on a usually flat or slightly pitched sidewalk.

(CORRECTION: The 38-Owl service is proposed to terminate at 48th Avenue and Pt. Lobos, however this error still does not change my argument to serve all three terminals)


(Inbound 38-Geary Owl service route serving all three terminals)

(Outbound 38-Geary Owl Service route serving all three terminals)

Lastly, the 18-46th Avenue line's modifications are not really acceptable. While I did not make any maps, I'll point out the changes that might take place. To give some background on the 18-line, the bus line is one of the best lines in the entire city, easily accessible route to SFSU, and only the most senior operators with the best reputations get to drive this line (because everyone wants to drive it).

1. In the northern section (above Golden Gate Park) of the route, it is proposed to remove the route going around the Cliff House by having the line actually drive through Balboa and turn North to serve 33rd Avenue and Geary. This route will slow down the line's current efficient route because Balboa is a "stop and go" type of road, and I think in the best interest of the neighborhood, eliminating the noisy gas powered buses will be a real help. And the people at Balboa can ride on the quiet 31-Balboa line to the Ocean Beach terminal to ride my proposed modified 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch line or the 18, or can even walk two block to ride the new proposed 5L-Fulton Limited line.
2. In the area around Lake Merced, the TEP proposal will not go around John Muir Drive (the southern edge road of Lake Merced) and will run on the northern end of Lake Merced. It is true that it will make the ride faster, but it has a major disadvantage. If you have ever driven the south edge of Lake Merced, John Muir drive has this big apartment complex, and when I ride this bus, a lot of SFSU students, staff, and faculty board the bus for a direct ride to SFSU. The TEP proposal eliminates this and moves the 17-Parkmerced line to serve this area. However, this change will nearly triple the time it takes to get to SFSU because the eastbound bus will go into Daly City to pick-up Daly City BART passengers, and wind through the road maze known as Parkmerced. If the 18-line stays the way it is, it is only adding a five minutes to the route, and just that few minutes can bring in extra money to Muni since SFSU folks at John Muir drive depends on this route for direct service to campus.
   
3. Also noted about the route change on Lake Merced, there is no easy to access bus stop for SFSU students at all. All SFSU affiliates get-off on the current route at Lake Merced and Font Blvd. (the dorms) and take a short walk to their classrooms. The new route will make people walk a longer route to make it to campus since it does not make a direct stop at campus, thereby may not make the line suitible for SFSU affiliates. This is especially discouraging for SFSU people who attend or work on the west end (lower end) of campus versus the east end ("up-campus") of campus. I use the 18 for a direct ride to SFSU, and if this route goes into effect, I might just drive to campus.

Thanks for reading. Below is the original letter I sent to the SFMTA Board of Directors:
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Dear SFMTA Board of Directors,

I am e-mailing the SFMTA Board of Directors today to post my comments on some of the proposed changes to the lines serving the Outer Richmond district.

In regards to the proposed removal of the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch line, I believe that this line is still very useful during its daytime operations as it also is part of the late night owl service used in today's Muni service.

--First of all, I believe the daytime route should be modified outbound to go straight down Geary and down Pt. Lobos on the road towards the Great Highway (passing the Cliff House) and going directly to the bus terminal. For the downtown trip, it would start at the Ocean Beach terminal, go up Pt. Lobos past the Cliff House, right turn at 48th Avenue to drop-off/transfer passengers for the 38-Limited for a faster ride (this will be a popular option for passengers!), and continue on Geary on the normal route. This alternate route is faster, gives easy access for tourists to visit the Cliff House, eliminates the "stop and go" driving on Balboa, use of noisy motorized buses on Balboa, and 38-Ocean Beach branch line passengers can still get to their destination on Balboa by simply transferring to the 31-Balboa line.

--The Owl line route should also help out more residents of the Outer Richmond too. Currently, the only 38-Geary route Owl service is the Ocean Beach branch. However the proposed modification would remove the route and terminate at the Ft. Miley hospital for owl service. Since the 38 line is one of the main lifelines of this city, I feel it best if the line should serve all three major terminals in one route so that it can accomodate everyone, espeically the very hilly parts of the Outer Richmond that makes it a challenge for older passengers (this is especially true in the 40th-48th avenues where the hills are steep between Cabrillo and Geary). My suggestion is to have the outbound owl buses serve in this order: Ft. Miley (by request), the bus stop at 48th Avenue and Pt. Lobos (northwest corner stop, diagonally opposite of the Seal Rock Inn), and terminate at Ocean Beach terminal (by driving on Pt. Lobos (going past the Cliff House). For the downtown route: Ocean Beach Terminal, 48th Ave. and Pt. Lobos terminal, and Ft. Miley by request of activation of the signal at Ft. Miley. If there is a concern about regular Owl passengers losing their service on Balboa, it should be noted that the 5-Fulton is an owl service line and Balboa is only two blocks away with little or no hills to climb and could calm the motorized bus noise problem dramatically.

I also disagree with the proposed changes to the 18-46th Avenue line. The current route of the line is very efficient, fast, and is considered one of the best bus lines in the entire city; even to the point where Muni operators highly desire to drive on this route.

--The modified route on the northern sector of the city will cause much longer driving times and does not serve any real convienence. Balboa is a very "stop and go" street and I believe that not using Balboa for this modified route will reduce the vehicle noise and help out the neighborhood at large since the 31-Balboa is a trolley bus line. If you are wondering if this will cause any problems for Balboa St. passengers, they can easily ride the 31 to the Ocean Beach terminal for the 18 or ride my proposed modified 38 Ocean Beach branch. Also, removing the 18-46th Avenue's service area covering the Cliff House and 48th Avenue/Geary to 33rd Avenue/Geary will hurt tourism for the Cliff House and the many residents who rely on an easy and direct route for many services (SFSU, SF Zoo, Stonestown, etc.) and connections to other major Muni lines.

--I am also aware of the removal of 18 service on the south end of Lake Merced (John Muir Drive), where it is proposed to be more efficient to run on the nothern rim of Lake Merced. I do agree that this route modification will improve service, however this does cause problems for students and employees of SFSU. The new proposed change will make it much harder to access SFSU as there is much more walking involved. Many SFSU students and staff exit on the current route at Lake Merced and Font, next door to the residence halls (dormitories) and most SFSU students to not exit at the end of the line (Stonestown) to walk half a mile to campus. There are also many SFSU students and employees who live at the apartments on John Muir Drive, and if the proposal goes through and the 17 line serves this route, there will be no fast direct access to SFSU for these people. The 17's modified route serving the John Muir Drive apartments would have to go through a dizzy maze serving other parts of Park Merced and Daly City BART, and that would really add much more time to their already simple commute. Now surely the modified route would cut the bus ride by five minutes, but that five minutes can also rake in more passengers and financial income if Muni does not modify this line.

In summary, I believe the proposed changes to the 38-Geary lines can be adjusted to still serve Ocean Beach terminal, there can be an easy change to adjust the 38-Geary owl service to serve more than one terminal, and the 18-46th Avenue line should not be changed for efficiency purposes and to keep its service on John Muir Drive for SFSU affiliates.

Thank you.