A completely subjective, and by no means not inaccurate,
line by line and route by route investigation of the buses of the San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency.
In my mind, being a good San Franciscan means spending an
inordinate amount of one's life on the bus. I say this because as
unpleasant as it may sometimes be, an SF bus ride is pretty much a microcosm of
daily life in this fair city: both are overpriced, cramped, dirty, and
soundtracked by a constant stream of unintelligible ravings from men and women
who have soiled themselves.
We all know about the scandals, the Examiner headlines (does anyone do alarmist
alliteration as well as they do?), the fact that the buses are the
oldest and least-well-maintained of any major urban transportation agency in
the US; we've all gotten an earful from surly drivers and/or surly passengers
or been late for work because the bus we're on gets derailed from its overhead
electric line (seriously, do they use this technology anywhere else? Did this seem like the wave of the future in 1974?). In short, we know MUNI has problems. On the
upside I guess, at least we can all agree the logo looks cool.
But what is MUNI all about, really? What can a systematic
study of this complex network of lines, stops, hubs, detours, rights-of-way,
and dedicated lanes tell us about the changing demographic makeup of San
Francisco at the dawn of the 21st century? What shifts has the decline of
American industry affected in the lives of working-class urbanites over the
past four decades? Was public transportation in the United States doomed to
failure when the automobile industry conspired to (and successfully did) dismantle the extensive
streetcar networks of pre-WWII urban centers throughout the country?
I'm not going to answer any of these questions. I'm not even
going to ask them. But my research may bring to light new questions, and
perhaps even provide new answers. Don't hold your breath though - I've always been
better with the questions part than the answers part.
My first installment, "The 22 Fillmore" will appear soon! Until then, check this slice of classic Bay Area public-transit-shit-talking:
PS: Without really thinking about it, I ended up naming this
blog after a song title, as I did with my other blog. Sorry. I'm a ripoff
artist. It's what I do.
