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I don't know if you rode Muni before they had GPS tracking vs after, but you're right in that it's the only thing that makes the system at all usable. I used to

I don't know if you rode Muni before they had GPS tracking vs after, but you're right in that it's the only thing that makes the system at all usable. I used to use Muni for my daily commute back before they added GPS to the vehicles and it was an absolute nightmare. At the end of my work day the bus line I took was supposed to run every 15 minutes. It was fairly common for me to have to wait 45 minutes for that "15 minute" bus (and watch 3-4 buses on the same line going the other way pass by). The worst thing is just simply not knowing how long your wait is. Now at least you can check how far away the next bus is and know that you're going to be waiting a ridiculously long time (and call a cab or go to a coffee shop or do something). Even if the delays haven't improved (I don't really know), just the ability to track the buses makes the whole system incredibly more usable.

dekhn 12y ago
Agree 100%. I used to work at UCSF Medical Center (Parnassus) and take N Judah from Outer Sunset. Typical case was I would start walking towards work (or, towards home in the evening) when I didn't see a train. Although the N-Judah schedule was "every 15 minutes", there were often ~45min-1hour delays ,which was enough time to quickly walk from Parnassus to Outer Sunset. Of course, it didn't help that many trains stopped at 19th or Sunset and turned around rather than going the whole way (which meant you'd have to wait another 15-45 minutes for the next train, if it didn't turn around). Another problem was at the turnaround at La Playa- drivers would disappear into the Muni bathroom there for half an hour, and block all the subsequent trains. Eventually (this was ~2000) Muni put a full time supervisor on site who "watched" the drivers and knocked on the door to get them to go back to their trains. Eventually they started using the switching in the track to skip a few trains in front of slow ones, as well. More recently I've gone back and the psychological advantage of knowing how long I have to wait has improved the experience a bit.
timr 12y ago
Yep. And it's more than just psychological: say I have to be somewhere that's 15 minutes away by bus, and 30 minutes away by foot (this is common for me). A random 20 minute delay in the bus arrival means that it's now more reliable for me to just allow the time to walk where I'm going. I routinely find this to be true even for the underground lines on Market. It's absolutely pathetic that walking is more reliable than taking a subway, but that's the state of MUNI today.

dekhn 12y ago

Agree 100%. I used to work at UCSF Medical Center (Parnassus) and take N Judah from Outer Sunset. Typical case was I would start walking towards work (or, towards home in the evening) when I didn't see a train. Although the N-Judah schedule was "every 15 minutes", there were often ~45min-1hour delays ,which was enough time to quickly walk from Parnassus to Outer Sunset. Of course, it didn't help that many trains stopped at 19th or Sunset and turned around rather than going the whole way (which meant you'd have to wait another 15-45 minutes for the next train, if it didn't turn around). Another problem was at the turnaround at La Playa- drivers would disappear into the Muni bathroom there for half an hour, and block all the subsequent trains. Eventually (this was ~2000) Muni put a full time supervisor on site who "watched" the drivers and knocked on the door to get them to go back to their trains. Eventually they started using the switching in the track to skip a few trains in front of slow ones, as well. More recently I've gone back and the psychological advantage of knowing how long I have to wait has improved the experience a bit.

timr 12y ago

Yep. And it's more than just psychological: say I have to be somewhere that's 15 minutes away by bus, and 30 minutes away by foot (this is common for me). A random 20 minute delay in the bus arrival means that it's now more reliable for me to just allow the time to walk where I'm going. I routinely find this to be true even for the underground lines on Market. It's absolutely pathetic that walking is more reliable than taking a subway, but that's the state of MUNI today.