Monday, August 24 Eric Carlson 8/24: Hi all. I checked out the 'debacle' during lunch (2:00-245 PM): I walked over to Folsom Station. A bit of a wait; a "No Passengers/ Training" Boeing went to Caltrain and returned before a Breda showed up heading to Embarcadero. I guess the worst of it was, the train I boarded stopped 6 times- once for ca. 5 minutes - in the section between tunnel entry (Howard St.) and Passenger release @ Embarcadero. There was quite an aura of quiet chaos there as inbound trains could be seen waiting in the tunnels in both directions. On the plus side: there were 10 people waiting @ Folsom station and quite a few folks on board the train; a good sign that this service is starting to see use; maybe we were all gawkers looking at Muni's foibles. The air conditioning worked nicely. Muni has labeled the 2 sides of Embarcadero Platform and the overhead signs were more or less working. also: Monday Morning: Aug. 24 Inbound train, 840AM Castro to Church Street: 7 minutes (!) Church to Van Ness: 5 minutes Civic Center to Powell: 9 minutes ! and: A coworker was waiting 25 minutes at Church 21st / Chattanooga. No J trains passed in either direction: 25 minutes. Then an inbound came; crawling between stations, etc. She got off at civic Center and took BART. Total tome from 21st and Church to Embarcadero: EIGHTY MINUTES! Joan Downey 8/24: 9:45AM at Carl & Hillway a double Breda arrived as soon as I arrived at the stop. I attempted to board the second car by pressing the white button but it didn't open! And the driver pulled off while I was still trying. The street sup told me that the operator has to release the door for the button to work & some forget. 10:06 a single Boeing came hat was packed 10:10 I boarded a double Breda 10:30 arrived at Montgomery - not bad once I got on --------- 45 minute commute for 8 trolley stops! 6:30PM a single car was packed at Montgomery St. that I passed up. The next car that came was a K but the sign said N. Many announcements saying NOT to ride to Embarcadero to catch an outbound train. Their announcements are not going to stop people who can't get on a packed car. 6:35 a double N arrived. The announcement said a 2-car train, one to Ocean Beach, the other to Duboce & the sign at the station said to check the car sign for destination. Both cars said Ocean Beach & the 2nd car didn't have an operator which would make it tough to split them! And both went to at least Hillway. 6:55 Carl & Hillway. Saw an inbound train with an Ocean Beach sign. -------- 25 minute commute - not bad Andrew Sullivan 8/24: Normally a bus rider, I ventured onto the Muni Metro today. Two experiences to report, neither ultra-severe, both counting as "late" by Riders' Survey measures. 1. INBOUND N Just to see what it would be like, I walked to Duboce Park to get on the N. My experience: got there 8:29 single Boeing passed full 8:30 boarded double Breda 8:45 (16 minute wait) van ness 8:57 (12 minutes!) civic center 9:01 powell 9:10 41 minutes. Several significant delays. When I arrived the notice board said "K" and then told us that various cars in the subway were delayed. But at least we sat in the stations, instead of the tunnel, as we waited. The proof-of- payment system seemed to work. And the cars were air conditioned. 2. OUTBOUND J I took the J to Noe Valley on the way out. 20 mins to get into a car, which was packed, but then it was on its way pretty efficiently. 17:57 arrived powell 17:59 announcement: "J in 7 min" 18:02 full N 18:06 full LM 18:10 MKMM 18:12 LL 18:16 NN 18:17 full J (single Boeing); got on. 18:20 civic center 18:21 van ness 18:27 market & church 18:33 dolores pk 18:36 liberty It seemed that there were fewer cars than pre-ATCS, and they were definitely quite full, but this time they were running reasonably smoothly once they got in. No fix to the out-of- order problem. They were announcing that people shouldn't ride in to Embarcadero due to "heavy traffic." Riders didn't seem used to the concept of four car trains. The four car MKMM (Breda) was jammed in front and wide open in back. Ken Niemi 8/24: Trains were taking 10 minutes round-trip to go out and turnback. This means a loss of 5 minutes each way. This does not sound like much but when a route is 40 minutes long, that means each train and operator can make 12.5% fewer trips per day. Though Muni had several employees on the platform at Embarcadero to help explain the new system and hand out a basic information sheet, this did not stop riders from rushing the doors and boarding the trains heading for the Metro Extension and Turnback area. Between the time needed to get riders who had boarded these trains at Montgomery or Powell Streets inbound in order to get a seat and those trying to board at Embarcadero, the streetcars were significantly delayed. I found that the cars were sitting on the platform for two to three minutes before going to the turnback versus a goal of 30-45 seconds. This delay will hopefully be eliminated as riders understand how the new system work and do not attempt to board the trains going to the turnback unless they are taking an N-Judah to the CalTrain station. The new ATCS system still has a few glitches in it, particularly related to the opening of doors. A new Breda car came into the station outbound, stopped, but never opened its doors. The riders on the crowded platform gave out a united sound that was part laughter and part frustration as they watched. The platform signs were sometimes incorrect or Muni supervisors had changed the destination of a car and are not able to change the overhead signs. With every N train now going to the CalTrain Station instead of turning back at Embarcadero Station, this could be a reduction in capacity as the N-line during rush hour operates more than every 10 minutes, the pace for the E-Embarcadero line which it is replacing. Outbound N-Judah trains were coming into Embarcadero from the CalTrain station with most seats already taken as riders decided to spend the 20 minutes round-trip from Embarcadero Station to CalTrain and back in order to get a seat. CalTrain riders seem especially frustrated waiting for an N-car that would get them to CalTrain in time to catch their train. Frequent comments were overhead about these CalTrain rides going back to their express buses on Tuesday. Matt Shell 8/24: Not happy to say that I took the new "N" this morning at 8:45. After a 45 minute trip from Carol and Cole, and hearing the driver say over the loud speaker that "it is an embarassment to work for MUNI", we departed the Embarcadero for the train station. They then found out (Mon during rush hour) that the old trains were not ment to run on the "E" line and could only travel 10 miles an hour with the alarm blasting. Just a typical MUNI, I mean Monday morning. Ken Parker 8/24: I don't have much of an update for Sunday as I was busy on other things and tended to use BART to get around. The exception was that I entered the Muni tunnel at 4:00 pm, Civic Center station to go to Embarcadero and there was a "J Church" sitting on the platform going inbound. I entered it but it wasn't moving. So I asked some of the passengers how long it sat there. One angry passenger said he'd lost track of how long he was there so, since I was in a hurry, I left, went upstairs, and took BART to Embarcadero. (It's SO good that my Fast Pass still works!) So I'm going to assume that Muni didn't magically fix ATCS on Sunday. ;-) Operator #2 8/24: Duboce and Church to CalTrain, back to Duboce and Church - 65 minutes. Single car Boeing N was 61 minutes late when it arrived at Church inbound, and the operator remarked at Civic Center (outbound) that he should be at Hillway (inbound). Good entries, one bad exit (10 mph speed code on surface). [...] After my ride on the N, I am even more happy than ever to be on a line that runs on schedule, where I rarely have to fill out an overtime card, and where the vehicle is devoid of signalling systems, or for that matter computers of any sort. Operator #1 8/24: Hi, gang! As promised, I worked the N--my RDO (regular day off), just so I could get some more experience under my belt. As I mentioned in this morning's post, by 600am, there was lots of white space on the LRV assignment sheet where normally every morning pullout run has a car assigned to it. This led me to believe that because of the 30-odd ATCS- related holds, the shop couldn't field 90 LRVs or so. I went home and monitored the LRV channel on my scanner. Among the things I heard was "This is Run So-and-so on the N with car 1220, late pullout, heading for Church & Duboce for time." Wait a minute. Car 1220? That's a Boeing. Under the new Proof-of-Payment plan and throughrouting N trains to Caltrain Depot, Boeings were to be forever barred from the N-Judah! Well, so much for plans. Now I will tell you how my day went. While on the way to work, about 1215pm (my relief was to be made inbound at 103pm), I waited for an inbound N at 9th & Judah. Some 30-40 people waited with me at that stop and at 9th & Irving. Some had been waiting for 20 minutes. Along comes a single Breda, followed by a double Breda. We get to the single track area and our operator gets a green signal at the construction site. He proceeds to 2nd Avenue, and before he can proceed any further, a single-car Boeing followed by two Breda trains rock around the curve. The car I'm on, now already packed to the doors, now has to offload all his passengers to board one of the outbound trains which will now have to be sent inbound. The passengers on the first and second outbound trains will now have to board the erstwhile inbound train and the Boeing, which turns out to have the operator I am supposed to relieve. So I make my relief and head out to Ocean Beach. In my single-car Boeing. Meanwhile, the original inbound Breda is now switching back at 19th Avenue. So now I have a 30-40-minute gap between his train and the Beach, with another 2- car train hot on my heels. So I skip-stop, deadheading to Sunset. (Look, when the shit hits the fan, and it takes 30 minutes to call Central, we do it right!) At Funston, I catch up to a 2-car Breda train. Aha! I have help! Well, not quite. It seems this 2-car train of Italian clunkers has low power and is out of service. So I follow it, and my follower is right behind me. At the east end of the tunnel, this train takes a complete dump. After 20 minutes they get it running again and shove it to Mint Yard. The inspector offloads my car and sends me around the corner to clear the line to switchback inbound to outbound. It's now 230pm. Then my car does something I've never seen happen before on a Boeing--the track brakes lock! (It got cleared by moving one of the Alcatel switches, an experience I had had happen many times with a Breda, but never with a Boeing!) Now, with a train in front of me, I ask an inspector to switch back at 19th Avenue--I'd be right on time at 255pm. So off I go. No problems on this trip, but I don't see too many trains coming outbound--except at the construction zone, where I have to wait 10 minutes. Despite the 10-minute delay at UCSF, I pretty much catch up to the Bredas in front of me and join the descent into the nether regions of San Francisco. It's a decent trip. Perfect auto entry. Reasonably good speed to Embarcadero, with no real surprises. I whisk through MMT and head to Caltrain along trackage that is supposed to be barred from Boeing operation. I take a few pictures for posterity, yet I still get people to Caltrain in time to catch their train. Oh, yes, a few people who boarded at Powell and Montgomery were a little surprised when the next stop after leaving Embarcadero turned out to be Folsom Street, despite my frequent "N-Judah to Caltrain Depot" announcements. My leader leaves at 352pm. (Inspectors at Caltrain and Ocean Beach have thrown the printed schedule out the window and are headwaying the trains.) Since I know there is an arriving Caltrain at 400pm, I decide to wait for its passengers and leave at 402pm. When I arrive at Harrison Street there are 4 trains stacked up at Folsom St. Station, yet there is an INBOUND delay at Van Ness. So why are these OUTBOUND trains stopped? Nevertheless, I have my people board one of the other trains and head back to Caltrain, where someone at Brannan said he'd been waiting 20 minutes or more for a Caltrain-bound train. He wasn't there when I returned. At 435pm I call Central to ask if the delay had cleared; it had. So I went toward Ferry Portal, got a perfect entry, went into MMT and sat. And sat--for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, a passenger who had to catch a 450pm ferry missed it. If I had known his intentions, I would have had him get off at Folsom Street to be safe. BTW, I didn't see any Caltrain-bound Ns until I was in MMT. Then I make a mistake. An inspector waves me onto the platform at Embarcadero. But since I'm in auto, my train can't move. So I go into cutout. That was a mistake. But, with a Boeing, going into cutout means reverting to the old cab signal system, which is pretty good. However, there apparently haven't been any outbound Ns for 15 minutes, and everyone piles on my car. At Carl & Cole, I tell everyone that this is the worst operational disaster ever to befall any rail transit system in the U.S., and I am cheered for telling the truth. No sooner than I leave Cole, a tie-dyed hippie wannabe backs his Saab onto the street right in front of me (his view is blinded by parked vans) and yells at me for going too fast. So he sits there with his Saab for a minute, and I blow the horn. Now he comes over and starts the expletives (verbal and pictorial). I say, "Look, idiot. I've got 200 persons on my streetcar who are going to pound you into a pulp if you don't move." He continues to act the jerk. But we get moving. Now it's the wait at the construction zone. We make it out to the Beach some 45 minutes after leaving Embarcadero. My next inbound trip, leaving 552pm, was the worst. Apparently there hadn't been any trains to Caltrain in quite some time. This shows the inability of the new system to route-change trains and send service where it's needed. And there apparently hadn't been an outbound N in some time. It's a crawl to Embarcadero, but fortunately I manage to cut out an unconverted J-Line Boeing at Church & Duboce. And people are piling on at Powell and Montgomery to get their seats to go outbound, as per usual. When I reach Embarcadero, it's 650pm. People ask if I'll be able to make the 7 o'clock Caltrain. Sadly, I say no. There's a delay in the MMT. People who thought I was going to Ocean Beach are disgusted to learn they'll have to offboard and wait on the outbound side. At 657pm, the doors finally close, and we head to Ferry Portal. We make 2 four-minute stops on the curve before getting clear track to Folsom Street. Elapsed time to go 1/4th mile: 17 minutes! Many people commented that the service on the E shuttle was excellent and regular. When I reach Caltrain, a huge crowd is waiting for me. An inspector commandeers a motor coach and half of the group gets an express ride to Embarcadero. The previous train had left at 640pm. I departed at 722pm (24 minutes earlier than my printed schedule!). People who got off my car at Folsom to board an outbound N were disgruntled to find out that I was the next outbound N! I forgot to reset a switch and had to enter in cutout mode. Once again, packed to the doors, I exit the subway. At Church & Duboce, an empty Boeing is switched back for me to couple to. The rest of the night passed without incident. Except that I ran out of transfers, as did many other N-Line operators. This is an issue that must be addressed quickly. One doesn't want to run out of fare receipts on a proof-of-payment line! Other operators had their own horror stories. Without a doubt, this has got to be the worst day of my Muni career. Oh, well, at least I got time and a half for my dedication to getting people home. Observations: There was no schedule. Attempts by inspectors to headway trains were thwarted by mechanical and ATCS-related delays. Inspectors were yelling at managers, operators and inspectors. Managers were yelling at the gods up above for help. None was forthcoming. ... Incidentally, there was plenty of police presence and fare enforcement. One final observation: The inspectors at Embarcadero Tower hung black crepe all around the interior to commemorate the passing of an era. One rumor going around states that Emilio Cruz started a vacation today, or was otherwise out of town. If so, that is cowardice. Tomorrow--Back to the F-Line, where I belong!!!! Ken Parker 8/24: When I got off work this afternoon, I walked to the Embarcadero station, arriving at 5:35 pm and entered the Muni tunnel. Wow! The platform was packed. More people were coming in as new buses came in, dumping everyone off (at least once, an L-M pair was filled to standing room but they ALL had to get off (again, with the sign overhead saying "Do Not Board"). And with more and more people coming down the escalators at the same time, the platform got so full that it was no longer "fun" to stay there and watch. They had a handful of Muni employees trying to explain the new rules (about riding to Embarcadero to get a seat no longer tolerated) and, in general handling some MIGHTY angry people. When an "N" came in, they held it on the platform for a while as they questioned the passengers regarding where they were headed. Of course, most of them wanted to go outbound on an N and not go to Caltrain. As I said before, it was WELL past the point of being "fun to watch" and there didn't seem to be ANY way I would want to actually RIDE a Muni metro train this time around (I wanted to go to Stonestown [M] but changed my plans). So I left the Muni tunnel and rode BART to Civic Center (again, where I live) and got off close to the staircase by the 8th St. exit. I stopped halfway up the stairs to watch the Muni traffic and to chat with a Muni employee I recognized from some public hearings. EVERY outbound train was a Sardine can but some people were still successfully jamming in. They had announcements over the Loudspeaker telling people to NOT board inbound trains to Embarcadero and had Muni employees "guarding" the Inbound platform. This employee I was talking to kept saying, by the way, that "when" the trains start going full speed through the tunnels, all these problems would go away. So, the "long and short" of it? My experience of the Monday afternoon Rush "hour" was that it was as much of a disaster if not more so than Saturday or Sunday. What do we have to look forward to Tuesday? Ken Parker (Muni Metro "Specialist") P.S. They now have a "Rider Alert" which I picked up at the Embarcadero Station turnstiles titled, "Don't Ride In to Go Out" which states the new rule I mentioned on Saturday where all lines other than the N "upchuck" all their passengers on the Embarcadero platform when they come in. Why, if they knew about this in advance, didn't they start preparing the passengers for the new rule?