

Muni is 100 years old. Too bad it won’t die - jamesjyu
http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/29/muni-is-100-years-old-too-bad-it-wont-die-like-a-human-that-age/

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DanBC
> This is a tiny city, and you can walk from any one point to another in 45
> minutes most of the time.

> But, back to walking. Anyone who is traveling in a North-South direction to
> commute (i.e. Marina to Downtown) knows that by the time the 30 or 45 bus
> gets to Chinatown, you can get out and walk faster, plus you don’t feel like
> a sardine. That walk is a no-brainer.

The author ignores anyone who finds walking difficult.

California's muni problems are not just because of "the Chinese"[1] but
because of the baffling tax / road thing that got themselves into.

[1] I never thought that in 2012 I'd be saying "It's not the Chinese" in a
comment about SF. :-\

~~~
Muzza
Really now. He doesn't blame "the Chinese" as you would have us believe; he
blames one particular Chinese.

~~~
DanBC
> _The Chinatown political machine ensures that they get the lion’s share of
> the benefits_

That headline is bolded. Use of the word "they" suggests to me more than one
leader.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, (I'm in the UK) but this next paragraph
feels weird, almost xenophobic. It's the kind of thing that only fringe
politicians would say.

> _But I’m sure that the camera shops, trinket stands, and street-side produce
> markets of Chinatown are the ones providing the city with most of its tax,
> jobs, and commerce income._

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egypturnash
I will admit I've never experienced MUNI - I lived in the outskirts of the SF
Bay for about a year, is all. But I am generally ill-disposed towards anyone
who wants to kill public transit in a city.

See, I don't drive. I never learnt. And I don't want to spend all my money on
cabs, no matter how I summon them. Good public transit helps the city; it gets
the people who can't or won't drive or walk (too old to walk, too broke for a
car, too tired after a long bike ride, hauling groceries, hauling suitcases
home from the airport, wants some time to sit and think/hack rather than pay
attention to driving or walking...) around to where they need to go.

Also his argument that it sucks because it's funded largely by parking
tickets? Yah? So? This is not unique to SF, lots of public transit is funded
by taxes on motorists of one kind or another. You wanna drive your personal
car around and take up space on the road and in parking, you get to help the
people who take the bus too.

His argument that driver pensions are bad doesn't earn him any more points
with me either. I guess he'd rather see all those retired bus drivers working
shitty Wal-Mart greeter jobs in their dotage or something?

The stuff about building new routes through Chinatown due to favors the mayor
owes, I'll give him that. I dunno anythng about the politics in the city.

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malandrew
I feel conflicted that something like this shows up on hacker news. It's
really only tenuously interesting to hackers by way of geographic coincidence
and nothing else. A lot of hackers life in San Francisco, so something about
San Francisco is interesting to hackers in San Francisco. However not all
hackers live in San Francisco. In fact most live anywhere but san francisco.

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chris_wot
Seems like a rant. Perhaps someone living in San Fransisco can confirm if it's
really the case - I'm just a poor sod living in Australia, we have our own
traffic and transportation issues.

~~~
coenhyde
Compared to Queensland transport Muni is absolutely fantastic! There are many
modes of public transport and it's everywhere. It's only $2 to ride and it's
rare that you wait more than 5min for a bus or light rail.

Other public transport in the bay area seems pretty good from my limited
experience too. The Caltrain costs only $5 to ride from SF to Redwood City
(about 50km). I haven't been further so I'm unsure how the price increases the
further out you go. It also smells nice and has comfy chairs :).

~~~
a_bonobo
Compared to Queensland, that is bliss - if I ride one station in Brisbane it's
$1.5 with student ID, and the train to the airport is $20. Guess I have to
leave Australia if I want to live cheaper.

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bradleyland
The author cherry picks scenarios to support his viewpoint. I'm sure that San
Franscico residents are aware that a 2 mile bus trip makes no sense for an
able-bodied person, but those are two very specific criteria. Where is his
evidence that 2 miles is the distance that the majority of people need to go?
What happens when you _do_ need to go more than two miles?

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salem
This is a pretty terrible article in many many ways. One of the few things I
can agree with though is the Italy analogy. Someone needs to pull a Mussolini
- sack everyone and start again.

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steele
Speaking of old, I wonder what would serve the very elderly or people with
mobility difficulties in the absence of muni.

