Chronicle: Muni pares back service on new $7 ride CultureBus line
The Culture Bus, a 1 year project that will cost Muni $1.6 million, has only 255 weekday riders, according to the Chronicle. Known as the 74X-CultureBus, the line is intended to bring tourists and Muni regulars from downtown to the car-congested Academy of Sciences building that recently opened in Golden Gate Park. The buses aren’t run like the rest of the fleet, the coaches are extra clean and the drivers have gone through additional customer service training, something that the rest of the Muni system could use more of.
Service on the line has since been cut from 20 minutes to once an hour according to the article, but Rescue Muni has taken the position that this line should be terminated if it is not profitable within one month, especially in light of the city, state, and federal budget constraints.
This bus is very nice, but nobody’s riding it. My theory is that for $7 per person you can ride in a cab, so why wait for a bus? Or for $1.50 you can ride in a standard bus or light rail line, which also goes to the De Young quite conveniently (e.g. 5-Fulton and N-Judah).
the 5 and the 71 are also within 2 blocks of Union Square, the Asian, and the Yerba Buena complex………
Your theory is probably correct. The number of couples leaving the de Young and jumping into cabs far outnumber those getting on the bus. For a few dollars more it makes sense to hail a cab. I also see tourists taking the 44 and asking the driver where to transfer on Lincoln.
Passengers can always take the N and transfer, or even walk, to the de Young. The culture bus, minute for minute, takes nearly the same amount of time as taking a conventional Muni route. There could have even been an N-Culture Train, that turned around near 9th Ave. which would have been a boon to daytime commuter service as well. Cost per ride would be only $1.50 each way and $1.6M saved for the Muni budget.
so with 51 operator no shows Fri AM “NO 74X REPORTED NOT OUT” but, 3 14s, 3 49s. too bad Mission or Van Ness don’t have the political juice to force no not outs on 14,49. oh I forgot, TEP will fix this by savaging the neighborhood feeders
Why aren’t there substitute or fill in drivers for this missed runs? It happens so often that a manager would think to staff on call drivers.
there are. this is called RDO as in regular day off. But that accrues OVERTIME. The base story for decades has been NEVER rostering enough regular employees to field the published schedules. Among other side effects has been habitual OT for some workers. When BOS driven OT freezes occur morale among those used to the extra wages sinks For many years this amounted to a smoke and mirrors budget w/ late in the fiscal year supplementals to cover the over spent overtime line item or far worse the suicidal hiring freeze/parts acquisition freeze usually around April or early May. That in turn means mor not outs for summer AND surprise no equipment either as the spare parts to repair the buses/trolleys run out. Dumb isn’t it?