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Posts Tagged ‘2840’

The Secret of the N-Judah Express “Success” – Three Drivers and Two Starters Just Waiting to Serve You

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

So, I know passengers like and appreciate the N Judah Express, but why is MUNI putting so much effort into this new line?

See? There’s the 5:00 PM bus, and the 5:10 PM, and the 5:20PM, and guess what’ll be coming around the corner soon? That’s right, it must be the 5:30 PM:

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Camera right shows one of the two starters used by MUNI to make sure the 5:00 PM leaves at exactly 5:00 PM. (Count how many MUNI workers are hanging out at your bus stop today – I’ll bet it’s less than five. Probably it’s zero.)

OK.

I mean, is MUNI going to start following timetables religiously, like Japanese-style, for all its lines now?

The SFMTA has been itching to charge $3 for express rides, right? Does that mean that MUNI loses more on this line than others?

So, yes MUNI, you are trying hard here, but I don’t think you can afford it.

I think, for some reason, you are taking resources from other lines and putting them right here.

For some reason.

Tags:2011, 2801, 2840, 9th avenue, bay area, biodiesel, Blue, bus, bush, california, cultureBus, CultureBus II, dead-head, district, express, fail, fail fail fail, failure, images, inner, judah express, Montgomery, Muni, n express, n judah, n judah express, nat ford, nx, NX Judah Express, NX Judah Express Bus, outer, photos, program, San Francisco, SFMTA, streetcar, sunset, tweet, twitter, West Bay
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The Riding Public Has Discovered the Nx Judah Express – It’s Like a Bus Bridge Shuttle that Runs All the Time

Friday, June 17th, 2011

These days, there’s no need to wonder when the next Nx Judah Express is coming, as you can see them queuing up betwixt First and Second streets on Market.

Anyway, MUNI has a starter directing bus traffic on the evening drive starting at 4:00 PM, so the drivers are keeping schedule down to the minute.

Click to expand

Yesterday’s Nx’es appeared to be rather full with riders, so that means that this program is more successful than the CultureBus already.

That’s the update for now…

Tags:19th avenue, 2011, 2801, 2840, bay area, biodiesel, Blue, bus, bush, california, cultureBus, CultureBus II, dead-head, district, express, fail, fail fail fail, failure, images, inner, judah express, Montgomery, Muni, n express, n judah, nat ford, nx, NX Judah Express, NX Judah Express Bus, outer, photos, program, San Francisco, SFMTA, streetcar, sunset, tweet, twitter, West Bay
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Know Your Nx Judah Express Bus – Photos of the Debut – But Mostly Empty, By Design – Getting a CultureBus Vibe

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Well here it is, the debut of the Nx Judah Express, designed to whisk people to the fog-enshrouded West Bay, you know, to give a little more elbow room for the denizens of San Francisco Proper – the Inner Sunset and Cole Valley.

All right, Chapter I: Know Your Nx.

Anterior. Rather a bright bleu, non? Redolent of the bright orange-wrapped CultureBus one might think:

Click to expand

Lateral. Rather patriotic, redolent of the 1976-era bicentennial scheme:

Posterior. Rather less blue, but that solid-colored rectangle is your visual cue to start running for the Nx before the driver takes off.

I don’t see a bunch of people clamoring to get into these things just yet. We’ll see.

All right Chapter II: Empty by Design.

After the drivers drop off passengers way out there near La Playa or 47th Aveneue or whatever, they turn around and head back to the Financh empty.

What? Really. The plan is for the drivers to “dead-head” on back downtown sans passengers.

(Wonder if you could get on at the last stop outbound with the intent of coming into the Financial without any stops at all? That would be the Nx Judah Express to the Second Power, or something. But, they’d probably kick you off, so oh well.)

Like I say, this program reminds me of the failed CultureBus, which Nat Ford still hails as a success.

Obviously, you can’t have an N Judah streetcar run an express route on the same tracks as regular N Judah service. And obviously, the SFMTA just can’t add more N’s, for whatever reason. Oh well.

And in mitigation, MUNI’s not out there cheerleading for this saying how great an idea it is, you know, the way it happened with Gavin Newsom’s CultureBus. And, when I checked the Next MUNI today, those Nx’es looked verily like rabbits, easily outpacing the N Judahs that started at about the same time.

On Time Will Tell how bad this latest SFMTA program is…