Jam SessionYou've been there: oversleep, flub presentation, head home late, dash to catch train. The cherry on this epic heap? Just as you make the platform, the doors close in your face. Denied! It's tempting to get your foot in the door, but it's sensible to let it go and wait for the next ride. Each time a door is muscled open, it holds up transit and creates a domino effect that can delay the whole line. Prying open a portal can also cause damage to door mechanisms. Common sense: broken trains + repairs = higher fares. And, good intentions to help others squeeze on can cause injury, even your own. Not all automatic doors re-open easily, so if you get stuck you're out of luck. The rules of etiquette state that riders should keep newspapers, bags, strollers, and other items out of the gateway. So, before you use the jaws of life to board your next transit vehicle, we Muni Ladies remind you that buses are like cocktails - if you miss one, there's another one coming.
Muni Manner: Prevent damage and delays by allowing transit doors to close. It's the safe and courteous thing to do.
5 comments:
"if you miss one, there's another one coming." Yes, and that one will be full too.
You tell it, Sister! I wish I had a nickel for every time some inconsiderate nutter charged into the gap as the train doors close or wrenches open the bus' gate to suit their own schedule. All this unnecessary drama because the frantic wreck accidentally turned down the volume on their clock radio alarm.
Sweet SFMuni Lady01, we would all do well to heed your sage advice and swallow that chill pill. And then wait patiently for the next train or bus. Time will not stop. And with this unexpected delay, you will have a precious extra moment to pause and reflect on the mysteries of Life or, at least, the mysteries of your life.
Keep up the good work and preach the truth, Ladies.
KUK
Great post! I thank you for this, and will make a link to it on my own blog. I do not like it much when passengers hold a door on my train. It is true that it could damage the door, but the door holders do not care.
Since we are a lot smaller in Portland, Oregon, than you are in San Francisco, we probably do not have quite the rush during rush hour that you have. Yet, our trains get packed, but there is ALWAYS another train just a few minutes behind. We have a LOT of trains running during rush hour, so I seldom have sympathy for runners and never for door holders.
Keep it up, ladies! :-)
This is so presumptuous.
#27 should be: "Operators are mindful of and don't close doors on their passengers who want to board." - That's etiquette.
1. I think that all transit vehicle doors are designed to withstand the treatment of being blocked by a foreign object. If they are not, it's an engineering failure. There is no such thing as prying doors, they have sensors that will stop the door motor when triggered. Sometimes it's up to the operator to re-open them, sometimes, like on Caltrain, the doors will automatically re-open (and the conductors themselves often do this).
2. If someone gets a hold of a vehicle, he should be deemed to have boarded it. The operator should stop and open the door, no question asked. Now, OK, delays? This vehicle stopped twice, maybe, but maybe the next vehicle will not need to stop. And this rider will be happy to be well served.
3. All kinds of things can delay a bus. MUNI busses are always late, that's a fact. It's because the schedules are unrealistic, not because of the thousands of things that will happen anyway. Give more time for the operators to make it, they will be on time, they will be happy to be nice and wait a little for whoever makes it at the last second as much as for a red light, a handicapped who needs the ramp, or a traffic jam. And people will be less nervous about waiting. And everyone will feel better about riding.
4. I prefer to "have a precious extra moment to pause and reflect on the mysteries of Life or, at least, the mysteries of my life" sitting nicely on the vehicle rather than standing on the curb.
also rude are people who bang on the doors to open when 1) the bus haven't stopped yet and 2) the light has not gone on to signal you can open the doors. have a little patience!
Post a Comment