February 2010Editorial: Muni Has Changed for the WorseBy Karrin KainLate last year Muni changed a large number of their bus routes and schedules. I don’t know about other Hill residents, but I’m having trouble with these changes. Have you tried to take a bus to the Potrero Center, to visit the U.S. Post Office, Petco, Peet’s, or Safeway? Or traveled to 20th Street to The Good Life Grocery, Dave’s Food Store, All State’s Best Foods, or Thinkers Cafe? The new Muni routes make it much harder for me, a fat, old woman with arthritis and asthma, to get around. Maybe this is part of that Healthy San Francisco plan: “Just haul your arthritic bones up the Hill and use your inhaler, old woman.” I used to have quick access to three bus lines at the intersection near my house. Now I have one, the number 19, which doesn’t always take me to where I want to go. I can hike up or down a block or more to catch the number 48 or a number 10, and hike the same distance to get home. This strategy doesn’t work well when I’m carrying groceries and other provisions. Nor does it do nice things to my lungs and knees. I’m concerned that the new bus routes will seriously impact Hill residents like me who shop on 20th Street, and will in turn adversely impact those already hard-pressed merchants. I’m still going to try to shop at my neighborhood places, but I’ll buy less, as it’s difficult to carry home a heavy bag three or four blocks instead of one. I also wonder about Hill residents like me who rely on the bus to commute to their jobs. Every bus transfer can add twenty minutes to travel times. I understand that Muni is in deep financial trouble. But by transferring these troubles to its riders it has made San Francisco less livable. |
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