One of our fave Chronicle columnists, Leah Garchik, had this tidbit in her column for today:
Evette Davis was chaperoning a French-American International School kindergarten field trip to the de Young Museum, after which the group waited for a bus with another class from another school, at 10th and Fulton. When the bus arrived, the driver tried to dissuade all from boarding, saying, “The bus is for passengers, not for students.” The chaperones, defying that, stood in the doorway until all the kids had boarded.
Well, that is interesting! After all, aren’t students passengers, if they’re riding the bus? (And presumably, everyone who is supposed to be paying a fare is.) Is this official Muni policy, or just a driver who didn’t want a bunch of kids on the bus?
I emailed MTA spokesperson Judson True asking about this a few hours ago and have yet to hear a response — which is understandable, he’s probably battening down the hatches in preparation for the upcoming MTA “Town Halls” in which they will present their proposed service cuts and fare increases to their adoring public. (More on that soon!)
That said, if and when True gets back to us (Judson, we’re also going to ask you about video from yesterday’s unsolved Muni mugging, so you know!), we shall update.
