It’s nice to see stories where Muni finds a compromise that works for all parties. Well…sort of. The SF Examiner reports that due to neighborhood ire, the 37 Corbett bus has been rerouted though Masonic Avenue instead of Upper Terrace and Loma Vista Terrace. However, the bus drivers haven’t all been paying attention to the new route.
“That bus is a monster coming down this tiny little street,” Ashbury Heights resident John Maley complains, and his neighbor Bob Levy says the behemoth of a bus drives him out of his living room with its loud, transitory noises.
The two asked Muni to reroute or to reduce the line’s frequency/have the buses switch to vans, arguing that the line’s underused. However, says Muni, the average ridership on smaller lines, called community lines, is 1,300; the ridership for the three and a half starred 37 Corbett is closer to 1,800. The bus is also vital to that area, too vital to cut (maybe they mean “cut again“?), Muni says, as it runs from Haight-Ashbury to Diamond Heights and serves many steep hills, including Twin Peaks
To spare Maley, Levy and the rest of the folks in their hood, Muni changed the route to run down Masonic, instead. MTA spokesperson Kristen Holland tells the Appeal that the change “was effective on May 8” and that drivers “received a bulletin several days prior to that.”
But residents say that 6 weeks later, the buses keep on coming. Muni admits that it might take a bit, saying that “it takes a little while for operators to adjust, and there might be a few mistakes, but we are committed to following through with these changes.”
And it’s not just operators who had to adjust — as of Friday, the old 37 route map remained on the MTA site. However, as of today, Holland tells the Appeal, “The route map on the Web site has been updated” and asks that we note that “the route change did not include any stops.”
Additional reporting by Eve Batey
