Monday, July 26, 2010

Major Clipper Failures on Muni Today = Free Rides


It looks like there is another major Clipper card reader failure at hand on Muni today (for the third time). The last two times this happened was on April 22nd, and June 14th. On April 22nd, I reported the TransLink PR folks released a statement mentioning the system was experiencing failures because the update did not work correctly.

Today, Clipper failures are everywhere. Did the MTC and Clipper authorities find a way to update the card readers without having approximately 75% of the Muni fleet having their readers go out of service? It seems not.

Some of you might be asking, how did I find a lot of card readers out of service today? Here's how: Most of the card readers had all three color lights active while I was waiting for the 18-46th Avenue at 33rd & Geary, and also noticed some on my journey on-board the 38L-Geary Limited and 18-46th Avenue.
  1. Bus #6411 (18-46th Avenue)
  2. Bus #5622 (1-California)
  3. Bus #5509 (1-California)
  4. Bus # 6231 (Out of Service bus)
  5. Bus # 5483 (31 Balboa)
  6. Bus #6241 (38-Geary to VA Hospital)
  7. Bus #6215 (38L-Geary Limited)
  8. Bus #6200 (38L-Geary Limited)
  9. Bus #5578 (1-California)
  10. Bus #6235 (38-Geary)
  11. Two unknown bus numbers (both 38L-Geary Limited)
Remember folks, Muni sent out a bulletin to all their operators to let passengers ride free if the card readers are broken (courtesy of Muni Diaries). I suggest writing down the vehicle's number and time just in case if a fare inspector wants to cram a ticket in your face for "fare evasion."

Dang... Clipper is getting some bad press! Here's KPIX and SF Gate's stories on the Cable Car Clipper issues. Just to add, I've been reporting about Cable Car and Clipper issues FOUR MONTHS AGO. The mass media is slow as hell to report about this, but I'm FASTER!

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 26, 2010 at 6:54 PM

    Yeah I noticed the same this morning when I boarded the 27-Bryant and the 45-Union.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark TaylorJuly 26, 2010 at 10:06 PM

    I boarded a #30 at Caltrain around 9am and told the driver the terminal was out of order. He just smiled and said no problem and I headed for a seat. Later when coming back from Fisherman's Wharf on a #47 (about 10:45am) the terminal on the bus was working and I clicked my card.

    Fortunately I have never encountered a fare inspector on a #30. It would be interesting to see them check for passes since the bus loads up full at Market!

    ReplyDelete

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