Muni Passenger Confronts Driver for Deliberately Skipping Passenger on 28-19th Avenue Line

With the advent of smart phone cameras means that the actions you do, may get you caught by a person you don't even know.  It's being used more regularly these days to capture memorable moments and when the stuff 'hits the fan.'

What happens when a Muni operator does something totally inappropriate by doing it on purpose?  Most of the time, it is ignored or nobody reports it to 311, even if passengers knows what the operator did was totally inappropriate and deliberate.

Earlier today, I received an e-mail from Tiffany, a long time of my blog.  She gave me the link to the video (as seen on the top of this blog entry) and asked for my thoughts.

From reviewing the video, it shows a passenger confronting a Muni operator on why he could not stop for an extra five seconds to pick-up an older lady passenger whom was running for the bus.  From what is shown in the description of the video (below), the driver skipped the elderly passenger with deliberate intent, and therefore the young man confronting the driver must have ticked the driver so much he pulled over and shut-off the engine.

Video description from YouTube: "On July 2nd, 2012, As I was taking the bus home on the 28 line, San Francisco Muni, a lady was running to catch that bus. As soon as the bus stopped, the lady was still running and approaching near it. But the driver did not stay stopped for her and then sped off. At all the assumptions of the passengers on that bus, the driver did that on purpose and arrogantly. This is not the only time I see this kind of action of a Muni driver. However, this time, the passenger in front of me has finally stepped up and actually ran to the door for that lady. The driver then was displeased and began arguing with him. Then the driver stopped the bus on all of us, and this is where I started video taping as they began a shouting match. I'm pleased to see that someone has finally have the guts to confront the arrogance among Muni drivers. And it's also nice to know now that Muni drivers views us riders as "peons" after all its complete lack of friendly customer services and employee bonuses during financial deficit?"

From viewing the video, the driver pulled over on the northeast corner of 19th Avenue and Irving (the Chevron gas station), therefore it seems the driver must have intentionally skipped the elderly passenger at the Irving bus stop.  Based on the location, this incident happened on the 28-19th Avenue line going northbound to Fort Mason.

Akit's Opinions
While I'm not a fan of the heavy swearing from the passenger, I commend him for being brave and sticking up for the female passenger whom was skipped.  Muni passengers needs to stand-up for injustice, instead of staying silent.  So what if the driver pulls over and refuses to continue on with the journey?  Might make some fellow passengers frustrated, but will further humiliate the operator whose "on-time" window is ticking away.

My method isn't to do a face to face confrontation, but to use the power of my blog to tell the story, such as when I had a problem with the same 18-46th Avenue bus driver who kept driving to the far front end of the bus stop when all the passengers was waiting in the middle of the stop, at least 40 feet away from the front door.  A year later, I caught the same driver continuing to not give courtesy at the same bus stop.

I know Muni installed the DriveCam system on their buses to record the front of the bus, what does the video show on Muni's end, or is this going to be some kind of "internal investigation" where the public will never see the footage from the bus?

Lastly, what action is going to be taken on Muni operators who continue to deliberately skip passengers?  It's a public service folks; heck, let's remember the bus can be up to 4 minutes and 59 seconds behind schedule and still be "on-time."  An extra five seconds wouldn't hurt.