Updates: Daly City BART to Muni Transfer and The E-Line Pilot May Fail

I thought I'd spend some time and provide updates on two of my past blog entries.

The Daly City free Muni transfers:
Originally, passengers who exited the Daly City BART station with their Clipper card was given an electronic transfer encoded on their card for two free Muni rides.  The first ride must be claimed within one hour of exiting the station, and therefore the second ride is validated.  The spirit of the rule is the passenger will receive the free ride for the return back to the station; but due to Muni's lack of inputting data into each vehicle console, if a passenger took the 28-19th Avenue away from Daly City, the next Muni ride, regardless of route is free (such as transferring to the 38-Geary).

But now the second ride fun is over.  Muni has now instructed operators to input into their Clipper console the route number, therefore the two way electronic transfer from Daly City BART is now only valid on the 14L, 28, 28L and 54.  The only little problem, if the operator doesn't input the bus route number, the transfer might not go through.

Take a look at your Muni card history report.  For nearly all the Muni rides, it will say "MTANONE" indicating no route information was inputted.  But when I rode the 28 line, I noticed it say "28" as the route, therefore the e-transfers issued from Daly City is only good on the routes that goes to and from Daly City BART.

I should note, a change in the transfer policy will start August 1st when the e-transfer rule of exiting BART and taking Muni within one hour will be changed to 23 hours.  Read more about the change.

The E-Line May Fail
After publishing my blog entry about the exciting news regarding the E-Line pilot project going from Caltrain to Fisherman's Wharf, the project might not even happen.

While Muni's report acknowledged that staffing levels and equipment may be a problem, the Market Street Railway notes that things are bleak.  The big problem Muni and MTR will face is the lack of double ended PCC streetcars that are required for the route.  There's barely enough of these rare cars, and it depends if all of them are street worthy and safe to operate.  If one breaks down, the pilot project can either die or will run at more than a 15 minute headway.

The Market Street Railway does not recommend the pilot program to start unless if Muni can provide ample staffing and streetcars to run the program.