the end of the line

it wasn’t a typical friday night necessarily, but close enough.

after checking out film archivist rick prelinger‘s supercool “lost landscapes of san francisco vol. 4″ at the herbst theater, some drinks with friends, and a turkey club at the pork store on 16th, i hopped on the last 26-valencia.

but not just the last 26 of the night. the last 26 period.

our driver, tony, knew he was at the helm for the last ride since muni cuts eliminated the 26. what he didn’t know was that after more than 100 years of rolling through our area in one form or another, he was at the helm for the end of an era.

it was an uneventful ride, which was both sad considering the occasion, and appropriate, because one of the line’s main charms was that you could usually rely on a trip unmarked by chaos and/or violence, something its closest relative, the 14-mission, can’t exactly boast, particularly at that time of the night.

at least i wasn’t the only soul on the bus lamenting the end of the line. i met local activist david pilpel, who had taken it upon himself to take one last ride on every line being cut by muni this last weekend. (normally, you’d see a link there on his name, but david doesn’t believe in using the interwebs. yeah.)

i rode till my usual stop at circular and monterey, bid farewell to tony and david, and watched as the very last 26 bus chugged to its final stop. destiny. (via balboa park.)

p.s. sure enough, at 130am the next night i was on the 14 with the other riff raff, taking it to murray/bosworth, where i got off and schlepped on foot home to monterey and detroit. my new reality. and muni wants $70 for a fast pass starting next month?? must find bike … or coping mechanism.

36, 26 would merge under muni proposals

under muni’s proposed service cuts, the 26-valencia and 36-teresita would be combined as one line, a new 36. i spoke with judson true, mta’s media relations manager, who clarified the agency’s expected reductions in service for sunnyside residents.

as shown in this graphic found on the sfmta site, the 36 would continue to serve the hill people along teresita, but after making the turn onto foerster, would head east on monterey. the line would then take over the defunct 26 line at the diamond and bosworth stop at the glen park BART station, heading east on chenery before terminating finally at st. luke’s via mission.

“this would ensure continued service to st. luke’s for those who depend on the 26 line to get to the hospital,” said true.

he said that transit efficiency project (TEP) estimates concluded muni would save $2.4 million by merging the 26, with its low ridership, with the 36, which becomes redundant when its route colludes with the 43-masonic at monterey on its way to balboa park.

“it’s certainly not an effort to target sunnyside,” true said, half-joking. he sheepishly admitted to only riding the 36 line once. i was impressed he could claim to have ridden it at all!

the spokesman said the agency “is not happy” about having to reduce service around the city, and agreed that those west of twin peaks would suffer, particularly in terms of late-night service.

muni is expected to make a decision on the proposed service reductions on thursday

lookin’ like hatchet time for the 26-valencia, 36-teresita

muni held the first of a string of meetings yesterday designed to telegraph the sucker punch it expects to deliver to those who rely on public transit. tensions ran high, especially among the masses of cabbies whose fate is also tied to the sfmta’s proposed cuts.

so many came out to city hall that it took two overspill rooms to accommodate everyone.

as previously reported, sunnyside is really getting clobbered in the “c” proposal being bandied about, which would eliminate the 36-teresita in sunnyside and the 26-valencia altogether. in the coming days i’ll be contacting the sfmta to arrange an interview so’s i can get to the bottom of why our neighborhood seems particularly targeted.

save transit in sunnyside

 

lord knows it’s not easy to enjoy sf nightlife if you live in sunnyside and rely on the muni to avoid a $20 cab ride. if i can’t grab that last 23-monterey at diamond and bosworth at midnight, my last best chance is the 26-valencia, which still ends up with me schlepping up the hill in the wee hours (not exactly dicey in our relatively safe ‘hood, but wtf, i’m a lazy sod!).

now muni wants to make my life even harder with drastic cutbacks. in this new, post-apocalyptic scenario, i’d be forced on late nights to slog all the way from mission and bosworth! that’s, erm, lemme see here … almost a half-mile!

okay, not particularly empathetic to my plight of getting home from the 500 club at 130 on a friday night? well, even if you use the 26 in the light of day, you’re screwed. and if you’re in the unfortunate position of needing to use the 36-teresita (i used to live up in sherwood heights, so i know your pain), you’ll sure wish you had it around to complain about if it goes away completely.

so come join me at this meeting tomorrow to battle against this attack on our way of life in sunnyside!