San Francisco Bus Crashes

Tonight from Muni’s video vault, we focus on bus crashes.

Statistics from the Federal Transit Association show that Muni had more than twice the rate of motor bus injury accidents in 2006 compared to agencies of similar size in Denver, Portland and Orange County, and more than three times that of Dallas. Preliminary numbers for 2007 show an improvement, but Muni still ranks worse than Portland, Orange County and Dallas. Denver appears to have overtaken Muni for bus collision injuries.

This story highlights what happened to Stephanie Schempp in April of 2006. The surveillance video shows a bus driving downhill on the wrong side of the street trying to pass Schempp, who was trying to make a left turn. The bus slams into her SUV, and sends passengers on the bus flying. You can watch three angles of the crash from surveillance cameras here. If you’ve seen our recent reports, you know that ABC 7 spent thousands of dollars fighting Muni in court for access to the bus surveillance videos and other public records. A judge ruled in our favor, and we’re continuing our investigation based on those videos and related documents. It’s been more than a year since we decided to try and quantify the problems at Muni, by looking at the twenty-five bus drivers who receive the most complaints from passengers.

We also tracked down the dollar amount of settlements Muni paid out in the past few years, due to accidents involving its buses, street cars, cable cars, and light rail – almost $7 million in 2005, about $5 million in 2006 and 2007. They denied the claim for the passenger in Stephanie Schempp’s crash, who tumbled from the rear of the bus to the front, striking her head.

Muni might be paying big after an incident we reported ten days ago involving a woman in a wheelchair. Attorney Mark Geragos saw our investigation and contacted Florence Hough – even visited her in San Francisco – and they're now planning a federal Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit.

Comments

[Philip Snyder]

I have ridden the Muni for almost 40 years and have observed it's deterioration over this period. There is no question that the Muni is hiring drivers who should not ever be hired for any responsible job. Due to Civil Service Rules, once a driver passes probation it is almost impossible to fire that driver. The Bus Driver's Union is politically connected and there is no way to upgrade the Muni due to these 2 forces. I am firmly in favor of privitizing the entire Department, not because I'm crazy about privitization, but because there is no realistic alternative. The worthless politicians we keep electing are certainly not going to get involved on any functional level.

[EH]

I like how the driver is primarily concerned with fixing the alignment of his pad of transfers.

[Dan]

As Mr. Snyder has been riding public transit in San Francisco for almost forty years, he may recall that one of the many reasons for Muni's existence was that private lines were abandoning or severely curtailing service on unprofitable routes. It is unreasonable to believe that half a century later, with increased material and labor costs, that privatization would be the answer.

Muni can be fixed, it simply needs innovators (and not bureaucrats, and believe me the current man at the top, who once ran BART, is not an innovator) who can roll with the political punches and make unpopular changes, starting with busting an entrenched union.

[theo]

There's no need to "bust the union." The workplace injury statistics for bus drivers in hilly San Francisco are terrible -- if it weren't for the union Muni would have them sitting in plastic lawn chairs and then quitting after 5 years with intolerable lower back pain.

But Muni does need to hold drivers responsible for accidents. Currently the union contract prevents Muni from disciplining drivers even when they're at fault. This is extremely unusual among public transit agencies and amounts to a disgusting sweetheart deal at the expense of passenger safety.

See this great SF Weekly article from 2003: http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-08-06/news/death-maiming-money-and-muni/full

[Jim.......P....]

I do not understand why drivers that have lousy work and safety records are on the job.
It is I guess because Muni is a civil service job and union.
If you notice, it is almost all "black"..
Years ago if you were white it was very hard to get on with muni because of "affermitive action" laws..
That was crap and still is..Either your quilifyied to be a driver or your not.
I have 25 years behind the wheel of buses and 18 wheelers and no accidents.."NONE"..I have driven in all sorts of conditions accident free.
Clean it up Muni and keep the quilifyied drivers and lose the rest.Does anyone remember a few years ago the driver that clocked in in his PJ"s and went home to sleep? Muni is a sorry excuse for a bus company.

[Jim.......P....]

I do not understand why drivers that have lousy work and safety records are on the job.
It is I guess because Muni is a civil service job and union.
If you notice, it is almost all "black"..
Years ago if you were white it was very hard to get on with muni because of "affermitive action" laws..
That was crap and still is..Either your quilifyied to be a driver or your not.
I have 25 years behind the wheel of buses and 18 wheelers and no accidents.."NONE"..I have driven in all sorts of conditions accident free.
Clean it up Muni and keep the quilifyied drivers and lose the rest.Does anyone remember a few years ago the driver that clocked in in his PJ"s and went home to sleep? Muni is a sorry excuse for a bus company.

[Bill M]

MUNI has plenty of issues which will come out in these videos. But just to be fair, let's remember that this is a society issue more than MUNI because in this day and age if you get probation or tenure or anything of the like, it is almost impossible for companies to fire their workers. There have been cases of sexual predator teachers that the schools had to PAY them in order to get them to leave. Does that sound right to anyone? Get rid of all these dumb job security laws -- when a person isn't doing the job they are paid to do or has violated standards, the company should feel free to let them loose without fearing lawsuit. Otherwise, they will continue to do whatever they want knowing there is no penalty for their actions.

[Akit]

Being a Muni driver is very lucrative job since it pays very good, and now we know that it's next to impossible to get your butt fired. What do you have to do to get your butt fired now? Intentionally run over someone? Muni drivers should be put under an "at will" agreement, which Muni reserves the immediate right to fire operators.

There's a reason why I drive, Muni just sucks. I freaked out one day when a driver ran multiple stop signs.

[lol wut]

****** and unions what a great mix. good luck firing any of your *****waggon drivers.

[joe y]

How is it possible that that many drivers are of one race (African)if not for a push in that direction? It's mathmatically impossible for this considering the racial makeup of S.F.! Would there be complaints if Muni was 90% Asian drivers? Think about it, Government statistics prove African 'Amerikans" are MORE likley to be involved in traffic accidents? Thems the facts, don't know why......any ideas

[Alicia]

Race has nothing to do with how an operator behaves I have seen driver's from Black, White to Asian and Latino behave in a none professional manner so we can't just single out all the African American driver's and blame them for all of MUNI's problems. However, I do believe that there should be some way to make sure that we support the good driver's and get rid of the ones that make our lives unbearable.

[san francisco team building]

I get that unions serve a purpose. And that they serve the interests of their members. But at the expense of the safety of the innocent public seems callous to say the least.

[patrick]

The complete lack of respect for their job and their client never ceases to amaze me. Race or Gender plays no specific part in this. I am routinely surprised that people making upper middle class wages have such a small sense of professionalism. When encountering a mannered and professional driver, I am taken aback. They do exist and I try to encourage then in every way. Being nice, mannered and courteous costs nothing and would go along way toward fixing the problems with MUNI.