CITY FAMILY SPAT: MUNI DRIVERS AND RIDERS ALWAYS DRIVE AND RIDE THE RAZOR'S EDGE

p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p strongOh!nbsp; You gonnanbsp; play it that way?nbsp; I#39;m opening the back door for my brotha!nbsp; --anonymous MUNI rider/strong/p p nbsp;/p p The San Francisco public transit bus system (MUNI) driver#39;s union recently voted against a proposal to change the rules governing how they work, what they get paid, and yet another raise in bus fares for riders.nbsp; MUNI drivers have one of the toughest urban jobs, and they have to navigate socio-economic realities as well as the busy streets of the city./p p The Po#39;Lice get on MUNI buses and cite people who ride for free--deliberately and accidentally; I#39;ve seen both be caught up in bus/bus stop sweeps.nbsp; I was riding a #22 bus that was 10 minutes from reaching the POOR Magazine stop when a man on the bus started cursing.nbsp; I didn#39;t understand why until I saw the Po#39;Lice waiting for the bus to stop./p p He got lucky, someone gave him a transfer.nbsp; There was no public humiliation, except for the fact that he rightfully feared getting a ticket for $100 he didn#39;t have.nbsp; Many people I#39;ve ridden with routinely open the back doors because they feel that the people who govern the city, and MUNI itself, doesn#39;t give a damn about them--so why should they play by rules that only punish them?/p p The shift to the use of pre-paid Clipper Cards and electronic card readers hasn#39;t changed that reality and I don#39;t believe it will--and that is only partly because card users can get on via the back doors and swipe their cards there too./p p I will say it more times than this (until someone takes what is being said seriously):nbsp; change the way money and services are collected, spent, and distributed; change the perceptions of and relationships between the poor and everyone who isn#39;t; make MUNI more affordable, or free for at least parts of the day--or all day--or MUNI drivers and riders will drive and ride the razor#39;s edge forever./p