Muni has a million-dollar solution to curb a trend of riders forcing open Muni doors and jumping from moving buses.
A new trend is emerging on Muni buses that transit officials and police want to stop before someone gets hurt.
The SF Examiner reports there have 15 incidents between May 30 and June 9 of passengers forcing the back doors open and jumping out while the buses were still moving as fast as 20 to 25 miles per hour.
Most of the incidents occurred on the 14-Mission Limited, with the most recent incident on the 38-Geary.
The Police Department is looking at video footage on the buses to determine who is involved in these incidents and why they are jumping out of buses.
Muni is also working on fixing the doors. John Haley, transit director of operations, told the Examiner that Muni will retrofit 200 doors to prevent riders from opening the doors while the bus is moving.
The retrofits will cost the transit agency between $1 million to $2 million. Muni plans to begin the work this weekend.
Mike Biel, deputy chief of special operations for the Police Department, told the Examiner that at first they thought it was just passengers who had just boarded the wrong vehicle. Police are now investigating the incidents as a crime because of the number of incidents that have occurred in the last two weeks.
Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.
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