Well, I came up with a solution to this riduculous debate about the "under God" inclusive in the pledge of allegience. I figured that if the word "MY" was inserted before "God", then it would not only satisfy people's personal freedom to interpret Gos and regligion as they see fit, but it would be ultimately pure American. Then some athiests argues with me, and now I am keep just to drop it all together. There are still plenty of other outlets to express one's religous persuasion. Too bad in this post 911 flag waving world, the court's decision to drop the phrase will probably be reversed.

Alright - I'm making this announcement publicly because, that makes me more tied to it. By next year I shall be enrolled in a masters program in either Urban Planning, or an MBA program. Here it is said. Oh yes, and another thing, I'm going to try and blog daily. So if you have any comments (if anyone is actually reading) please harrass me as you like!

Presenting the first of my many case studies to come:

While Muni spends millions on new buses (which are arguably inferior in many ways to the slightly dirty existing buses), no improvement, other than a cosmetic brush up takes place.

One problem is that Muni simply stops too many times. The 5 Fulton bus line exhibits this classic, and perpetually unresolved if not ignored, problem particularily well.

Let's take a ride from Divisidero to Montgomery st. This ride covers a distance of just over 2 miles. It takes 30 minutes. That's an average speed of just over 4 miles per hour. This is barely faster than walking. Pathetic and unacceptable. Those of us who believe in the potential of public transportation should be insulted. How is anyone going to be convinced to use buses with this kind of performance?

The 5 initially stops every 2 blocks. This is the standard Muni stopping rate, and though I'd rather see every 3 blocks, I won't even try to debate it here. What happens after Fillmore street is the real problem. Between Webster and Laguna (That's one block), the bus stops THREE times. Granted it's a long block, but your heard me right: THREE times. The latter 2 stops are so close together, two average people could stand at the two stops and easily play catch with a football. Next time you're inbound on the 5, see it for yourself. Three times. On the next block, the 5 stops twice, and then it stops twice again at city hall. Twice for one building...yeah, it's a big building, but people who work there can walk an extra 100 feet, and furthermore, the second stop is a "light loser" stop which is when the bus stops before a light, and almost inevitably spends an entire cycle of green-red-green waithing there...far longer than it would otherwise wait.

After one more stop, the bus crawls onto market st. Which as we all know, is always a crawl, but shall be the subject of another case study to come.

By eliminating most of these unnesesary stops, the 5 would cover that section of its route about 10 minutes faster in my estimation. By shaving little bits like this here and there, we'll wind up with a faster and more efficient muni. Oh...gee, did I mention this costs nothing? Wait, sorry Muni, you now owe me $50,000 in consulting fees. Get it together!!!

Alright. Finally, this thing is working (more or less). Check back frequently for new news. Archives of the old blog are still at top!