The Outside Lands music festival started its three-day rock music marathon in Golden Gate Park on Friday, and this was what was printed prominently in an Examiner story:
"With extremely limited parking availability at the Outside Lands music festival, taking public transit or alternate means of transportation is encouraged in order to reduce congestion."
The crowds on Friday were dutifully following this advice but the criminally mismanaged Muni system hadn't bothered to schedule any extra buses on the few lines that travel close to Fulton and 30th Avenue such as the 5-Fulton, so the vehicles were overfilled before they even exited Market Street for the park.
Beleaguered Muni drivers were forced to drive by stranded would-be passengers without stopping for them, and frustrated concertgoers were then trying to hail nonexistent cabs.
It shouldn't be that complicated to schedule Outside Lands Limited Muni bus service for three days, running from the Embarcadero BART station and stopping only at major transfer points on its way to the music festival. Instead there is overcrowding, long waits, and general chaos, which is completely counterproductive when you're encouraging people to take public transportation.
3 comments:
It's the same damned thing every year with Outside Lands.
The one that really pissed me off was after I ran Bay to Breakers and despite having paid for the direct Muni bus back to the start (a lovely, ridiculous $10) I couldn't actually find the bus and once I had walked nearly half the way back across SF, I hailed a cab for the final bit back home since my legs were getting wobbly after running 11 miles.
This transit system is crap which is why I bought a bike finally.
Yes, of course, if Muni was in any way competent they would provide extra buses for an event that drew 60,000 people a day. But "Muni" and "competent" don't belong in the same sentence.
After all, this is the 12th year that the Giants ballpark has been open, and they still haven't figured out how to manage the trains on game days. And we'd expect them to figure out Outside Lands after just a couple of years? Please.
Dear Hudin: I'd be killed on a bike within days so that isn't an option.
Dear TK: You have a point.
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