We have periodically polled the kids on the best venues they have visited on the trip. Surprisingly, their lists have been heretofore been completely different. But today, the consensus #1 with the crew is: Frisco.
Maybe Frisco seems better when we have been at moderate altitude (6,000- 10,000 ft.) for over a week, and when it has been over 100 degrees at most of our venues for over a week. Maybe it helps that we are staying at the St. Francis, which is still the best hotel west of New York City (apologies to the Peabody, which can make an argument). Or maybe the kids just know a good place when they see it.
San Fran is the only city in the U.S., in my opinion, where public transportation is both effective, and enjoyable. With our new Green consciousness, public transportation has become the darling of the politically correct. In spite of that, mass transport isn't a bad idea. Unfortunately, public transportation is in this age run by governments, which means it is nearly always screwed up. I think O. Roy Chalk ran a pretty good show with D.C. Transit back in our hometown, at least when one compares it to the multi-state beauracracy that is WMATA. The Metro train itself is sterile and ugly, and the farecard system is unreliable and balky. The buses are dirty and crowded, except when they are dirty and empty. Does anyone in D.C. or its environs actually choose public transportation if they have options?
While the SF transportation system is multi layered, with BART, caternary-powered electric buses, imported european streetcars (I recognized one orange one as being from the Milan streetcar system), and the famed cable cars, I think the secret to the future of public transportation may lie in examining the oldest of these, the cable car.
The cable car is a slow motion roller coaster, trolling up and down the famed hills of SF. This appeals to all ages. For the older set, who would rather retain their lunches, the 9 mph traction cable speed means that there will not be any stomach- teasing drops. For the younger set, there is always the hope that the brakes will fail. The cars are open-aired, one can hang off of them as one pleases, and the stops are loosely defined. One bell means stop, two bells means go. This is the anti- technology and anti- safety/ anti-politically correct experience right here in the land of the opposite.
But here is the part to examine in depth, because DC does not have Nob Hill type steep hills, so no roller coaster opportunities. The cable car is operated by two men ( I guess they could be women too, just haven't seen any yet). One is called the Gripman. He stands in the forward center of the car and pulls on giant levers and decides who can come on board and how many. He is driving the train. The other guy is toward the rear and is the Conductor. He works the rear brakes, when necessary, but his most important job is to collect the fares. In cash. Which he keeps in his jacket, in various fly fishing type pockets. Piles of cash. I gave him a Benjamin for 6 All Day passes and he didn't even blink as he made change.
This system raises a number of questions. There aren't any turnstiles, or prepayment, so riders can theoretically board the car and not pay. The conductor collects cash, which he keeps on his person, with no segregation of duties. The paper tickets he issues as receipts seem to have no method of accounting reconciliation for the agency. No businessman in his right mind would condone this system, at least at first glance. If the Conductor is not stealing money and splitting it with the Gripman, then they should be both be canonized.
However, taking into account the strong possibility of theft, this system works better than east coast mass transit agencies. No farecards. No broken machines. No lines at the turnstiles. No morbid underground stations that feel like a premature interment. No broken escalators. Just an open air ride. The two guys running the car are happy to explain how it works. They are no doubt netting a decent buck, with whatever they are probably skimming from this all-cash venture. And they probably have an impeccable safety record. I have never heard of a cable car crash. Who wants to get fired for an accident when you are making about $200,000 a year operating a cable car, most of it tax-free?
Now, there are still some aspects of the cable car operation that make no sense. San Francisco is a very strong union town and I suspect these inefficiencies arise out of union rules.
As one example, at the end of the line at the Hyde Street terminus, the cable car is parked by the Gripman on an antique wooden roundtable. Then, it is turned about 340 degrees to line up with a siding to make the return trip. The car is turned around by the Gripman and the Conductor. By hand. Or more accurately, by the legs, back and both arms of each man, and with a considerable expenditure of effort. The tourists seem to enjoy this little show of a quaint feature of yesteryear. I look at this operation and think: who is managing the Municipal Railway's Workmen's Compensation program? These Conductors and Gripmen are not spring chickens. Probably, this is the ultimate perc in the union operating engineers' heirarchy, to be a cash skimming cable car operator. So once they make their way to the top, they can collect the cash and do their own accounting, but they have to turn around a heavy 100 year old railway car by hand, many times per day. I am imagining the loss runs for Comp claims every month:
Name: Jones, William
Injury: Lower Back
Cause: Pushing Railway car by Hand
Date of Incident: 5/25/09
Status: Reserve Posted
Name: Johnson, Phil
Injury: Slipped Disc
Cause: Pushing Railway Car by Hand
Date of Incident: 5/26/09
Status: Reserve Posted
Name: Miller, John
Injury: Burst Achilles Tendon
Cause: Pushing Railway Car by Hand
Date of Incident: 5/27/09
Status: Reserve Posted
Name: Flanagan, Tom
Injury: Cardiac Arrest
Cause: Pushing Railway Car by Hand
Date of Incident: 5/28/09
Status: Reserve Posted
And so on. It just has to be happening. Who is analyzing the data?
General Manager: "Any fix yet on why our experience mod is 1.7 and our premiums are doubling?"
Risk Manager: "Beats me, boss, these injuries are just all over the place- heels, backs, discs, heart attacks- who knows? We can't get a trend on it. We should put some more investment into our wellness programs"
But whatever the inefficiencies of this system are, the operation doubtless costs less than the Farecard machines and Cigar Store guards that grace our DC "modern" transit system. Even with all of the computer controlled track traffic there are still crashes on the Metro, including the tragic one recently. I wish we still had streetcars in DC. I am old enough to remember them and the rides on which my grandparents, Nan and George O'Rourke, took us. They were fun, and maybe they were slightly unsafe too. That was public transportation one looked forward to.
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