Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Can't be trusted

It occurred to me why people run to catch the bus or train. Because they understand that if they miss this particular one, when the next one will arrive is an absolute crapshoot. Sure, the schedule says one train every 10 minutes during rush hour, but we all know that’s not reliable at all. I too would risk traffic impalement to run across an intersection, chasing after the bus.

This isn’t Japan, where trains arrive every five minutes during commute times. And you can be damn sure it’s going to be on time. If there are any delays, the train conductor apologies profusely over the PA system. It’s very sad when you see proper standards of what is possible, and then you return to your own country and see that it can’t be had. My advice: don’t visit Japan or other modern Asian countries.

I read on the Reddits that a majority of San Francisco’s school children gets driven to campus. The article points out it would be better for congestion and the environment if more kids take public transport or bike. No shit, but has the author done either of those things back in his schooling days? I’ve taken the bus to school, and I wouldn’t want that for my (hypothetical) kid if I can help it. The amount of crazy and violence I’ve seen (and been done to) on city buses is enough to give PTSD.

Biking might be worse. Anyone that’s driven in San Francisco since the pandemic would agree the driving quality has utterly deteriorated. A tiny kid on a bicycle is a huge gamble against the laws of physics.

I get it: parents want as much control as possible. If you can eliminate any doubt that your child will get to school safely, you do it. Zoom zoom.

Catch me riding easy

I saw this post on r/sanfranicso of a Muni bus driver reminding others to be alert when riding. Thieves are on the hunt for unsuspecting riders who are nonchalantly using their phones. The perps would snatch the phones and hop off just as buses are arriving at stops. Moral of the story is: don’t sit or stand close to the bus doors?

Tell me you don’t live in the southeastern side of San Francisco, without telling me you don’t live in the southeastern side of San Francisco. Those of us that do (or formerly did for more than two decades) have always had to be on alert whenever we ride public transportation. Never pick a seat where someone can block you in. Always have your heads up, be cognizant of who is getting on. If something doesn’t feel right to the gut, get as much distance from that thing as possible.

And for god’s sake, never have your electronics visible. Back in the day, I used the brokest most ragged looking pair of earphones to go with my iPod. The signature white ones that came with the music player put a giant visible target on you. The iPod never left my jacket pocket ever whilst on the bus. That habit continued into the smartphone era. I never take my phone out when I am riding public transportation.

These are simple basic survival skills on how to avoid being a mugging victim on the bus. Now, one can strongly argue that you shouldn’t have to carry the alertness of an undercover spy just to ride. Indeed in a country where you can have nice things, that should be the reality. I never have to worry about anything when I am riding public transport in Asian cities. The comparative calm is enough to give me PTSD when I have to switch it back on here in the States.

Any hope of change has to start with creating strong incentives against thievery on buses. We need stronger deterrence than slaps on the proverbial wrists. If the perps are minors, then the law should hold their legal guardian(s) responsible. Victims cannot be the only ones with (sometimes literal) skin in the game.

No more taking the bus?

One thing I definitely don’t miss about normal work life is the commute. During this current quarantine situation, it’s been really lovely to simply roll out of the bed each morning and login to work on the computer. No need to wake up two hours before official work start time: an hour to get ready to head out, and then an hour to take the bus. The time saved has been tremendous, though my amount of podcast listening have decreased dramatically.

One thing I do miss being physically at work is interacting with my coworkers. Zoom is great for teleconferencing, but you cannot replace face-to-face collaboration, at least in our line of work. Some tech problems need multiple heads banded together to solve, and it’s much easier and more effective to do so when we’re all in the same place. It’s what I’m most excited to return to - work-wise - once this shelter-in-place order is over.

Of course, that would mean the return of the commute, and up brings a conundrum: do I go back to public transportation? Lockdown being over doesn’t mean social distancing won’t still be required; the coronavirus won’t abate anytime soon, and once we’re back outside we will need to take the utmost precautions. A crowded bus then is to be avoided if possible, which means I'm going to need to buy another car to commute with (it’s not happening with the Porsche). As of this moment, I’m heavily leaning towards doing that.

Good news (somewhat perversely) then that used car prices are projected to be down in the foreseeable future. Circumstances stemming from the coronavirus have absolutely cratered demand for automobiles, and with a glut of inventory sitting at dealership lots, those with the means to spend are in a good position. I’m on a casual hunt, for now.

Guangzhou tip: don't take the subway

The sprawling metropolis of Guangzhou has a fantastic subway system, able to take you quickly to practically anywhere in the city and its periphery. You’d be surprised then to know that in my two weeks there earlier this month, I took the subway a grand total of just once. If a destination is also accessible by bus, I’d always choose that option, even if it takes longer to get there.

The reason is simple: the Guangzhou subway is massively crowded. In a city of 11 million people. the subway system is rather erroneously not built to handle the amount of people that utilize it on a daily basis. The stations aren’t big enough, and subsequently the trains aren’t long enough to adequately acquiesce to the flow of people. On the major lines that go through the heart of Guangzhou, it’s crowded nearly all the time: you’re either fighting with the commuter crowd, or fellow tourists visiting the city.

The masses of people get so bad during the morning and evening commute hours that security guards have to set up barricades outside of subway stations to keep people from flooding in disorganized. No other city have I visited where you’d need to queue up before you even enter a station.

What we in the West think of as “personal space”? Forget about it: you are packed into the subway trains like sardines. The Chinese aren’t bashful about barging their way through, and you the foreigner mustn’t take it personally. Being overly polite might mean you won’t be able to get off in time before the doors close - it’s that packed.

It’s due to these factors that I avoid taking the Guangzhou subway as much as possible. The surface bus network is equally as extensive and far-reaching, and while it may take considerably more time to get somewhere, at least I’m not stuck in a precarious position amongst a dense cluster of humanity as I would be taking the underground train. Often times there were open seats on the bus, which allows for a comfortable and leisurely ride to get to where I want to go. For travelers who can afford to not be in a hurry, I highly recommend taking the bus in Guangzhou.

Though there is one potential problem: the bus stops and buses have nearly zero English translations, so if you’re not a former Chinese national like myself, then you really need to rely on Apple Maps to assist you (Google maps is utterly blocked in China, remember). Follow the GPS to know when to get off the bus, because the stop names listed are Chinese only.

Apologies, user of Android phones.

The glorious Guangzhou library in the Tianhe district.

The kids are back in school

Today marks the first day of Fall semester for the K through 12 kids, so naturally the bus I take to go to work were full of the young ones, and for some, their parents also. What was for the past few months a sparsely ridden bus route returned to being a jam-packed slog, with each subsequent stop filled with hopefuls looking to squeeze in just beyond the closing doors. Today’s commute was easily 10 minutes longer than usual, though I didn’t mind it because I simply listen to podcasts until it’s my stop to alight.

The return of the pre-college kids on public transport is my specific signal that Summer is indeed over, and it’s back to the normal grind of the regular school schedule. Of course, I am sensitive to this because I work at a university, and we go back to our particular scheduled programming in a week’s time. As someone who prefers peace and quiet, I’m oddly looking forward to campus starting back up; the atmosphere of learning can be very contagious indeed.

The crowded bus today made me reminisce of the trip to Japan back in July, and how glorious public transport in that country is. Despite the enormous population density, the system there is super efficient, and has the adequate capacity to deal with the sheer number of people. Most importantly, everything is always on time, so schedules are completely dependable. I fondly remember taking the local train during rush hour, and despite the sea of humanity, there was a train every two minutes on the dot, so getting on wasn’t an issue at all.

Contrast that with my experience today, where my usual bus passed by our station with a ‘not in service’ sign, leaving the following bus even more packed that it had to be. The morning commute on the first day of school maybe isn’t the best time for that, SF Muni.

I've found SF's parking problem

I’m one of the lucky ones to have the city’s public transportation network be super convenient for my purposes. The bus-stop for the bus I take to work is only a block’s walk from my house, and the second-leg light-rail train gets me literally right to the door – the stop’s name is the university. The decision to cease commuting by car almost a year ago has been hugely beneficial to my overall mental health. I take serene pleasure in getting lost in podcasts on the train, only paying scant outward attention to ensure I don’t miss my stop.

I also enjoy the walk to the bus-stop, short it may be. It’s a good opportunity to get some sun, which is crucial because the university is at the western end of San Francisco - notorious for its lack of sunshine. Plus, our office is in the basement level with zero windows; the brief stroll to the bus-stop might be the only chance I have to get some needed vitamin D.

A thing I’ve noticed lately on those strolls is the sheer numbers of cars parked on the street – in the middle of a workday. Mind you I live in a decidedly residential area, so very few people would commute to my neighborhood for work. Therefore, it’s safe to assume the massive number of cars that remains stationary on the streets belong to residents.

In a city that’s infamous for its parking difficulties, I have to say it seems the problems are self-inflicted. It’s clear to me now that each household simply owns too many cars, so much so that during a workday, the residential streets are still full of them. All these vehicles are just sat there taking up space; it’s no wonder there’s such an immense parking space battle after the 5pm for the people returning home from work via car.

You may point out that perhaps those parked cars represent people that take the bus like I do, so that’s actually a good thing from the perspective of the environment or whatnot. To that I’d say, yes, good on them for taking public transportation – if that is the case, but it doesn’t change the fact they’ve left cars behind on the streets doing absolutely nothing. Indeed, I too have a weekend only car, but the 911 is parked in an actual lot, merely taking up space I paid for.

San Franciscans are wont to complain about the utter lack of parking, and how finding a spot requires prolonged games of musical chair, and every bit of luck. Well, it would seem a big part of it is our own fault. I wouldn’t go as far to say people should buy fewer cars; just that they should use a mirror next time they gripe about trouble finding a spot.

Six months without car

It’s been about half a year since I’ve sold my beloved MX-5 Miata to go essentially car-less, so here’s a bit of a report on how the public transport life have been going thus far.

A few weeks back there was a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that we are headed for irreversible climate calamity - if we don’t change course drastically - by as early as 2040, which is decidedly within our lifetimes. While there’s not much we can do individually to influence governmental policies in those regards other than vote, on a personal level the best we must do is to be as green as possible in our daily lives.

It’s fortuitous then that I’ve switched to commuting by bus this year; one less car polluting the air on already impossibly congested Bay Area roads. On the positive side it’s dramatically less taxing mentally to simply sit down (or stand) and enjoy podcasts rather than navigating the roads myself. I get to work incredibly fresh, no risk of being still angry at the idiot driver that cut me off earlier. Not owning a car also means not having to stress over San Francisco’s notorious parking restrictions and street cleaning schedules.

The one negative of riding the bus is the increased commute time compared to driving. It ends up being about 45 minutes or so daily, which is a lot of potential productivity I could otherwise be doing. Podcasts have been a lifesaver in that regard: learning via listening.

On some nights coming home from work when the bus is late by half hour, for sure I’ve entertained thoughts of immediately buying a car again. Those moments are few and far in between however; SFMTA have been providing fantastic service overall, with a predicable and reliable schedule nearly every day. A dependable routine is what I like, and commuting by bus have become just that. Indeed it would be weird if I suddenly switch back to driving.

As for my vehicular needs on the weekends, luckily I have access to the family car. For the times where it isn’t available, UBER, Lyft, or a favor from a friend is always good.

After six months of public transport life, I can say I don’t exactly miss having a car for the daily commute. Unless I move somewhere else or the job situation changes I don’t foresee daily driving making a return. At the very least, public transportation will always be the first option explored; I must do my part in helping conserve the precious environment.

It’s on the weekends where I really, truly miss having a proper sports car to toss around. Having a driving simulator at home is great and all, but nothing can replace the thrill of the real machine. I even miss the mundane ancillary parts like maintenance and detailing. This is why in another six month’s time I’ll be buying a car purely for the weekend. It’s 911 or bust.