Violent incidents in San Francisco public transit

[alp227]

Over the past 2 days there have been two major violent incidents on San Francisco's Muni bus system.

The first one involved two women getting into a fistfight over a bus seat. Other passengers broke it up, and the driver did not report it and is now being investigated and disciplined. Based on what I've been reading in the local news lately, San Francisco's Muni system is full of unreported violence and other unethical behavior. Thankfully I've never taken public transit in SF and probably never ever ever will. (I take the bus home from college daily, in San Jose, where the VTA has much better passengers.) The video of this fight is now viral, it's been mentioned in Valleywag.

The other one involved Christopher Borgzinner, an actor from SF, who was beaten...for wearing red shoes! Gang members stole his wallet and bruised Borgzinner's face. Borgzinner stars in an upcoming gang movie, La Mission.

On September 30, the San Francisco Examiner published an article about other violent crimes on the buses and how the surveillance cameras can't record them.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. This is nothing new - SF is an open air mental institution

My every venture on to Bay area public transit has witnessed some sort of anti-social behavior, hell in 1999 I witnessed a brawl that led to a stabbing over half a dozen empty beer cans. Those were worth what? 48 cents?

[Auggie]

2. You call San Francisco an open air mental institution

based on random acts of violence? That does not merit such a generalization, IMO.

It happens in all cities.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. it is a question of magnitude,

The only place I have been with more roaming lunatics than San Francisco is Vancouver.

[alp227]

4. Vancouver has more?

I went to Vancouver this summer. Good city, and I didn't see too many "roaming lunatics". Well maybe a few hobos here and there but yeah.

[mackerel]

5. I almost got jumped by a group of unruly teenage girls on

a Van Ness bus. Luckily an undercover cop was on the bus and stopped them. Even then he only asked them to get off the bus.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. DTES

Sadly my employer chooses to keep offices in this area:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Eastside

[slutticus]

12. No...I've lived in a few cities. SF is a freakin' looney bin.

[alp227]

6. That's what a freeper would say

Go on the Free Republic or SFGate.com comment boards (particularly on stories about crime or local politics) and the most recommended ones would be of those who blame Mayor Gavin Newsom or District Atty. Kamala Harris for SF crime or filthiness.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. Oh yes, the S.F. Chronicle is a well known hotbed of rightwing extremism

San Francisco has some serious problems be it vagrancy, extreme income inequality or Oakland residents commuting to SF to kill each other. Pointing them out doesn't make one a fascist or communist.

[alp227]

9. Update: More police presence on buses in response to this

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7057491

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco police are increasing patrols on Muni buses, following two recent attacks on passengers. Both attacks were caught on tape, one by Muni camera and the other by a passenger's cell phone.

[Retrograde]

10. Different lines attract different types of riders

The one I take most often, the N-Judah, is pretty dull, although there was once a guy dressed in Harry Potterish robes with a 6' staff. The 71 gets the really unusual ones, like the person who told the entire bus about the Jesuit conspiracy to do...something or the guy who railed on about Kierkegaard destroying western civilization. The 30 has homicidal drivers who like to see how many people they knock down when they accelerate, which may just be their way of coping with passengers who like to have loud conversations with their friends on the other end of the bus. Of course, this is just based on my limited observations.

How many thousand people ride Muni every day?

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. My first time seeing the infamous muni brawl between the 2 women...wow. slap fight.language barriers

http://sfist.com/2009/10/08/fight_on_sf_muni_bus_in_chinatown.php

[thatsrightimirish]

13. I actually like MUNI

I took it to school for 4 years and for the most part it was reliable and never felt threatened. It's a big city, things happen

[mackerel]

14. 9 Bruno is one of the worst. Divisidero has it's moments.

I don't care what city you live in a bus driver has a responsibility to provide safety on his/her bus. We don't take public transportation for the thrill of being abused.

[mackerel]

15. I just checked out the 2 women. I got the impression

that possibly race played an issue?