Sunday, October 26, 2008

Where is the Special part II

I finally had an excuse to go to the SFMTA Customer Service building on Van Ness and Market.

I wanted to get to the bottom of why the word 'Special' was taken out of the 'Late Night Special' all night bus transfer ticket. I had no idea what to expect but I thought that this place, of all places would be the place that would know. Right when I walked in there sat a guard checking people in.

"How can I help you?"
"Yes, I would, um like to speak with someone about the transfers."
"Transfers?"
"Bus transfers."
"Bus ... transfers?" He said it like he had no idea what a bus transfer was. I struggled a little, then went on, "Yes, see... I am an artist and I use these (I take out 2 late nights. One with the special and the other without) in my art and see here they took the special out of 'late night special'
(He chuckled - amusingly or condescendingly - I couldn't tell) I would like to know who took out the special and why." At that moment I felt a burning sensation in my solar plexus. It occurred to me that I was talking to the wrong person. This guy had no clue what I was getting at.

The guard picked up the phone and dialed a number, "Uh yes, we have someone here who has a bus - transfer - and wants to know why the late night is missing.... yes... why, uh there is no more late night..."

No that's not it!

"Uh huh.... ok.....(to me) are you using this transfer at night?"
"Yes, but I-"
"(Back into the phone) Uh huh... huh uh huh... ok ..." He hangs up the phone, "you need to call this number (311 scratched onto a scrap paper) they will help you. Have a nice day."
"(shit) Thanks...."

I must re-think my strategy in getting to the bottom of this. To be continued...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm also completely intrigued by the disappearance of the word "special" from the transfers, and they do make late nights on Muni seem a little less, ah, special. Good luck with your sleuthing. Calling 311 actually might not be a bad way to go, for that matter...