Updated: Happy (Belated) Muni TransLink Beta Anniversary! Your Present: A New Name!

I hate the name TransLink and am glad to hear they are changing it. But Clipper? Really?

Why not something simple and obvious like "BayLink"?

I could give a hoot what the frakking name of it is, so long as it works. Put the million to better use. this has been a day of bad transit news...first that lying scumbag James Fang gets made bart president, and now this?

Boy, I sure am glad the Bay Area has an extra million dollars to blow on branding. When I biked home the other night to the Mission from downtown, I failed to see a single homeless person, underpaid cop, or dirty street!

PhilD,

There's already a ferry service called "BayLink" that operates from Vallejo.

Are these people high? If they start using one name in one city and another name elsewhere, it's going to dilute the brand and create confusion. Do we need more confusion about transit in this region? I say spend the "extra" bucks on getting the existing system to work properly and efficiently. I have to repeatedly tap my card almost every time I board, holding up the boarding process. At rush hour, I practically get trampled trying to properly tap my card. Keep the name and make it work properly. ENOUGH!

Clipper?! A million bucks for that? How about getting the readers to be powered up reliably?

Never had that problem. Easiest thing to do is to keep the card steady and hold it there until it gives the OK (it's only about an extra 1/4 to 1/2 second). Quickly tapping it or waiving it around won't do crap.

First things first.

The MTC is a San Francisco *BAY AREA* organization, not an SF city one. These changes would be enacted in all of the counties.

That said, the problem with public transportation is not brand recognition. It's shitty service. It's not knowing what the current Golden Gate Transit schedule is because it changes so frequently. It's having to make a 2+ hour trip because timed transfers are something GGT doesn't believe in (the 101 is the worst joke ever). It's having to put up with smelly violent bums on MUNI. It's being able to outrun MUNI at a slow walking pace... uphill... in the cold.

Useful changes the MTC could make to TL:

- Implement a lowest daily price system like Oyster does with the tube (but not the buses, alas). GGT sells day passes, MUNI used to (still does?), the rest ought to consider it.

- Implement the ability to buy a monthly pass with your eCash (if this is already allowed, fix the web site).

- Implement BART parking

- Implement on demand card history reports (w/o the two+ week delay)

The MTC has plenty of other issues they could spend some cash and attention on like:'

- Encouraging interagency cooperation:
- Timed transfers between agencies
- Getting rid of the bullshit BART premium on the FastPass (especially as MUNI just cut service across the board)
- Getting the Daly City BART station on the FastPass to aid all of the SFSU students who pay through the nose for BART because MUNI is so unreliable
- Cleaning up the existing transbay terminal
- Congestion pricing on the bridges

Nobody, except the marketing folks, has a care in the world for the branding. It's a waste of money and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

BTW, Chris Daly and John Rubin are essentially the only people representing SF on the MTC board.

http://www.mtc.ca.gov/about_mtc/commphot.htm

Clipper as in clip joint and clipped coins?

How about TrannyLink?

I don't think I've ever seen someone successfully use translink on Muni.

Thanks for those step by step instructions. Do you think I'm an idiot? I know how to do it, and it is slow to respond or non-responsive. The conductor/agents just waive me through when this happens, which leads me to believe it's not just me. When implemented system-wide (and the paper passes are eliminated) it will cause massive boarding delays. I have the same problem on Muni and BART, and those BART bitches don't wait 1/4 to 1/2 second for nobody!

To answer your question. Yes, I think so.

You're getting a sack of coal for Christmas, but at least you won't freeze to death. Pity.

At $70,000 plus benefits starting salary I certainly wouldn't call the police underpaid. Massively overpaid is much more like it.

I use TransLink more or less exclusively for riding Muni and I have to agree that service has just kept getting worse. When it wasn't yet in the official testing phase the machines tended to work fairly well. Sure, it wasn't technically supported, but the readers were there and I almost never had any problems. Since they've moved to the testing phase, however, it seems like the machines aren't on at least a quarter of the time.