Dear MTA, You Suck.

I was going to spend today's entire post ranting about the horrific service from the "new and improved J Church/T Third to Caltrain" lines, but the San Francisco Chronicle has beaten me to the punch.

But, hey... it's me. So I'll do it anyway.

I left my office at 4:55. I had planned on taking 5 minutes to get the station, a 10 minute wait for my LRV (MUNI says a maximum 8 minute wait, but they lie), and a 15 minute ride to Caltrain. I'd make it to my train with over 5 minutes to spare.

So, promptly 5 minutes after I left my office, I was at the Montgomery St. Station, standing on the platform... with 20 other people who already waiting.

After 10 minutes, a two-car M rolled up and parked. And I mean PARKED. Doors open, not moving. About 2 minutes later, a two-car N rolled in behind the M and let its passengers out. 1 minute later, an L was blocked in behind both of them.

3 minutes later, the 2-car M closed its doors and scuttled out of the station. One minute after that, the N bolted from the station, leaving the L to slowly roll up.
All the while, the poor computerized voice was repeating herself, over and over, like some bizzare scene from Max Headroom or Airplane:
"Approaching, Inbound, 2-car, Embarcadero. Followed by, Embarcadero in 2 minutes. Embarcadero in 3 minutes. I am sick of this, Embarcadero, crap. Inbound trains, are, completely hosed."
At one point, I distinctly heard:
"Approaching, Inbound, 2-car Embarcadero. Followed by... In two minutes. ...In four minutes."

Then, we finally heard the voice announce a ONE car J in 4 minutes. Of course, the NextMuni led system didn't show any J lines in the loop for the next 11 minutes.

And then, after 30 minutes of waiting... a single... solitary... J Church train rolled up. And the 150 of us at the Montgomery St. Station tried to jam into it.

Most of us made it, some of us didn't. Then, at the Embarcadero stop, more people tried to cram in. A few made it. Most didn't.

The train had to make elongated stops at each station as locals tried to scramble out of the thing.

Fifty-two minutes after I left my office, I was at Caltrain. Luckily, I was able to catch the 5:56 Southbound. If I had WALKED all the way from my office to Caltrain, I'd've gotten there quicker.

So, would someone at MTA like to explain to me how a 30 minute wait for a ONE CAR J Church train is BETTER than a 15 minute wait for a 2-car N Judah?

Cuz, I'm all ears.