Muni Maintenance Foreman Suspended
Harvey Nehgila
Anastasia Hendrix
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Sept. 29, 1998
______________________________________
Suspension follows news his buses flunked CHP safety checks
The man in charge of supervising the fleet of Muni buses at the
Kirkland yard was suspended Friday - the same day news leaked out that
the buses had failed two consecutive safety inspections by the
California Highway Patrol.
Superintendent Robert Lim was placed on administrative leave until
Tuesday to "regroup his thoughts . . . so he doesn't break down on
us," said Muni Chief Operating Officer David Stumpo.
Lim, who has overseen the maintenance of the 147 buses at the Pier 39
yard for the past three years, is expected to have a meeting with his
Muni superiors this week to talk about corrective actions and his
plans for keeping the fleet in shape, Stumpo said.
The fleet failed to pass a random test of 20 of its buses during two
separate CHP inspections held over several days in February, March,
June and July. Combined, Muni's three bus yards have failed six other
CHP inspections conducted since 1996, Stumpo said. A third CHP
inspection at the Kirkland yard is scheduled in November.
Brake safety woes
Many of the recently reported safety violations involved brake
adjustment and air leaks in the brake system. Other problems ranged
from inoperative door safety alarms that automatically re-open the
doors if passengers are not finished exiting, to flat or worn tires.
It also found that some drivers were working too many hours and that
Muni was not routinely pulling records on their drivers from the
Department of Motor Vehicles to make sure that no off-hour moving
violations had been reported.
Though the CHP reported the failed inspections to Muni managers in
July, Lim's suspension did not become effective until the news was
made public, and only after Mayor Brown, traveling in China on a trade
mission, voiced his anger over not being informed of the problems
earlier.
But Stumpo said the suspension would have "most likely" occurred
Friday anyway, despite the sudden swell of high-profile coverage in
newspapers, radio and television reports.
"Reviews were already in place, we had held internal meetings, we were
making some adjustment with our own quality assurance team," he said.
"Team approach'
In the meantime, he said, staff mechanics also have been "blanketing
the facility" - carefully inspecting each bus in the fleet to make
sure that any problems are documented and fixed as soon as possible.
"We've moved some people over there to help out so we have a team
approach and to get things on target and in place," Stumpo said.
Stumpo also said there was no further disciplinary action planned
against Lim at this time, and explained that his temporary removal was
simply to give him a chance to settle down amid the flurry of activity
and influx of people descending on the shop.
Stumpo said Lim has worked for Muni about 12 years and had worked at
the Woods bus yard before he was transferred to Kirkland.
An employee who answered the phone at the Kirkland yard on Monday
afternoon said he knew that Lim was not at work, but had not heard
anything about him being placed on leave.
(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner Page A 16
Dean_Ruggles
If the buses at Kirkland that were identified as problems were all,
say, 18 years old, while the average replacement age for buses in the
industry is 10 years, then I think the solution to the problem lies
elsewhere.
Maybe the guy's getting the blame for an increasingly less possible
task.
Dean
Harvey Nehgila
>I'm curious how old San Francisco's bus fleet is.
Different ages for different types, but the 40ft Flyers (the bulk of Kirkland's
fleet) are vintage 1986, give or take a year or so.
>If the buses at Kirkland that were identified as problems were all, say,
>18 years old, while the average replacement age for buses in the industry
>is 10 years, then I think the solution to the problem lies elsewhere.
Obviously the root cause is the failure of the city to implement a firm
replacement cycle based on 10, or even 12 or 14, years of use. And when
"I'll fix it in 100 days" Willie took over, he exacerbated the situation by
taking the taxpayer's sweet time getting any new purchase orders in the
pipeline, which means another 2 years before any new buses show up.
>Maybe the guy's getting the blame for an increasingly less possible task.
He's being scapegoated, sure. Muni's Kirkland yard is way too small and
the repair facilities way too limited to properly do the job, which is why it's
soon to be relocated to a larger facility in the Bayview. Meantime, they
play this little charade to give the appearance of "doing something". The
foreman gets put on (paid) leave for a few days, then reassigned to a
do-nothing job out of sight... meantime they reassign *two* other guys
from the Woods facility to take over the Kirkland job which means that
whatever they were previously doing will have to be filled by employees
on overtime.
So, once again, the brilliant taxpayers of San Francisco are paying more
for less, but as long as there is no impolite language involved, I'm sure
they're just pleased as punch to do so.
Jim Holland
The 8800 series of coaches was numbered for the year ordered/delivered; there were several series of
buses so numbered. The 4500 series coaches might be 15 years old.
Wasn't there news recently about Muni ordering new diesels in addition to new trolley coaches, the
latter being delayed until the year 2000 from the latest word.
Jim
Harvey Nehgila
>Wasn't there news recently about Muni ordering new diesels
>in addition to new trolley coaches, the latter being delayed
>until the year 2000 from the latest word.
It'll be 2000 before they see any new diesel artics as well, even though
the bulk of the fleet is vintage 1984. There was a posting here a while
back that they might get some 40' diesels from an order cancelled by
another agency, but I haven't seen that officially confirmed. If true,
they might get those sometime in 1999, but other than that it'll be 2000
before they see any new motor coaches at all.
David McLoughlin
OK but what about the new trolleybuses?
We know Muni has an order for a couple of hundred 40-foot Skoda
trolleybuses but there was also an earlier order for new artic
trolleybuses. Nobody answered the questions posted here about who was
building the artic trolleybuses, or how many were being built, or when
they will enter service.
Can you help with that, Harvey?
Thanks.
David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand
Vidi, vici, veni . – Bill Clinton.
Jim Holland
Artic trolleybuses have been in service in San Francisco for about five(?) years; 9000 series I
believe. Don't know how many; think they are "NEW" Flyer. I spoke with electrical engineers or
representatives of Flyer when the demos arrived and although solid state, they have 15 points of power like the
air operated cam 40' electric Flyers now holding down the bulk of service so they would feel the same under
foot for the operator. Didn't know Muni considered the operator/driver that much; sounds like patronizing to
me!
They had the opportunity for infinitely variable ultra smooth acceleration with solid state, but they
made it 15 points. The operator/drivers in Edmonton liked the solid state GM trolleys much better than the
Flyers FOR THAT VERY REASON - their solid state acceleration is very smooth.
What is the situation on trolley coaches in Edmonton? Heard a rumor that they might disband.
Jim
Jim Holland
Artic trolleybuses have been in service in San Francisco for about five(?) years; 9000 series I
believe. Don't know how many; think they are "NEW" Flyer. I spoke with electrical engineers or
representatives of Flyer when the demos arrived and although solid state, they have 15 points of power like the
air operated cam 40' electric Flyers now holding down the bulk of service so they would feel the same under
foot for the operator. Didn't know Muni considered the operator/driver that much; sounds like patronizing to
me!
KH
>the bulk of the fleet is vintage 1984. There was a posting here a while
>back that they might get some 40' diesels from an order cancelled by
>another agency, but I haven't seen that officially confirmed. If true,
>they might get those sometime in 1999, but other than that it'll be 2000
>before they see any new motor coaches at all.
Why is MUNI having such troubles?? Up here in Seattle our average coach age
is 12 years. You guys are acting like 10 or 11 years is so old that they
can't be counted on. Metro's 1986 will be counted on for at least another 4
years of service. Metro is operating 70 1978 Artics (by MAN), 200 1982 artics
(by MAN) These will be replaced by next year. My point is that with
good maintenance some of these coaches can last much longer than the average
12 years. Seattle's neighbor to the south, Pierce Transit is operating 15
1973 GMC fishbowls. I guess we have much better maintenace than MUNI.
Keegan Hartman
tax...@aa.net