Riders on the 31 line are reporting that their morning bus simply doesn't show up — roughly 70% of the time in recent weeks, according to frustrated commuters. The bus tracker helpfully shows the vehicle sitting at the depot, not moving, like it's having an existential crisis. Meanwhile, the humans who depend on it are scrambling to cram onto already-packed 5R buses, which are now running standard (read: smaller) coaches. Delightful.

And it's not just the 31. One Bay Area commuter shared a morning routine that would be comedy if it weren't someone's actual life: "Today I left my house at 7:30. It took me an hour and a half to commute 2 miles." The saga involved a bus that blew past the stop, a second bus that terminated two blocks away, a full sprint to catch a third bus, and a driver who watched them running — then closed the door and pulled away. Two miles. Ninety minutes.

This isn't a weather event or a once-in-a-decade service disruption. This is just... Tuesday. And the people paying for it — both with their fares and their tax dollars — can't even get anyone on the phone to explain why. As one local put it, "There needs to be general SFMTA meetings because too many people are frustrated with the state of Muni and it's very difficult to get ahold of anyone from the agency."

That last point is the real kicker. SFMTA's operating budget is north of $1.4 billion annually. That's billion with a B. For that kind of money, you'd think riders could expect two things: buses that show up, and someone to answer when they don't.

Instead, San Franciscans get ghost buses on the tracker, overcrowded backups, and an agency that seems allergic to accountability. The SFMTA board meets publicly, sure, but meaningful engagement with the riding public — the people whose daily lives depend on this system — remains practically nonexistent.

If you want people to ditch their cars, ride transit, and buy into the city's climate goals, the bare minimum is a bus that arrives. That shouldn't be a radical ask.