Teen pranksters switch off San Francisco's electric buses
Destiny sez, "San Francisco is now stymied by 'bus tampering.'
Their new electric 'hybrid' buses have an on/off switch -- which, unfortunately, 'can be accessed easily through an unlocked panel on the outside of the bus.'
'When that happens, the drivers can't accelerate, they lose radio contact with dispatchers and the interior lights on the buses go out.'
Teenage pranksters then pelt the immobile buses with rocks."
Link
(Thanks, Destiny!)
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Jeez...so put a lock on the panel!
Oops -- guess that'll teach me to read the linked article before I go flying off the handle. That's just...what...they...intend...to...do...
Democrat solution (which is what they are doing): Add locks to the on/off panels. Problem solved.
Republican solution: Deficit-spend on a multi bazillion dollar contract to defense vendor with the best lobbyists and high-roller prostitutes (gay, of course) to develop a non-lethal (so they say) defense system to repel vandals trying to reach the on/off switch, that doesn't accidently zap paying people trying to board the bus (oops).
find something for the kids to do
#3: You forgot boot camps for the offenders.
Great, just when you thought SF MUNI couldn't get worse.
Pranksters is not the word I would have used.
I hope this means that the people on the bus can now legally get off and kick their asses.
Man, you guys are tough! Locks? Sheesh, I'd just shoot the bastards. If they haven't a problem damaging property now what'll they do later? An ounce of prevention (or a few grams of lead)...
"There, witnesses reported that teenagers and young adults have thrown rocks at the buses, breaking windows and denting the bodies, officials said. A couple of drivers reported being assaulted, although nobody has been seriously injured."
Let's hope the terrorists don't figure this out.
s/prankster/vandal/, please. Throwing rocks at shit, or at vehicles with alarmed and confused people in them, isn't very much in the prankster spirit.
This reminds me of the time I almost got seriously hurt because some kids slapped the emergency stop button at the bottom of a tall escalator while I was the sole rider at the top, and I fought hard to not pitch forward onto my head. Little shits scattered as soon as I looked down at them. Ha ha, such merry pranksters!
Prankster? Let's look at TFA, (as JSO did):
"There, witnesses reported that teenagers and young adults have thrown rocks at the buses, breaking windows and denting the bodies, officials said. A couple of drivers reported being assaulted, although nobody has been seriously injured."
The article never uses the word "prankster." Just turning off the bus might qualify as a prank. But turning off the bus in a bad neighborhood, breaking windows and assaulting drivers. That's no prank. Vandals, hooligans and criminal batterers, not pranksters.
Speculation: the switch is probably an emergency shutdown for the high voltage electrical system, which would explain why they can't just throw a lock on it.
Thank you #11!
Anti-social criminals, not "pranksters". It can only encourage such behavior to call it other than what it is.
I read about these switches just a couple of days ago over at this blog: http://munigrouch.blogspot.com/2008/03/hybrid-power-switch.html
Seems as though the article was published shortly after the blog, so I have a feeling that they are reporting on the same instances...unless the teenage "pranksters" read the blog and then ran out to wreak major havoc immediately thereafter.
"A plan has been mapped out by city officials to increase police patrols aboard the buses. In addition, patrol cars, when available, will escort the buses through the most troubled parts of the runs."
They don't sound like pranksters to me.
Democrat solution:
Step 1: Blame Republicans.
Step 2: Stage rally to boost public support for new buses with locking panels.
Step 3: Support group for victims of bus tampering meets on Wednesday nights at the community center.
Step 4: Support group needs fundraiser.
Step 5: Conduct research to determine how widespread problem is and what the best solution is. Use lots of focus groups.
Step 6: Allow bus companies to bid on government contract for new buses with locking panels.
Step 7: Pick most expensive solution.
Step 8: Raise gas taxes to pay for new buses and associated costs. Make sure new tax increase lasts at least twice as long as needed.
Step 9: Fend off criticism about the length of time it has taken to get new buses by blaming Republicans.
Republican Solution:
Step 1: Blame Democrats for forcing transition to hybrid buses.
Step 2: Lock the panels.
Step 3: Ensure the future security of the panels by making sure an armed officer of the law is present on every bus.
Step 4: Drive SUVs.
The solution is for San Francisco north of 280 to form its own sovereign republic under the reign of Norton I's legitimate successor and let south of 280 merge ignominiously with Daly City.
Wait, throwing rocks at vehicles is a prank? I'm about to go prank the shit out of my bosses car. I bet he'll think it's hilarious when I tell him it's a prank.
Who was thinking of this when they designed this bus??
Ah I remember the good old days when you had to put a burning tire on the road to stop and ambush somebody. Kids today just have to flip a switch..
Um perhaps someone should delete this in case the "hoodlums" read boing boing....
I seem to recall that one of the mutants has a weakness for elaborate on/off switches, perhaps this would be an opportunity for you to cash in...
Democratic Solution: Lock the damn panels.
Republican Solution: Shoot the kids. Then shoot the passengers, because they saw you shoot the kids. Ship the drivers off to Gitmo, because they saw you shoot the passengers. Then, because the buses were all made in Michigan, invade Minnesota and depose the governor, who you don't like anyway.
At #16 assumetehposition,
That is hilarious and accurate. I'm trying to think how the Dems could argue that:
--this violates my Constitutional right as an American to (blah blah blah...)
--George W. is a dictator and had these switches installed on the buses as a backdoor... (blah blah blah...)
But it's not my line of thinking, so I can't finish those thoughts...
If the switches are required to be unlocked (as some kind of emergency shutdown, as suggested above), why not put a simple indicator light near the driver that blinks when the switch is pressed? Maybe even a secondary switch next to the light so that the driver doesn't have to get out of the bus and flick the switch back on?
Shouldn't be too hard of a fix, I'm guessing.
Antinous, I suppose you are the rightful successor to Norton I?
#14:
No, the blog links to the same s.f. chronicle article.
Partyliner Solution: Make jokes about how people of the opposing party can't fix the simplest problems. Ignore logic in effort to make your point that the opposing party is wicked and inefficient. Ignore fact that there exist clever minds of both political doctrines.
I hope the zombies don't figure it out.
At #21 XOPHER,
You'd only have to shoot the passengers if they were Democrats.
Democrat Reaction to Hooligan Blasting: [Hippy crap]
Republican Reaction to Hooligan Blasting: "Those bastards threw rocks at me! Here, use my gun."
Tenn, don't be ridiculous! Everyone in [insert party here] is brilliant, and the people in [insert opposing party here] are all idiots. Anybody except straw man logic fallacy Godwin lolcats can see that!
Antinous, I suppose you are the rightful successor to Norton I?
No, I actually live indoors and can remember yesterday. Although I probably have all the fixings for the outfit somewhere in the steamer trunk.
I suppose a warning label "Danger, high voltage!" should be sufficient...
Or rewiring the system so that warning label becomes a truthful one...
"Teenage pranksters then pelt the immobile buses with rocks."
Those aren't pranksters; they are vandals, pure and simple.
Pranksters?!
Ken Kesey and his merry bunch were pranksters.
These kids are nothing more than violent hooligans.
there must be a lock-out hole for a padlock in the switch paddle (or drill one) Put a five dollar padlock on it and give the driver a key. Emergency crews have bolt cutters. Or put a quarter turn fastener on the door.
Heh heh heh.
It's fun to be a rabblerouser.
BTW, speaking of spending in the name of security and fighting "terrrrer": "Eye-rack" costs the US $12 billion a month and much, much more than that in terms of human misery.
Out.
Libertarian solution:
1) Privatize everything. Buses, roads, sidewalks, etc.
2) Let the companies deal with the problems completely on their own.
3) Save money on taxes (and on bus fairs as the companies evolve and become more efficient).
It seems that reading comprehension is low with many of you. Who says they're kids? I read "teenagers and young adults."
If the bus is a hybrid with an external switch, I bet its there for a damn good reason. Probably for easy access to emergency personnel.
So, who wants to bet these teenagers and young adults go off to lead wonderful, productive lives with families that are well cared for?
It might be time to think about a more permanent solution to crime hotspots. Perhaps we shouldn't think of children as a RIGHT instead of a PRIVILEGE, hmm?
[bring on the furious debate!]
@DCulberson
Good god almighty, I see the light! If only this wisdom had gotten to Mr. Washington in time. We might have been spared a whole decade of independent political thought!
Re: the whole "Democrat solution" vs "Republican solution"--
I do actually recall hearing an AM radio right-wing blowhard use "electric cars are silent, so it's a danger to blind people" as a valid reason why electric cars are no good for society. It wouldn't surprise me if the knee-jerk conservatives use this as another "valid" reason why we should stick with fossil fuels.
OR we could put a lock on the switch, and put a buzzer on those dangerously silent electric cars.
#36 - JSO:
"It seems that reading comprehension is low with many of you. Who says they're kids? I read 'teenagers and young adults.'"
Reading comprehension isn't low. To many of us, "teenagers and young adults" are kids.
I've seen similar types of switches on Diesel Buses here in the UK. Labled either Emergency Engine Stop or Emergency Fuel Cutoff. There's been a number of times (Mostly whilst cycling) I've been tempted to open the little door and flip the switch.
It's the Big red Button syndrome. I've resisted so far.
Cory, you do realize this is your fault, right?
Little Brother is watching . . .
I heard the city also commissioned a fleet of submarines with bicycles piloted by fish on screen doors. Um, yeah.
#39 @SVENSKI
Therein lies the problem, you don't differentiate between adults and kids. Teenagers and young adults are expected to make poor decisions and often do, but they are also expected to know right from wrong. Children ("kids") should be given a modicum of leniency due to the fact that they haven't had the experience necessary to train themselves to society's perception of right and wrong.
This story isn't about children, however.
Interestingly, this phenomenon appears to be localized entirely within a single San Francisco neighborhood. I am completely unable to discern a reason for why this might be the case.
This is exactly why i ONLY ride on Unicorns!
Interestingly, this phenomenon appears to be localized entirely within a single San Francisco neighborhood. I am completely unable to discern a reason for why this might be the case.
Hunter's Point is an African-American ghetto in the process of gentrification. Are you being disingenuous?
The part of the brain that provides impulse control and judgement of consequences develops last, late in adolescence. A teenager (say, 15) has a lot of intellectual characteristics in common with an adult, and may well have the ability to know right from wrong, but they have the same impulse control they had at 10. This is part of what makes trying 15-year-olds as adults such a grotesque travesty of justice.
That said, the kids (and 'kids' != 'children', kids) are not "pranksters." They are thugs (or thuglings, as we used to call the younger ones) and they are committing vandalism and assault (or at least reckless endangerment). While I certainly don't believe it would be right to shoot them where they stand, some passenger may panic at some point and do just that.
And as for "no one has been seriously injured," I have two things to say about that: 1) Please append 'yet' and recognize that these things tend to escalate as the kids keep getting away with it and as the drivers get angrier and angrier. 2) The use of the word 'seriously' in there makes me think someone was probably frightened out of his/her wits; packs of teenagers are very dangerous, because they don't want to back down in front of each other, and as noted above they lack impulse control.
There are people who sign up for being afraid of coming to harm by deliberate violence as part of their jobs: police, members of the armed services. Bus drivers should not have to be terrified at work.
Antinous, I didn't know that about Hunter's Point. Are the riders of the buses the gentrifiers of the neighborhood? If so, while I certainly wouldn't say it excuses the behavior described, it does make it more understandable.
Ordinarily people who ride buses are not the privileged, and while children and teenagers might pelt them with snowballs, rocks are another matter. It would answer a question in my mind, which is "Why do these young people WANT to inconvenience the riders of those buses?"
Im sorry, I've lost sight of the scale here; how many have been killed or maimed so far?
The Alien Solution
1. Eliminate the hominid infestation on planet 3 sector 23b. They fouled their cage. The grad student in charge says the experiment is a failure and the department is low on funds anyway.
2. Enslave any survivors, unless they are tasty. Reports indicate they taste like pig.
re: Antinous #45 says it all well enough.
I would add the following.
1. "prankster" doesn't accurately describe the situation.
2. Interesting to see the gap between a technology and the social conditions its deployed in. For one reason or other, I somehow don't think Mississauga, Ontario has the same conditions as San Francisco, or Hunter's Point in particular.
Potbellied or razorback?
Are the riders of the buses the gentrifiers of the neighborhood?
Does Neiman-Marcus get looted when there's a riot? I assume that it's victim-on-victim crime, so to speak. Although, in San Francisco, taking the bus is not an indicator of low income in the way that it is in some other cities. If you work downtown, you probably take public transportation. Gentrification and rock throwing have enjoyed a centuries-long partnership.
re: Xopher #47.
To save space in comment, I'll just say at least these couple of bus lines during commuting hours give a unique perspective on a cross-section of San Francisco society: the 9 San Bruno, & the 22 Fillmore. It's not the "underprivileged" alone, though the train vs. bus status does hold up.
You rhetorically ask: "Why do these young people WANT to inconvenience the riders of those buses?" - I'm 99% sure that doesn't even enter their minds. The bus can become as much an authority symbol as any other.
IME though, there's a big difference in who litters and who destroys the buses - and they don't conform to stereotypes.
Wire the panel handle to the electrical system!
I had to comment but it looks like others have already reflected my sentiments - turning off the buss might be considered a prank but throwing rocks and assaulting drivers makes calling these kids pranksters insulting to real pranksters.
And what's with all the dems vs repubs jokes? I don't think there are any Republicans in San Francisco anyway. At least, none that would admit it in public.
Yeah, seconding (or thirding, fourthing?) the sentiment that these are not pranks. Sounds like something out of Escape from New York. Shutting down a bus line, leaving the bus driver out of contact (though I'm sure they have cell phones) and then attacking them? Way beyond pranks.
A prank is more of a humorous inconvenience. The Improv Everywhere folks might cause a ruckus freezing in place or flooding Best Buy with blue-shirts but it's all in good fun and no harm, no foul. If I was on that bus I'd be sincerely freaked out.
But there would seem to be a rather simple solution, perhaps a locking cap on the power-switch? Or simply weld the switch closed and use an alternate switch, I'm sure there's more than one way to turn the bus on.
That sounds dirty.
Once again Cory misuses a simple word like "prankster." I would hate to live in his mixed-up universe. That gadfly is a stain on this blog.
As a republican (in SF if you'll believe it) my solution is twofold:
Take this: http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/XREP.aspx
and Mix it with this:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m101-crows.htm
I think after the first 5 or so of the little buggers gets tasered they'll learn.
Yes, I realize that you'll need a backup power source for the turret. I'm thinking a small (loud, polluting) diesel generator would do the trick.
RE: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m101-crows.htm
"The improved stable platform will support most crew-served weapons and contains a sensor suite and fire control software that allows on-the-move target acquisition and first-burst target engagement. The nearly $200,000 system is designed to replace the turret gunner on Humvees to improve combat effectiveness."
I'm with you in spirit, but it's not likely that the government is prepared to shoulder the PR risk that would accompany an upgrade that costly. However, I do think it could definitely be marketed as 'the perfect stocking-stuffer for that special Hummer owner in your life.'
I want in on the fun!
Green party solution: Replace buses with horse drawn carriages.
Constitution party solution: Pray to God that the pranksters stop.
Libertarian party solution: Cancel all bus service, but make sure to do it in the way that offends the most people.
Prohibition party solution: Illegalize switches.
Green party solution: Replace buses with horse drawn carriages.
Horse poo = methane. Fail.
Bicycles then?
Bicycles then?
There are so many politicized bicyclists in SF, they could form their own party and take over city government. Assuming that the Greens didn't put up a candidate who would split the anti-hydrocarbon vote and throw the election to the Republicans.
My Republican friend in the city often refers to the political contests there as battle between the really far communist left and the even further green left.
Bicycles then?
I've only known one person who tried to ride a bicycle through Hunter's Point. He emerged with a broken eye socket and no bicycle.
I also once experienced a rock fight *inside* a moving SF Muni bus, with kids throwing rocks and other objects both at fellow passengers and at people on the street. Holy shit. So scary.
For years there have been occasional incidents of kids getting SHOT riding buses through the wrong gang territory on the way home from school. Only NOW are they proposing that cops ride the buses? My theory: it's only because the new buses are expensive enough to warrant protection. Not because they care about riders.
San Francisco solution: ignore rampant crime in the southern half of the city. Fail to solve most murders, create jobs, or build livable housing for the poor. Wait until some white people over by the park are late for work because kids in Hunter's point shut off the buses, then, ZOMFG NATIONAL NEWS!!
Vandal solution: Throwing rocks at moving buses is fun, too.
It seems obvious, but perhaps it only happens because they know that they can get away with it.
If kids grow up in an environment where they aren't taught respect both for other people and for public property (at least to the extent where they aren't stranding & vandalizing buses), then the only thing that's going to motivate them is fear.
So, create a situation where they can be reasonably certain that they'll be caught (and that it will be a huge hassle for them), and they'll cut it out.
This is why they presumably aren't over at the police station throwing rocks.
That is only part of it Inox. The other part is that they live in an environment where they have no future, no jobs, no education, no hope. We have known for decades how and why street gangs form. We just aren't willing to spend the money needed.
The grand lie of today is that we are all solitary actors who can chose any path we desire through sheer force of will. Therefore anyone who is poor or disadvantaged is there either by choice or through moral failure. It is, as I said, a lie.
Well, there are two issues here.
The first is an underlying problem with poverty and poor education. Solving that one is, as you put it, a question of society deciding to spend money in the right places.
The other (bus vandalism) is merely a symptom, but can be dealt with as I described. It's important that vandalism and assault on that scale stops in the short term, regardless.
However, realistically, any plan to clean up the area is going to need a little from both columns, as nothing changes overnight.
Oh I agree. They've made a choice and it's the wrong one, no doubt about that. People do need to have direct immediate consequences when they do crap like this.
Why are the kids attacking public transport? They have their own cars and don't need to use these buses? They want the city to stop sending these buses to their home areas? How are they going to get around when no buses go there?