SF 5th-graders ride Muni to prepare for independent travel

Minutes after climbing aboard Muni Metro’s L-Taraval, a herd of 10-year-old San Francisco schoolchildren peered into the darkness, searching for an abandoned subway stop known as a “ghost station.”

Farther along, at Forest Hill Station, they rode an elevator to the top of the oldest subway station in the West, then descended to the other side by clambering down a seemingly endless set of stairs.

“It was fun,” said Audrey Imose. “I don’t usually get to explore Muni stations and see the ghost station. I don’t usually get to ride with my friends.”

For Audrey and about 20 other fifth-graders in McKinley School’s After-School Enrichment Program, it was an afternoon of learning about the new and the old of Muni, with an eye toward their future as transit riders traveling without their parents.

For most of them, that future will arrive next fall when they enter middle school, and have to get themselves there and back on Muni. To help prepare them, Peter Albert, a recently retired Municipal Transportation Agency planner, taught a two-day after-school class on how to ride Muni.

The bulk of the class, and the funnest part, came during Metro rides together as he taught them the ins and outs of independent travel on Muni.

“It’s a passion of mine: helping city kids traveling by themselves feel safe, confident, responsible and welcome on transit,” Albert said. “It also helps assuage the anxieties of parents who are reluctant to let their kids ride alone.”

The first class started with a brief talk about what to expect, being aware of their surroundings and figuring out how to navigate the transit system. That included advice on how to get to and from the stations or stops safely and how to make transfers.

Then Albert had students draw maps showing their home, their neighborhood and their nearest Muni stops, stations and lines. Some of the students didn’t know the names of their street or their nearby stops, Albert said, but that was OK. The point, he said, was to boost the students’ awareness of Muni.

After the map exercise, the kids went for a short Muni ride from Harvey Milk Recreation Center at Duboce Park. Albert asked them to note the good and bad things they noticed on board. The class rode outbound through the Sunset Tunnel to the other side. They exited, crossed the tracks and caught the next train back. Afterward, they reported their observations.

The good things: friendly people on the train, a patient operator, good scenery, a smooth ride, and the fun of riding with fellow students. The bad: The train floor was filthy, a man at the boarding platform in the park was behaving erratically, trains were running late, and one passenger was grumbling about being on a train with a class of excited student passengers.

The highlight of the second class was a longer ride, but, first, students updated their maps, fidgeted as they listened to directions and then headed out with Albert in the lead. To pass the time during a five-minute wait at the Duboce Park stop for an inbound N-Judah train, they each jumped to try to touch the station’s identification sign. With help from some of the taller students, everyone succeeded.

When the train arrived, they crowded on board and stood, grasping posts and seat backs like veteran commuters. They exited a short while later at Van Ness Station and waited for the L.

They boarded the outbound train, as Albert reminded them to look for the abandoned “ghost station,” once known as Eureka Valley Station. Some pressed their hands and faces against the smoked-glass windows while others stood back and stared.

“There it is,” they shouted as the train rolled past the vacant platform west of Castro Station. “I see it.”

At Forest Hill Station, which Albert had taught them is the oldest subway station west of Chicago and very deep, they climbed into an elevator with room for the whole class, and rode to the station entrance far above. They crossed over to the other side and descended, most of them on a long set of wide staircases, for the ride back to Castro Station.

From there they walked about five blocks back to Duboce Park, where they reviewed the ride, and each received a fold-up Muni bag featuring a colorful transit map.

They all agreed that the ride was fun, an adjective few regular commuters use to describe their Muni adventures.

And, they said, the trips made them feel more comfortable about riding Muni without their parents.

“It was pretty cool. We got to see how we’ll get to middle school,” Lydia Melton said. “If we go to school or home, we’ll know how to do it by ourselves.”

Albert smiled as he listed to the students recap their brief Muni lessons.

“This is the next generation of Muni riders,” he said. “Like all Muni riders, they can approach this as a pain in the butt and one of the travails of the city. Or they can see it as a way to get around that doesn’t require a driver’s license and lets you see a lot of the city’s treasures.”