By The Cabin Boy

SALT LAKE CITY - A fleet of Muni buses loaned to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics is causing major disruptions at the sporting event. Athletes reportedly are missing competitions due to confusing bus schedules and frequent breakdowns, and a few have even been injured in Muni-related accidents, according to a FogWatch.com investigation.

Muni agreed to loan 50 buses from its fleet to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) to assist with transportation during the Games. A number of other Western cities also sent vehicles to Utah to help Salt Lake City cope with the crush of athletes and attendees descending on the state.

But just a few days into the Olympics, the Muni vehicles are already distinguishing themselves. A FogWatch.com survey of athletes using the buses has discovered that Olympic bus riders are encountering many of the same problems that have vexed San Francisco residents for years.

Perhaps the most common complaint among athletes has been the transit system’s inability to stick to its printed timetables. One athlete, a Bulgarian figure skater, found himself standing on a snowy Salt Lake City street corner for an hour waiting for a southbound Muni bus to take him to the Salt Lake Ice Center. By the time he arrived at the arena, he had missed his qualifying event.

"I don’t understand," said the bewildered athlete, who asked not to be identified. "Schedule say bus come every 15 minutes, but I wait 45. Even in Sofia, they make bus run on time. Why not in America?"

Others have been confused by the distinction between express and local buses, a system used in San Francisco that Muni officials replicated in Salt Lake City to speed up passenger transit times. A Swedish ski jumper told FogWatch.com that he mistakenly boarded an Ogden 9X express bus that didn’t include the K90 ski jump -- his destination -- on its route.

"The driver refused to stop, and I had to ride all the way to the end of the line, then come back on a local bus," said Per Petrossian, who finished 9th in his event that day. He blamed Muni for getting him to the event too late to adequately warm up.

More serious, however, are allegations that Muni has caused injuries -- some potentially career-threatening -- among athletes riding the buses. Athletes in particular have complained about the 14 Maroni bus, an adaptation of San Francisco’s 14 Mission line, which runs on power delivered through overhead electrical lines.

"We were packed in like sardines, and I was wearing my skates," said Fritz Maier, a German short-track skater. "The bus kept lurching back and forth like a cuckoo clock, and I was unable to keep my balance. Finally, one of the overhead lines came loose, and the bus stopped dead. I fell over and into a skeleton rider, and I lacerated my Achilles tendon. I will be lucky if I ever skate again. I am bereft."

In another tragic case, a Finnish Super G skier found herself stuck to a ski-lift chair after sitting in a puddle of some kind of viscous, adhesive material on a Muni bus seat. "It looked strange, but it was the last seat on the bus and I sat down anyway," she said. "I’m going to think twice before riding Muni again, that’s for sure."