Dear Seemingly Nice Man Sitting by Me 02.09.09
Thank you for sneezing on my knees and not apologizing. I know you tried to hold in those two consecutive violent sneezes by covering your mouth with cupped hands. But it didn’t work. I still felt your saliva spray my knee. It’s a cold, wet sensation that I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy.
Next time, please apologize. Muni Manners agrees that you’re halfway there by attempting to cover your sneeze, but clearly I was an innocent victim, a standby close enough to feel the results of your wet outburst.
Apologizing might have felt awkward, but I’d have mustered forgiveness and perhaps even a smile, a kind “bless you” in return. Remember the Golden Rule?
F stands for Free, but it does not stand for Fun 02.07.09
Well, since this is my first time out at night riding the F down Market Street, I never knew streetcars heading back to the barn, particularly a Milan Car, would offer “courtesy rides” to Castro. Well, that’s what happened tonight, around 8-ish.
I was waiting for an F to Civic Center to continue my shooting of the “Wicked-themed” city buildings. As the F pulled up, it first said “NO PASSENGERS”. Then, the door opened, and the lady said:
COURTESY RIDE! STEP UP! STEP UP!
There were a couple of passengers on the car, but what I found to be amusing was that there was another Muni operator and a supervisor on the train. So, anyway, the car pulled away from the stop, about 10 people, including the personnel in the car, they were probably offered free rides because they ran out of transfers.
But, unfortunately, this was not the case before. When I was riding the F before on the Embarcadero, it was pretty full, as usual, because it was a Friday night. After I got off and snapped some pics, I did happen to see an F-car run a red light at the pedestrian crosswalk at the Ferry Building. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture because my camera turned off before I could even get a picture of it!
Transit News Digest 2.6.09 (Update) 02.06.09
Update: More bad news for BART, as a train apparently struck an object on the tracks in the Transbay Tube and had to be evacuated. BART is claiming no injuries, but we’ll wait for this one to shake out a little.
Original post: SFGate brings us an update on the BART train collision from earier in the week. Apparently, human error was more than just partially to blame. And the Examiner’s John Upton brings us news of that other BART tragedy of late, as some of Oscar Grant’s fellow passengers are filing a $1.5 million claim against the agency.
BeyondChron informs us of the star-studded (or is it dudded?) National Biodiesel Board Conference, taking place in the city this week at Moscone. This is perhaps only marginally transit-related, as BC points out that S.F. is home to one of the largest fleets of public biodiesel vehicles, including many of Muni’s coaches.
TPM’s Elana Schor looks into competing schemes to bring real stimulus to public-transit projects nationwide.
Got more transit news? Muni stories of your own? As always, let us know!
To line up or not to line up? 02.06.09
Submitted by Muni/BART rider CAK
I was at a dinner party with a group of new acquaintances when the subject of BART infuriations came up. A gentleman who commutes from Oakland to San Francisco said he hates it most when people cut the line (or wait on the side of the line in order to cut later) that accumulates on the platforms waiting for a BART train. I replied that I refuse to wait in the lines, and actually disdain those who do wait in line. So, Muni Diaries friends, what say you?
His argument is that it makes it an orderly process and easier for seats and aisles to fill in and avoids cramming at the door by people who otherwise can’t be bothered to be orderly. My argument is that lines that start on opposite sides of the platform come together in the middle and the entire platform’s length becomes completely unnavigable for those with disabilities who might need to get from one end to another. I see this every day and I hate having to zigzag through and between people who mindlessly stand in line (and yes, people who try to “orderly” easily become mindless). There needs to be a clear path for people with disabilities and so I say nay to line-standing.
Fracas on the F train on a Saturday Afternoon 02.05.09
This is a story about a scary altercation between two huge strong men on the F train — yes that scenic line, ideal for tourists, lovers and leisure seekers.
Dave and I hopped on the F train on Market and 5th at about 4 pm this last Saturday and were immediately enveloped by the smell of urine. Seat checks seemed to indicate everything was dry and we counted ourselves lucky assuming that was the worst of it. Then this very tall, angry and crazy homeless man walked up from the back of the bus straight to this small young woman sitting on one of the single seats and grunted for her to move. She did so immediately, going straight to the seat facing the driver. She was probably about 4 feet tall, Asian-American, 15 years old or so, listening to her iPod quietly, nice as can be. But then Crazy man proceeded to stare at her and yell out that she should move to the back of the bus, among other crazy and angry remarks, leading up to just calling her b***** several times, in a loud and angry manner. No one did a thing. The middle-aged tourist couple sitting in front of us continued to consult their maps. And so the girl did all she could do, and rang the bell, and got off at the next stop. How the bus driver didn’t seem to notice was dumbfounding.
But that’s when things got really ugly. Crazy man must have been looking around for other people to pick on, when I heard the big guy behind me say, “What are you looking at, ugly?” This started a booming shouting match, which could have been amusing if we were not sitting next to the center of the hullabaloo. But it went something like this:
“You call me ugly?”
“Yes you dumb dumb stop looking at me.”
“Maddafakka!” (note Crazy man had a very thick Caribbean accent.)
“Stop looking at me or I’ll straighten you out you scum bag.”
“Why you call me Maddafakka?” (Demented point #1)
“Turn around you nasty. Mind your own business.”
“Why are you picking on me.” (Demented point #2)
“You turn around and stop causing trouble.”
Don’t be this guy. Ever. 02.04.09
It’s really too bad that BART nixed its whole “Who’s the biggest asshole on BART” contest, or whatever it was, because this guy could be a contender.
He was on a super-crowded SFO Airport-bound train, not only hogging both halves of the disabled seat but pretending to be asleep so nobody could oust him. How do I know he was pretending? He did finally relinquish half the seat when a woman asked him to, and she didn’t have to wake him up to get the job done.
Seriously, people. If you sit down in one of these seats, and you are not disabled, elderly, pregnant, etc., it is not yours to keep. It’s your responsibility to keep an eye out for the folks who DO need these seats, and to make sure you give it up if someone needier boards the train. In fact, it’s against the law NOT to.
Looks like I’m not the only one peeved about this.
– Beth W.
Transit-News Digest 2.3.09 02.03.09
Bad news on BART tonight, as two trains collide beneath downtown Oakland. Reports of minor injuries and 15-minute delays systemwide.
The agency today announces that a third-party vendor will provide wifi on its entire system, a welcome addition. Now, if wifi weren’t such an iPhone-battery-killer. And in other press-release news, the agency announces ways in which it aims to deal with budget cuts.
Meanwhile, KPIX reports on the latest from the Oscar Grant hearings, in which a BART cop’s lawyer claims his client was provoked shortly before another officer shot and killed Grant.
Greg from N-Judah Chronicles does his civic duty by announcing an open invitation from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano to drop by and discuss budget matters at Ammiano’s downtown SF office.
On the stimulus front, now that the bill is in the more-esteemed chamber of Congress, surely it’s about to become more intelligent where mass transit is concerned, right? Wrong.
Ahead of today’s vote on an amendment prescribing transit-infrastructure spending in the bill, TPM’s Elana Schor analyzes what the bill would and wouldn’t do. Shortly after the amendment’s defeat, Schor comes back with a few nay-saying senators‘ forked-tongue responses, including a Democrat who voted “No.”
And finally, because we need a little humor as it appears that No We Can’t, we thought we’d throw this gem from Jason Linkins at Huffington Post. Apparently, our war-criminal ex-secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, had a little trouble boarding a bus in Washington, D.C. Join the crowd, Rummy.
Good Job Muni; You Pissed Off the Tourists 02.03.09
My cousin and aunt were recently in town. Since the 30-Stockton passed in front of their hotel in North Beach, they decided to do the local thing and give SF’s public transportation a try. Bad idea.
Around 3 p.m. they hopped a packed bus, mostly of school children and the elderly. The driver was going exceptionally fast, flying by all the other vehicles. He even ran two stop signs. My cousin, being the super aggressive whistleblower that she is, stealthily located Muni’s 3-1-1 number, and dialed in to report the dangerous driver. She got through, and the operator assured her that the driver would be reported.
When I met up with Nicki and Aunt Sue later that evening, they filled me in about their experience, radiating Muni spite. As far as Muni stories go, I haven’t heard of an on-scene complaint call. I always use Muni’s written comment form because it never seems that urgent. Plus, I like having record of the report. Are dialed-in complaints taken seriously? And what happened to the driver? Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing now. I scoured Muni’s site and couldn’t find anything on the aftermath of such events.
These sort of poor Muni experiences always leave me with more questions than answers. Hey Muni, ever thought of creating a frequently asked questions page? It might help with customer service and keep the questions to a minimum.
In the meantime, my relatives can sleep peacefully knowing that they live thousands of miles away from Muni.
Coming 2.18.09: The First-Ever Muni Diaries Pub Crawl! 02.02.09
You’ve heard the rumors. You’ve felt the chatter. You’ve smelled the … oh, never mind.
We’re pleased to announce the first Muni Diaries Pub Crawl, set to take place Wednesday, February 18. Whether you’ve been following this blog, our Twitter feed, or best of all, submitting stories, come join us for some beer and cocktails and meet fellow reader-riders!
We’ve carefully crafted a public-transportation-friendly route: We’ll start things off at our official supporter, Lucky 13 (Market and 15th Street), then head over to Dalva on 16th Street near Guerrero. From there, we’ll close the night out at Doc’s Clock on Mission (near 22nd Street). Getting home, well, that’s your problem. And Muni’s.
What I’m Seeing’s ‘Muni Meltdown’ 02.02.09
Had to link rec this one. Apparently Plug1 at WhatI’mSeeing.com kinda sorta forgot how, like, Muni Diaries is the one-stop shop for all things Muni, and went and, you know, posted this about a run-in with an ornery Muni employee today on their own, ahem, awesome website.
All’s forgiven, Plug1.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
