Photo diary: Muni’s golden days 07.07.10
moxpox‘s photo of the 38L-Geary is so priceless, so timeless, so _______. Caption this photo in comments, please.
Solo-driving the good ship Muni Diaries 07.07.10
Photo by juicyrai
Hi, everyone. Just a quick note here to let you know that momma Eugenia has left me (papa Jeff) in charge of you kids for the next two weeks. Yes, you can eat all the candy and dessert and sodas you want, watch whatever on TV, and go to sleep when you feel like it. But let’s make a deal, too: let’s create the best Muni Diaries we can for Eugenia to come home to.
That means you guys gotta keep sending me your Muni stories, photos, videos, songs, and whatever else you think warrants a post on Muni Diaries. And keep the comments coming. I can steer the ship, but you guys gotta paddle. Or is it the other way around?
- Send Muni stories here.
- Submit photos to our Muni Photo Flickr group here.
- Send stories, photos, missed connections, love letters, requests, and everything else to our email account here.
Let’s do this!
* Technically, I will have some editorial/curatorial help these next two weeks. Tara has volunteered to navigate these dangerous waters. Thanks, Tara!
Muni Playlist: From Joe Jackson to Flight of the Conchords 07.07.10
Photo by WarzauWynn
So here they are, the tracks you guys are listening to. We hope you enjoy checking out what your fellow Muni riders are listening to as much as we enjoy discovering and reporting it.
- JimmyD This morning: ‘Role Models,’ written and read by John Waters. Brilliant! (we couldn’t find this on YouTube, so we substituted an interview with the always-entertaining Waters. -eds.)
- smallerdemon: I tend to [listen] to podcast[s] unless there’s some specific thing I need to drown out with guitars and drums going on. SModcast, Tell’em SteveDave, Mysterious Universe, The Philosopher’s Zone, The Bugle.
- Pappu: during my morning commute, Bollywood bhangra type songs; Bon Iver; that Lady Antebellum song, “Need You Now”– being single during Pride is not fun.
- Francesca: This morning – “Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords!
- Jazee I am listening to Joe Jackson. (Perhaps betraying our age, we took the liberty of choosing “Stepping Out” as the Joe Jackson track. -eds)
- Ben: New Blitzen Trapper Album.
Enjoy, and let us know what you are listening to on Muni: muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com
Best Muni Missed Connection EVER 07.06.10
Muni rider “roe” sends this amazingly detailed description of a missed connection on the 5-Fulton. We bet she looked so creamy …
Janet’s cousin Sylvia’s best friend’s husband Bob, on repeat 07.06.10
Photo by geekstinkbreath
Andrea had a rather interesting ride on the L-Taraval last Wednesday:
As soon as we exit [West Portal] I hear this woman on her phone.
She goes on to explain that he went to the doctor for a check up, the doctor noticed his pacemaker wasn’t doing its job, then after a series of tests they realized that he never needed one in the first place.
Then Janet tells the person on the other end of the line that we are going to go into a tunnel (which is a big fat lie because there are no tunnels once the L leaves West Portal) and the call was going to cut off. She hangs up.
A few seconds later –
“Hi it’s Janet. . . . Do you know my cousin Sylvia’s best friend’s husband Bob? … Sure you do.”
She goes on to explain the pacemaker story, adding more detail than the last time she told the story. Complaining about the price of Coumadin and about how doctors only want your money, they’ll do anything for a buck,etc. Then she tells the person on the line that her stop is the next stop and she has to hang up.
(more…)
Market Street rails turn 150! 07.04.10
Image by Market Street Railway Blog
SFGate’s Carl Nolte has a story up that details the background of why putting a streetcar on Market Street was so revolutionary in 1860:
Surveyor Jasper O’Farrell had laid out Market as a grand boulevard in the 1850s, but the infant San Francisco grew up around Portsmouth Square not far from Telegraph Hill. If San Francisco had a main street it was Montgomery, where all the best businesses were located. [...]
The route of the pioneering Market Street rail line went through “wild country, the middle of nowhere,” [Emiliano] Echeverria said.
The rail line changed all that. “It set the wheels in motion, if you’ll pardon the expression,” Echeverria said.
And Market Street Railway Blog celebrates this glorious day in transit history thusly:
Eighty-four years after the Declaration of Independence was, er, declared on July 4, 1776, the first street railway on the Pacific Coast opened. It was an odd-looking railroad-type coach, powered by steam, running from Third and Market (pictured below) to 16th and Valencia. By 1867, the noisy steam engine aroused enough neighbors’ ire to be replaced by horsecars. (Guess they preferred the manure.) Cable cars took over as the predominant Market Street transit in 1883, succeeded by electric streetcars in 1906, which endure today as the F-line.
Both stories are worth a read.
Happy SF Transit Independence Day!
Weekend Photos: Happy USA Day! 07.02.10
Photo by Flickr user Joe Lindsay
Now wethinks weneeds a long weekend, one filled with nice weather, good friends, good food, fun times … oh, and fireworks. Anyone know where we can find all of the above?
SFMTA says Muni will operate on a normal schedule both Sunday and Monday. And now, the week’s Muni news:
- West Portal Muni crash proving costly for SF (SF Examiner)
- Muni Bus Crash Injures Two (SF Appeal)
- Muni plans to roll back half of new service cuts in September (City Insider); Details on which routes will be affected (SF Appeal)
- New penalties proposal targets violence on Muni (SF Examiner)
- Transit Rally’s Speakers Say Solution To Muni’s Woes Lies In Federal Funding (SF Appeal)
- Union Prez Picks Sides in Muni Reform (The Bay Citizen)
- July 6, 2010, hearing on Muni September 4 Restoration Details (SFMTA)
- Muni reform petition goes to City Hall (SF Gate)
- SFMTA issues instructions to operators in case of broken Clipper readers: Riders ride for free! (Muni Diaries)
Enjoy these photos, and we’ll see you back here Tuesday …
Photo by David Teter
Photo by Lilah Johnson
Photo by davitydave Striking resemblance to the Democratic nominee for California Lt. Governor, no?
Should You Pay When the Clipper Card Reader Is Broken? (update from MTA) 07.02.10
Photo by AgentAkit
Update (12:45 p.m.): We just heard back from SFMTA. Apparently, when the machines are broken, drivers are not supposed to make cardholders pay, regardless of whether the rider has his/her Fast Pass loaded on the card. Here’s a document SFMTA says they sent to operators notifying them of this change in procedure:
So, in Lisa’s case (see “Original post,” below), the driver was wrong to ask her to pay. Maybe that driver didn’t get the memo, literally. It’s dated June 29, which was Tuesday, the day before Lisa’s incident.
Muni rider and Clipper Card holder Lisa shares this story (excerpted):
I was trying to catch the 28 [Wednesday] morning around 6:30 a.m. at 19th Ave and Holloway and the translink readers on the bus were down. The driver tells me I have to pay cash fare when the reader is down and that’s policy. I tried to explain to her that that made no sense as I had a monthly pass and, therefore, had already paid regardless of the reader.She said no, it’s policy, that I had a translink card and not a pass. I said, I paid for a pass, your readers are always down, I ride everyday and no one has ever said this to me before. But she still said I had to pay. So, in the end, I refused to pay on principle, and the driver would not allow me to ride, despite having paid my $70 for my monthly pass. I was 20 minutes late to work. I should have just gotten on the back with the rest the fare dodgers.
We don’t see any information on the Clipper site about this situation (neither the FAQ page nor Clipper with specific transit agencies pages). And we can easily envision this situation happening with increasing frequency as more and more riders use Clipper with their Fast Pass loaded onto the card.
What do you think? How do you think this situation should be handled? Even better, has Clipper considered this situation and devised a fix for it?
We asked SFMTA and will update you as soon as we hear back.
Related: Akit has a post up today about Clipper/Fast Pass holders whose passes aren’t loading by the first of the month, and aren’t being given the 3-day “grace period.” Kinks, they abound!
A better way to transfer between Muni and BART 07.01.10
See? We eliminate two flights of stairs and save up to 5 minutes or so.
So what’s the rub, why didn’t they build the station like this in the first place?
It seems there simply isn’t enough room to have all the extra faregates and ticket machines we’d need on the station platforms. Or at least, it USED to be that way.
But now that we have Clipper, couldn’t we make do with less? All you’d have to do is exit Muni and tag on to Bart. Or in the other direction, tag off Bart and on to Muni.
Muni trains already have Clipper machines inside the train, and it’s a proof-of-payment system, so gates aren’t really needed. Bart could just have a couple faregates at the platform level. It wouldn’t have to take up too much space.
Wethinks this should be on a list of shovel-ready, high-priority stimulus jobs. You listening, Mr. Prez?
Above ossum grafik by Mr Eric Sir.
Stand Up For Your Muni Line 07.01.10
Photo by Flickr user ekai
Don’t let the picture fool you — we love the N-Judah plenty. In fact, we’ve got a whopping 51 stories about the N-Judah here on Muni Diaries. How do I know? We just added a drop-down box on the sidebar to the right over there so you can select stories by bus route. This was one of the most often-heard requests during our redesign, so here it is.
But don’t let the N, the 22, or the 49 steal the thunder from other lines. Can it really be that there are only 8 stories for the 19-Polk? What about poor 3-Jackson?
We know stories happens on Muni all the time, so if you’ve got a story, photo, or art for your line, send it over so you can show some love for your route!
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
