Dress Your Clipper Card Up Like a Fast Pass 01.18.11
As convenient as they may be, the Clipper Card hasn’t won any beauty contests.
Each Clipper Card Holder also features a vintage Muni map, showing various San Francisco ‘hoods and old Muni lines alongside those we know and love. Check ‘em out:
These Clipper Card holders are lovingly crafted by Heather L. of Heathered and designed by Suzanne Lagasa.
Get them at the Muni Diaries store today!
Health Conversations on Muni 01.18.11
Photo by halonfury
Most of my family works in medicine, and I did my college studies on minority access to standard health care, so needless to say, this caught my attention. And the attention of everyone around her. She proceeded to (loudly) tell her friend on the phone that she picked up latent TB (most likely) during a trip to Peru where she stayed an extra two weeks to party and hook up with Latin guys nearly a year ago. Then she declares this “is totally unfair” because she already caught something from her exploits down there (thankfully she didn’t disclose what exactly she picked up) and hadn’t she suffered enough!
At this point, people began moving away from her because clearly she is a harbinger of bacterial plague. She tells her friend all about the meds she has to take for the next 6 months and how she cannot drink at all according to her doctor. However, she proudly exclaims that she will be ignoring her Doc to go to so-and-so’s rager next week and she wants to get “fucked up!” Which, may I remind you is how she ended up at UCSF to begin with! She concludes that the Doc is just trying to scare her and she should’t have to change anything. Then, two blocks away from my stop, she gets into a coughing fit that doesn’t let up until we reach the light at 19th and Judah, which saw a very quick, mass exodus of people getting off or switching to the front train.
I exited the train and went home and showered, scrubbing extra hard. But now, every time I get on the N-Judah, I always think of the young lady and hope that she hasn’t contracted drug-induced hepatitis from drinking while on her anti-TB regime. Or that she hasn’t coughed on a bus that day.
Get your hand sanitizer ready. Muni Diaries want your stories!
Art Therapy, Muni Edition 01.17.11
On a wild Flickr hunt, we came across this painting of the 19-Polk by Andy Stattmiller, an illustrator in the Mission, who has rendered characters on the bus lovingly. Note the sassy fishnet stockings about to step off the back door.
Andy also has a great painting of a packed 49-Van Ness and its stops on his website. Check it out.
Best Place to Practice Meditation in SF is…Muni? 01.17.11
Photo by Ben Morrison, taken on Valencia Street
…those of us who meditate also know how hard it can be carrying that divine relaxation over into the rest of our lives…One super place to practice is on Muni, either while you’re waiting for that bus that feels like it will never come, or when you’re stuck in the tunnel for the umpteenth time. Since riding Muni can be such a stress-inducer, why not turn the situation around and make our city’s fine transportation system your stress-reducer?
Hmmm. Really? The writer sensibly suggests that you first make sure there are no lurkers or drunken passengers around you, then, “surround yourself in a bubble of divine white light, for protection…take a deep breath and let your tension sink into Mother Earth.”
I don’t know about that take a deep breath part, as I suspect that there are many smells you might not want to take in on the bus. Lastly, the writer suggests repeating some favorite mantras inside our heads. For this, I have many ideas:
- Everything is peaceful, no one is fighting about opening the window for some air. No one at all.
- The nice young ladies throwing ham at each other on the bus are celebrating the bounty of the season. Namaste.
- That is not a bull frog at my feet. There are no bull frogs on the bus.
Want more tips and details for meditating on Muni? Read the rest of the Examiner story.
N-Judah Runs Away to the South Bay 01.16.11
Jeremy A. spotted this N-Judah going to the South Bay on the 280. Thanks, Jeremy, for snapping the photo while driving 85 miles per hour. Hey N-Judah, San Francisco is the other way.
Drop your photos of Muni in any habitat in our Muni Photos Flickr pool.
Weekend Photos: Night Train 01.14.11
Photo by Flickr user blarfiejandro
Oh, what am I talking about — Muni is a riotous ride no matter what, and we’ve got some hairy evidence to prove it.
In Muni news this week:
- Gov. Jerry Brown May Rescue Muni (NBC Bay Area)
- Public Transit Funding Slightly Better in Jerry Brown’s Proposed Budget (Streetsblog SF)
- N-Judah Transit Bulb Proposal To Go Before SFMTA Board Next Week (Streetsblog SF)
- Muni Quietly Confirms Delay of Youth & Senior Passes to Clipper (Akit’s Complaint Dept.)
- Phone robberies continue on Muni (SFWeekly/SFist)
- Muni chief Nat Ford: I’m not going anywhere (SFGate)
On Muni Time Capsule this week, we bring you a 1968 photo of a “Muni experimental bus.” Turns out it’s not so mysterious after all, but still, we have some questions that maybe you or a transit buff you know can help answer.
Remember, Monday is MLK day but Muni will operate on its regular weekday schedule. Enjoy these photos and your sunny weekend!
Photo by Jesse Johnson
Photo by Markus Spiering
Photo by Flickr user reidspice
Photo by Flickr user pburnham
Left Behind at the Muni Hair Show 01.14.11
Photo by Brenden Delzer
Well, we could hardly beweave our eyes when we saw Brenden’s picture. I watched Chris Rock’s Good Hair last year so I know these hair units can be expensive. Somebody needs to hit up Kim “Don’t Be Tardy for the Party” Zolciak for some advice. Word is that the Atlanta Housewife knows how to keep her weave on her head.
Transit Love in Three Parts 01.13.11
We found this small lovely vignette of affection in our Muni Photos Flickr Pool. All together now…AWWW. (big photos below)
What did you see on the bus today? We want to know!
Photos by David Lytle
Compliments on the F 01.13.11
Photo by Troy Holden
This conversation took place between a chatty transient and a business woman on the F line. The transient complimented the business woman on her leopard print shoes and asked if they were ‘real cat fur’. She said thank you and opened a magazine to avoid further conversation. But this did not deter him.
He then asked if she had breakfast and pulled out a slice of baloney cold-cuts to share with her. She politely declined. A few minutes of uneasy silence and some passenger chuckles went by before the guy opened his mouth again. He complimented the woman on her nice diamond ring. Normal compliment for a second. Then he followed up, “ You stole that, right?”
Fun times.
Saw something funny on your commute today? Share it here with your fellow riders.
Swishy River on the 49 01.12.11
Not every liquid on Muni is urine, but I always jump straight to that conclusion every time I see something like this on the bus. I’d argue that most of the time, it’s not urine, but I still think it is, anyway.
About the pic, though. I thought it was probably urine, especially given its proximity to the back corner of the bus. Then, I decided it wasn’t because I couldn’t smell it. Then, I smelled it and it was absolutely urine. Couldn’t be anything else.
But, the worst part, by far, was how it kept swishing back and forth (back and forth) as the bus started and stopped. It wasn’t a tidal wave or anything, but it definitely had momentum. So not only was this a urine trail, it was a moving urine trail. Boo.
I hopped off soon after my if/then/therefore thought process came to a close, but not before snapping this glorious photo. My foot’s there for scale.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
