Photo Diary: Muni Rebels 08.31.11
Looks dangerous…and maybe I shouldn’t be saying this, but kind of fun.*
Have you snapped cool shots of Muni with Instagram? Make sure you tag it Muni so I can find it. Or email it to us! Our inbox is always hungry.
*Just day dreaming! Kids and adults, don’t take any encouragements about anything from me!
Thieves pull woman off T-Third by her purse 08.31.11
Photo by throgers
SF Weekly reports that a woman was approached on the T-Third last night by two men. One of them grabbed for the woman’s purse when the T stopped. She resisted, and eventually ended up holding onto her purse so strongly that they dragged off the Muni vehicle. Once on the ground, the thieves got the purse and fled.
Seriously everyone, be careful out there.
Read the entire story on SF Weekly’s website.
Bruno on the 44! 08.30.11
D made a new friend on Muni the other day.
So I was riding the 44 home the other day and heard a little girl squeal with delight. I saw her petting this charming pug whose owner told the little girl his name was Bruno.
I called out his name to get this shot and when his owner put him down on the floor he waddled over to me to introduce himself. He was in sheer ecstasy as I scratched his rump! He’d turn in circles as one of his hind feet tapped in pure joy.
Pug on the bus! Bruno and this Yoda Dog should have a cuteness battle. I don’t even know what that would involve, but I’d totally pay to see that.
Entire Muni Routes, Vehicles Visible on NextBus Site 08.30.11
A few months ago, we told you about the redesigned NextBus Live map, which showed little F-Market streetcar icons mulling about the city in real-time.
Well, we’re not sure whether this is a new feature for the site, or maybe we just missed it. But now on the NextBus site, you can select any Muni route (by clicking “Select Routes …”) and see entire bus routes, complete with stops and current vehicles in operation. They move in real time, too.
This is an enhancement of a feature NextBus has offered for quite some time now. It looks and works way better now. We find it helpful to see the entire route a Muni line takes, for example.
We tested the site on our Android phones (we don’t have iPhones, what?), and found that it hasn’t been customized for mobile phones yet. It works on mobile, but not fully, and not elegantly. We were able to select a different route by checking a box, but then that route didn’t load on the map, for example.
Still, any enhancement of NextBus is welcome by us. Now if only they could solve the “3 minutes … 1 minute … 17 minutes …” conundrum.
Back-Door Boarding Coming to Muni? 08.30.11
Photo by Casey Hussein Bisson
Sure, you’ll say, plenty of upstanding citizens already use the back door to board buses. Hell, on Muni Metro light-rail vehicles, it’s legal and often encouraged to speed up the boarding process.
Now, SFGate reports, “transit officials are looking at whether to expand all-door boarding to the bus fleet.”
Streetsblog SF has explored the topic numerous times. Here are a couple of good reads: “To Reduce Delay and Fare Evasion, Muni Considers All-Door Boarding” and “Speeding Up Muni By Letting All Aboard, Through Any Door.”
What do you think? Could it work to speed things up? Would you immediately begin taking Muni up on its offer to board the back door of a bus when there’s a logjam up front?
Death Metal! Animosity on Muni! 08.30.11
Turn the volume down if you’re at work, but there is death metal on Muni! Watch the band Animosity take over an LRV (the N, I think?) and the passengers are just like, “No big deal.” There’s a bad-ass stuffed animal in the video too.
via @boxdogbikes
David Chiu vs Volunteers in Transit Race (w/results) 08.30.11
Update (10:05 a.m.): And the results are in, per @DavidChiu:
Final #SFTransitRace order: 1) David, Bicycle, 10min | 2) Cab-$8 21min | 3) Car-$10 parking 22min 4) Underground #Muni 25min | 5) Streetcar 30min 6) Walking 35 minutes.#SFMayor
Muni, fourth place? Ah, we’ll take it. At least we beat … walking.
Original post: Mayoral candidate David Chiu is set to race four of his volunteers and his campaign mascot “Chiubacca” this morning at 9 a.m. to see what’s fastest: bike, underground Muni, street car Muni, taxi, or walking. The press release said that the race starts at the Polk steps of City Hall and ends at the Ferry Building. Chiu will be on his bicycle, but it wasn’t clear whether Chiubacca will be taking Muni, so if you’re on transit and you spot the furry political beast, tweet at us and let us know.
The campaign staff says that Chiu is a regular cyclist, but even if he weren’t, it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win this race, right? Unless Chiubacca decides to get on a motorcycle, Chiu’s probably going to be waiting at the Ferry Building for the Muni-taking volunteers.
Glen Park BART stairs more dangerous than the escalators? 08.30.11
Photo by Wiltastic
Rider Beth has another observation about the Glen Park BART station. She wonders whether the escalator’s being shut down for six months led to more serious accidents on the stairs. Read on.
During that time, lots of passengers were forced to use the very long stone staircase to get down to the platform (or use the elevator). At least once I stumbled on the stairs, and I know other people have had similar mishaps. Once, when we were heading out, my partner Devin and I saw that the stairs were blocked off because someone had taken a serious fall on them and paramedics were attending to him/her.
That made me wonder whether the escalator’s breakdown had led to many more serious accidents on the stairs, since so many more people were using them. So, I requested documents, first from the SF Fire Department (since their paramedics handle such incidents) and then from the SF Department of Emergency Management, who had the records from the 911 calls.
In short, no more people suffered serious injuries on the stairs — serious enough to call an ambulance, anyway — between February and mid-August, 2011 when compared to the prior year.
On June 9, 2011, a 67-year-old woman fell on the stairs and broke her ankle or left lower leg (the report mentions both). The only other report of a fall of any kind in the Glen Park BART station came on June 30, when a woman fell onto the tracks and a train rolled over her, causing no injuries.
Rewind one year. On April 16, 2010, someone fell down the stairs and broke his or her leg. Ironically, three days earlier, on April 13, an elderly patron fell down the escalator and required paramedic evaluation for unknown injuries.
It’s possible more people suffered really minor stumbles and falls, but fortunately, it looks like this extended escalator outage didn’t lead to any more serious injuries than you’d see in a typical year. Whew.
Did any of you Glen Park regulars take a tumble on the stairs while the escalator was out of commission?
Before and After Muni Sightings with OldSF 08.29.11
A closeup of the old building on California and Hyde:
The superintendent checks out the fleet in the barn.
We found some more examples — see if you can spot some familiar landmarks.
At Embarcadero and Market today:
Embarcadero and Market in 1954:
Or how about this, on Fifth and Mission?
Today:
Fifth and Mission in 1955:
We have a ton of old timey Muni ephemera over at Muni Time Capsule too. Check it out or share your own story and photos in the time capsule with us.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
