Thank you, Driver

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Mike Delia (aka Mr. Boston) at Muni Diaries Live in 2022. Photo by Emily Huston

March 18th is Transit Employee Appreciation Day and we’re feeling especially grateful this year as we celebrate 18 years of sharing your transit stories—so many of them involving a special bus driver, train operator, or other transit employee. To all our Muni operators, station agents, cleaners, mechanics, maintenance workers, and many more: thank you for keeping us moving every day.

We also know this is a tough time for many Muni operators. If you’ve been on the bus during commuting hours recently, you’ve probably noticed more packed vehicles and pass-ups as more folks head back to the office—and last year’s service cuts didn’t help. These are forces outside our Muni drivers’ control, but they’re on the front lines bearing the brunt of rider frustration. A smile and a “Hello” as you get on the bus and a “Thank you, Driver!” as you get off can make a huge difference.

Even better, show your appreciation for a Muni operator by submitting a commendation! As our friend and operator Mc Allen wrote last year, commendations are incredibly meaningful to operators and are recorded in their personnel file, but they are relatively rare because most people don’t know they can submit one. So the next time a Muni operator gets you where you need to go safely, show them some love by heading to the Muni Feedback form and selecting “Praise” as the type of feedback.

For our part, here’s a roundup of some of our favorite Muni Diaries stories by and about operators over the years. We hope you love them as much as we do. And remember: always thank your operator.

Driver Tammy on her 33 Stanyan party bus in 2011. Photo by Greg Goodman
Ronald Mitchell at the Thank You, Driver show in 2024. Photo by Emily Huston
Mc Allen at Muni Diaries Live in 2023. Photo by Emily Huston
Charles Haletky at the Thank You, Driver show in 2024. Photo by Emily Huston
Rory O’Neill at the Thank You, Driver show in 2024. Photo by Emily Huston
Dewayne Deams at The Wayfinding Show in 2025. Photo by Connor Cimowsky

Muni Diaries Live returns to the Rickshaw Stop on April 22nd, 2026! Tickets are going fast, so get yours today.

Category: reflection

Roman Rimer and the bus that got him there

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We all know the feeling of sitting down on the J Church or the 38 Geary after an especially hard day and wishing we could just disappear into that red seat, alone with our misery, not smushed between 30 strangers. Other times, public transit surrounds us with our fellow riders when we need them the most.

At our Wayfinding Show in April 2025, writer and performer Roman Rimer shared a moving reflection on the realities of navigating life as a trans man in the Bay Area. Roman has watched the city change, made connections and lost them, and grieved more than his fair share—often on the bus. But one thing hasn’t changed: Muni always picks him up when he needs it.

Listen to Roman’s story here:

Be sure to subscribe for more stories from transit riders like you! Have your own Muni story you’d like to share? Email us your pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Photo by Connor Cimowsky.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Dewayne Deams: A Life in Transit

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Left: Dewayne Deams on the Muni Diaries Live stage in April 2025. Photo by Connor Cimowsky.
Right: Dewayne and his great-grandfather Curtis Green at the dedication of the Curtis E. Green Light Rail Center in May 1987. Photo courtesy of Dewayne Deams.

Dewayne Deams was born and raised in San Francisco and caught the transit bug early. You might say it’s in his blood: his great-grandfather Curtis E. Green was the General Manager of Muni—the first Black GM of a major U.S. transit agency—and both of his parents worked for Muni, too. But despite his own deep knowledge and love of Muni, Dewayne was determined to take the track less traveled.

In this first installment from our Wayfinding Show in April, Dewayne shares how he learned to embrace his longtime status among friends and coworkers as chief navigator and resident transit expert and how it serves him today in his role as a BART operator. Listen to Dewayne’s story here:

Have a Muni story you’d like to share? Email us your pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Category: Muni Diaries Live

Night of Ideas Part 3—A Bus of Whimsy

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Today we’re bringing you the final installment from our pop-up story booth at the San Francisco Public Libary’s 2024 Night of Ideas! In this episode, we share a selection of bite-sized stories from everyday Muni riders of all ages about whimsical transit rides they’ve taken in our beloved San Francisco. 

You can listen to it here:

Check out Part 1—Everyday Heroes on the Bus (ep. 152) and Part 2—The Friends We Made along the Way (ep. 155) for more short stories from that evening. And if you have your own whimsical bus story to share, be sure to follow us on Instagram at @munidiaries to hear about future podcast pop-ups around the city!

Have a Muni story you’d like to share? Email us your pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Photo by Kat Siegal

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Meaghan and Ronald Mitchell on the people’s railway (and its people)

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Meaghan Mitchell returned to the Muni Diaries stage at our “Thank You, Driver” show with a loving tribute to her dad, 35-year Muni veteran Ronald Mitchell. She shares what it was like being raised by a Muni driver in ’90s San Francisco, and what makes Muni more than a transit agency—and then invites Ronald to join her on stage.

Meaghan and Ronald remind us that our Muni operators are human, that they have families, and that they’re on the front lines of our city’s biggest challenges every day. And they ask us to keep on loving and riding Muni: as Ronald says, “There’s nothing like the Municipal Railway.”

Listen to Meaghan and Ronald here:

Muni Diaries Live is back on April 10th! Join us at The Wayfinding Show for more true stories about the ups and downs of life on Muni. Snag your tickets today!

Photos by Emily Huston

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Rory O’Neill to the Rescue

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Getting stuck on a dark, stalled Muni train is every rider’s worst nightmare. But what’s it like being one of the mechanics with the daunting task of getting that train and its frustrated riders moving again? 

Rory O’Neill understands both sides of that coin. He spent many years working as a mechanic on the mobile response unit and the emergency response unit for Muni’s light rail fleet—and he’s also an every-day Muni rider.

Now the supervisor of the Maintenance Training Department, Rory joined us at Muni Diaries Live and gave us a glimpse into the oft-overlooked world of Muni’s vehicle mechanics and maintenance workers. Rory reminds us just how many people get us where we need to go every day, whether we see them or not. “In the end, that’s what we do, right? We move people.”

Listen to Rory’s story here:

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of our true stories from everyday bus riders! Have a Muni story you’d like to share? Email us your pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Photo by Emily Huston

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs
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