Tara – Page 55 – Muni Diaries

Tara Ramroop has laughed, cried, and commiserated with this amazing community from the start. She's been writing for as long as she can remember and riding Muni for more than a decade.

Needles on Muni for the Holiday Season

December 12, 2011 Tara One comment

Photo: Telstar Logistics

Not those needles.

Ever since @sabrinabot tweeted this:

for some, red cups signify the start of holiday season. for me it’s knitters on the muni. saw two today, the holidays can begin!

…we’ve seen our fair share of them, too. With less than two weeks to go, I expect to see even more commuting elves working on handmade projects.

Since we do live in Scarf City, Fogland USA, knitting is a popular transit pastime year-round. Just ask Hooked on Muni (great name), every mischievous devil on International Yarn Bombing Day, and the good citizen who knitted coozies for the shelter seats, pictured above.

How’s your handmade holiday project going? Send us your knitted-on-Muni creations or your pics of the knitting elves. Spin your yarn (HAHA) to muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Category: diaries

Speak Softly, Carry a Horn on Muni

December 8, 2011 Tara Leave a comment

Muni rider Sarah took this one. I love how quiet it is; I always (easily) forget how peaceful it can be on the bus.

…unless the guy at the very front honks the horn affixed to his cane. Per Sarah:

Hard to tell from afar, but there’s a squeaky horn on the end of that old man’s cane. I wonder if he uses it like a car horn, when people are walking too slowly in front of him, or to tell his wife to hurry up because he’s waiting outside.

It would certainly come in handy on Muni, let’s not kid ourselves here. Bravo, cane-horn guy. Few people can pull this off, but I think he does it well.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, Photos, reflection

Muni’s Got Your Ticket to the Gun Show

December 7, 2011 Tara Leave a comment

Octoferret dropped this one in our Muni Photos Flickr pool. Someone tell the NRA, because this Muni’s next stop is the goddamn rifle range.

Octoferret says:

On the 76 line in the Marin Headlands.

My second favorite is ‘General Manager’ on the northbound 19-Polk.

“General Manager” is a great WTF-inducer. I have two others tied for first, though: the running ticker of gibberish and Sassy Muni Bus. Please Ho, indeed.

To answer your burning question, though, there is apparently a place called Rifle Range in the Marin Headlands. The National Park Service says you can find those purty Mission Blue butterflies there. Nowadays, it appears to function more as a venue/public space than a shooting range. Please give us a break for giggling, though, as we don’t see “rifle range” on many things around here.

Go ahead, make my day: drop some photo goodies in our award-winning (finalist-making) Muni Photos Flickr pool.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, Photos Tags: 19-Polk, 76-Marin Headlands

Mx. Fix-It Saves the 12-Folsom (and Happy Hour)

December 1, 2011 Tara 5 comments

Photo: Ian Fuller

Blair stepped up and fixed the bus. No, you guys, they fixed the bus, saving happy hour and some 12-Folsom riders’ sanity.

Rider Blair teased us over on our Facebook Page with “I fixed the 12-Folsom tonight, where’s my cookie?” Well, here’s why I’m getting Blair cookies. Further proof that you should never, ever get between someone and their beer.

The handicapped ramp was stuck on the ground after someone had used it at the 14th and Folsom stop (FoodSlow) and the driver just sat there and called it in, instead of trying to fix it. I finally got up after 10 mins and said ‘did you try to fiddle with it or just stare at it’; he grunted he did not try to fix it. I went outside and looked it over and asked him a few questions, kicked and tugged. He FINALLY tried the button, nothing, I said wait, kicked and pulled again and sure enough…it moved back into place. Everyone was very happy that they did not have to wait for the next 12 (40 mins) and I told the bus driver to try and fix things himself next time. My GF called me out knowing I was headed to meet her and friends for happy hour and that stupid ramp was between me and beer.

We all know that Muni needs a lot of fixing. Have you ever pitched in? Like really fixed it? If so, you might get cookies, too. Spin us a yarn at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Category: 100 Muni Stories, diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: 12-Folsom

Photographers Wanted: Step Up to Shoot for ‘I Live Here: SF’

November 29, 2011 Tara One comment

Photo: Julie Michelle/tangobaby

Since 2009, photographer Julie Michelle has documented some of the most interesting parts of San Francisco — its people — in her I Live Here: SF series. Our own Muni Diaries editor and co-founder Eugenia was one of her subjects, as was Lil Miss Hot Mess, pictured above. Julie’s a great friend of our site, capturing laughs at Muni Diaries Live to having us participate in her I Live Here: SF show at SOMArts. (The one with the Muni bus shelter and the resultant fighting over said Muni bus shelter.) As big believers in the shared urban experience, as well as the idea that everyone has a story to tell, we’re all peas in a curious pod.

Now, Julie turns the lens inward as she navigates troubled waters, sharing a little about herself:

I love this city. I love it for all of the things that make it visually and emotionally beautiful. I even love the unpleasant things about the city, in a way. Because no thing shines as brightly without a shadow somewhere in the picture.

…

I realize now that this project is not just mine, but part of the bigger community here: the one that has encouraged and supported me, and also one that wanted to share and be discovered.

There are people who have written stories and are waiting on me to photograph them, and I simply cannot say when that will happen again. But I want their stories and images to be shared here, and perhaps some of you would like to join in.

Photographers: if this sounds like you, let Julie know you’re interested in stepping up to the plate for an installment of I Live Here: SF. Here’s contact info for Julie Michelle, plus additional details, toward the bottom of her post.

Category: News Tags: announcement

Black Friday Sale: Fast-Pass Card Holders, T-Shirts 25% Off!

November 25, 2011 Tara Leave a comment

No, really, why don’t people just buy stuff online for this “holiday,” with jammies and heater on? Good thing your favorite website allows you to do just that.

So, the great news for you, your favorite San Franciscan, transit-lover, or all of the above: T-shirts and Clipper Card holders in the Muni Diaries Etsy store are now 25-percent off. No need to even type in a special code: prices are already adjusted for a limited time.

Support local artists and show your uber-San Francisconess this holiday season. Our Muni Diaries T-shirt is designed by New Skool’s Nate1, bearing an important message: long live the Fast Pass! Clipper Card holders — each featuring a 100-percent-real Fast Pass — are crafted by Heather L at Heathered.

Because as much as we all love to bag on Muni, we do love us some San Francisco.