Author: Tara

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.

White Whines on Muni

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7 Minutes
Photo by Jamison Wieser

We enjoy a good White Whine here on Muni Diaries. We’re as guilty as anyone else: “Why is the internet out?!” “What is wrong with my Muni app!?” “This cheese is too cold!” We posted an analog White Whine on the 5-Fulton and giggled for days. I even made it on the White Whine site a few years ago — enter pride here — for complaining about my RSS feed vis-a-vis a European vacation.

We’re fortunate to be able to whine about tech toys and subpar service in restaurants. Because we relish any chance to poke fun at our privileged selves, we compiled our favorite Muni-related first-world problems as they’ve filtered into @munidiaries on Twitter. Here’s a few of our faves.

You’re on notice, Apple, Inc:

Thanks Muni. Going to miss my Apple genius bar appt now.

Struggling so hard to make it back to Pac Heights from SOMA on Muni. iPhone you’re failing me… And you NEVER FAIL ME.

You’ll get used to it. Sort of:

ugh why is my class tomorrow at 8:30 in FISHERMAN’S WHARF THAT IS SO FAR AWAY I’M ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THE MUNI

Probably my favorite. Well done:

Could really have used wifi on the muni this morning. Yes, I’m ready for the last refuge from email to be surrendered. #brainimplantsnow

Here’s to the be-MacBooked, and the be-smartphoned. May all our whines always be, er, white.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Let’s Play ‘What’s Grosser?’

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Image by Flickr user muilak

Rachael posted an interesting question on the Muni Diaries Facebook Page yesterday:

Maybe I’m weird about germs but to me walking around barefoot is no more/less gross than touching everything on the bus then sitting down to eat a sandwich. Why do people eat on Muni?

Which led me to wonder which was actually grosser. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about it already.

The floor is just plain grody. I’ve let bare legs and bare hands touch seats and rails before even thinking about putting a bag on the floor. I think we can agree that the chicken and formaldehyde combo platter is an appetite-killer for all involved. But Muni riders snack on food that isn’t stuck to the window all the time, and it doesn’t always bother me. That said, we use our bare hands to eat, sometimes before washing our hands when we’re late to dinner and about to eat a limb for sustenance. OK, maybe by we, I mean me.

But, which is worse? Barefoot riding or eating while riding?

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,

Travels with Shady on the 8BX

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Photo by Rubin 110

The F-Market/Wharves operators are very quick to remind us all, tourist and local, that packed trains may mean picked pockets. Lest we forget, some tourists take the 8BX-Bayshore “B” Express also, and folks definitely take advantage of them.

There’s this guy stationed at the North Point and Stockton stop. He has maps and acts as a slightly pushy, official tour guide. He’s exceedingly polite — and accurate — when pointing people wherever they want to go. Then, almost like it didn’t happen, you see dollars exchanged for transfers. He’ll quietly explain that they’re good until the time listed — also accurate — and they stare interestedly at this slip of paper. Some are skeptical and some just pay, no questions asked, like they knew he was there with the “discount” tickets. One guy asked tons of questions, which tipped me off to his dealings in the first place.

But one woman who bought a $1 transfer was obviously a local. She knew exactly what she was doing, and I’m surprised I don’t see it more: paying $1 for a still-active transfer instead of $2 honest fare.

And he did it again at the same time the next day.

I don’t know where he gets the transfers. I figured maybe he stole them from a parked bus in the Kirkland Yard, mere steps away from this stop. Maybe he has a buddy who just hands them to him like it ain’t no thang.

It is, though. It’s illegal to sell transfers, so Muni at least kind of agrees: buying and selling transfers only cheats the paying customers. It’s also kind of a shitty thing to do.

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: , ,

Around the World: Transit Props

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Images: Tara Ramroop. Vive le Metro!

We’ve seen scores of cool transit-related things from other countries, be it cool stuff or just cool behavior. The platform punching bags in Shanghai. The freakin’ slide at Overvecht Station in Holland. Those dreamlike Croatian funiculars and, per SF visitor Melita, the ability to buy tickets via cell phone. Transit in Taipei, on which people will stand before even thinking about sitting in the reserved seats. My personal favorite is this Victorian Art Nouveau Metro entrance in Montmartre, Paris:

Most recently, we found this from our spotless, polite neighbors to the north: transit-rider etiquette in Vancouver. We have to wonder: does this work up there? Because it’s suspiciously akin to our own unspoken rules, broken day in and day out.

What are your international transit favorites? Wouldn’t it be nice to make it on the transit radar for something undeniably cool, like, oh, free puppies at all odd-numbered line stops?

Update (2:34 p.m.): A reader noted on le Facebook Wall that SF cable cars perhaps count toward our international fame, because those are obviously on plenty of people’s transit radars. Indeedily they are, and we love the Victorian relics of old San Francisco. For this post, I suppose we’re looking for something more today, such as, OH, puppies at every stop or ticket-purchasing via cell phone. (I’m selling it too hard now, right? Now we will never get puppies.)

Category: diaries, reflection

SFMTA’s Broken Clipper Machine Policy Unchanged

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Back in July 2010, we reported on official SFMTA policy for when a Clipper reader onboard a Muni vehicle is broken: the vehicle’s operator had to allow passengers with Clipper cards to board. We even posted the official memo from SFMTA for you to print out and carry with (much as it made our stomachs turn to encourage dead-tree-ism).

But, lately, there were mumblings that the policy wasn’t being enforced systemwide. So, we got in touch with SFMTA, who verified that the policy hasn’t changed:

The policy has not changed.

Any customer who receives a citation that they feel is unwarranted may certainly protest the citation. Here is a link from our website to the page about paying or protesting a transit fare citation: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/AdultMunitransitviolationonorafterFebruary42008.htm. We appreciate customers alerting us to malfunctioning Clipper readers via 311.

So, when you encounter a broken Clipper reader, insist on boarding the vehicle. Protest a citation if you receive one, using the guidelines in the link above. It’s probably a good idea to note the coach number, the driver number, and the date and time for reference.

The more you know, and all that.

Category: News Tags:

Journeys Along the Red River

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Despite the presence of many, probably wet groceries on the 8BX, I immediately thought this liquid coming toward me was urine. I didn’t immediately catch that it, advancing slowly in my periphery, was reddish. And you really can’t blame me after this. Or, I guess, if you’ve ever sat in the back of a bus.

I’m guessing it’s blood coming from that grocery bag, but feel free to enlighten me with your theories.

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,
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