At the Giants Game: Phyllis’ Grandkids Learn the Stops 09.02.10
So we took this opportunity to ask throngs of Giants fans on Muni about their Muni-riding experiences. As much as the metros were packed, most of the folks we talked to were pretty satisfied with riding Muni to and from the games: “No big problems…yeah it’s crowded but that’s how it is, you know?” Perhaps it’s the non-Giants-watching riders who have more of a beef with the packed trains.
And then we ran into rider Phyllis, who told us how you can tell whether your grandchildren are real Giants fans (see above video; 0:32 if you’re impatient and don’t wanna peep Jeff’s mad video-editing skills).
Also, Jeff would like to add: the Giants totally dogged Denver!
The 38-Geary Fairy Princess 09.02.10
Photo by squant
She and her Mom had been getting on the 38 at Ft Myley/VA Hospital for three or four days. She had been visiting her grandfather. She was probably 4 or 5 years old. Dressed in her best fairy princess outfit with the wings and the tiara. She carried her wand with the star on top.
She was quiet those first few days when she saw us. Us with our canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. The last day I saw her, she was excited and bright eyed. She told us she had helped cure her grandfather with her wand. She then went around to each of us and gave us a light tap on the head. I don’t know about the others, but I felt very much better for quite awhile.
And Your Favorite Muni Ad Award Goes To…? 09.01.10
Photo by size8jeans
Muni buses are now sporting some cool Legend of the Guardians ads. Excellent!
The ads on Muni sometimes provide as much fodder as the ride itself. Got any ads you’ve seen on Muni that you’ve grown fond of or some that downright piss you off?
Here are some of the more memorable/interesting ads on Muni via Flickr:
Photo by revger
Photo by flamk
Photo by TheJosephBoys
Photo by davitydave
Photo by dlprager
The Random Deployment of New Muni Bus Shelters 08.25.10
The right good folks over at Tenderblog noticed something rather strange about the deployment of Muni’s sleek/appalling bright, shiny new bus shelters. So they wrote a blog post about it. And they published that blog post.
[H]ow on earth are they figuring out the deployment pattern on these things? There’s the really nice new ones at Geary and Leavenworth (this happening corner), but then they go no further up. There’s one at Sutter & Van Ness, but then none the rest of the way down Sutter.
Indeed, what could the plan possibly be? Read the rest of Tenderblog’s thoughtful and observant post here.
Image above copied and pasted from its original resting place on the intertubes.
Brave 38 Bus Driver 08.25.10
Photo by Flickr user Jesse Johnson
“Please come to the front of the bus and pay the fare, young man.” The bus driver stood up forcefully and yelled, “This bus will not be moving until you pay the fare like the rest of the folks on this bus!”
As I entered a fairly empty 38L, I noticed something very interesting about the bus driver: He was a man on a mission…someone not to cross the wrong way or come across sideways.
Now, we’re not talking about a typical-size bus driver. We’re talking about a fairly large man in his early 40s with a very bald head. The young man smoothly walked to the front of the bus while on his cell phone, and paid a portion of the fare. The bus driver aggressively said, “Now look, I’m not playing with you, either you pay the fare like the rest of the working folks on this bus or get off my bus!”
The young man paused, switched his cell phone to his left hand, and calmly made a swing-like gesture to the driver! The driver moved away from the attempted fist swing then stood up, grabbed the operator phone, and yelled, “Now get the fuck off my bus or swing. I want you to swing so the cops could take you to jail. You’re on camera with a bus full of witnesses. You make a move!” The young man, clueless for his next act, turned and aggressively attempted to swing again, but missed. He looked around yelling, screaming, and unsure of what to do. He then got off the bus without making another gesture.
Now this is a bus driver with balls. Drivers like him take a stand and lay down the law. This made me proud to ride Muni every day. Yes, it was scary at times, but I was confident that the escalated situation was handled very appropriately. The bus driver showed commanding respect and set limits with this punk kid.
As a Muni commuter, I see punk kids trying to be smooth and slick to get away from paying fares on a daily basis. They cheat fares, punk commuters, smoke weed on the bus, start trouble on the bus, and intimidate other kids on the bus. I asked myself, Where do these entitled, disrespectful group of people get this behavior? They’re so confident in committing these acts; they’ll never experience consequences.
I felt empowered to speak out after my experience, so here I am. I felt this was a good deed and deserved a few cents from a daily Muni rider. Thanks for hiring folks that are tired to speak out and put my tax dollars to good use.
Do you have a story about a driver or fellow passenger whose actions made you proud? Have you told a Muni story to your friends at dinner? Share your Muni stories here at Muni Diaries.
Muni Friendships: Transitive, Transformative 08.06.10
Photo by Troy Holden
Rachel of Fog City Notes has some keen observations for us all:
I was thinking about this the other day when I noticed two of the ladies who are always on my 22 standing together in the bus stop where we all get out, gossiping.
One of the ladies gets on before I do, maybe at California Street or Sutter, and the other one gets on at Haight. Do their lives cross at any other time of the day/week? Do they know each others names, phone numbers?
I’ve had Muni friendships myself… Who knows where Jackie is these days? But she was always great to talk to. We had booths next to each other at a craft fair once. I even bought one of her photos.
And Ramon, who I haven’t seen in months. He’s always invited to my parties, and I’ve been to one of his.
There’s C., who is like a second mom to me, who I also exchange holiday cards with.
If I didn’t take Muni, I would never have met these friends. And honestly? I think my life would be a little less awesome without them.
Our lives would be a lot less awesome … without your Muni stories and observations. Share them on Muni Diaries, please!
Soundtrack for a Midnight Ride on the 5-Fulton 08.05.10
Muni rider Shellby F. shares this positively groovy tale:
However, I hadn’t noticed the man sitting a few seats to my right. At once everyone’s attention was on him as he turned on the large black boom box that sat on his lap. The mood completely turned around as the catchy tune of George Clinton’s “Knee Deep” filled the bus. I took a glance at my friend, who looked back at me, then out to the rest of the bus. What seemed like simultaneously, everyone began to move in some way. Dancers, singers, toe-tappers, and head bobbers emerged from the once still bodies.
Our bus soared up Fulton. The streetlights whizzed by. We caught all the green lights. The bus driver drummed on his steering wheel to the beat as our midnight Muni DJ sang along.
And those who entered our magical bus did not hesitate to join in. No one entered with a blank face, instead with a great smile or even a dance move.
Before we knew it we were at Fillmore. We hopped off and watched the bus fly downtown, sad to see it go.
I had never had such a collective experience with other muni riders.. it was something I won’t forget for a long time.
If you’ve got a Muni story, however funky it might be, share it on Muni Diaries.
52-Excelsior: Center of the Universe? 07.22.10
Photo by dannyman
I live in the Excelsior, at the top of the hill near McLaren Park. On days when I commute on BART, I sometimes take the 52 Excelsior for my uphill homeward trip, although the recent service cuts can mean a wait that’s longer than my total walk home.
Monday night, I saw by the Next Muni sign that I would have a very long wait for the bus, so I decided to start walking. I was carrying several heavy bags, my knee hurt, and it was foggy and windy – not a great evening for the 9-block schlep up the steep hill to my house. I was moving slower than usual, so when I got to Silver and Mission, I checked the sign at the bus shelter – 9 minutes for a 52. I decided to sit down and wait for it.
As soon as I did, I realized that I didn’t want to spend the next 9 minutes inhaling second-hand smoke from the kid standing directly upwind – and I didn’t want to move my tired, sore self from the bus shelter seat, either, so I asked him to move downwind. He turned around, and the last thing I was expecting to see was a sunny smile, but that’s what he gave me as he said “I’m sorry, I don’t speak English” (in quite passable English).
I made myself understood, he moved downwind, and I was settling back in to wait when he popped back, saying “excuse me, can you help me?” and brandishing a map. Now, I was not in the best mood, but he seemed very harmless, I had time to kill, and I never mind giving directions. I had a hard time understanding him at first – his accent was odd, though he spoke well – but figured out that he wanted to go to Prague Street. He didn’t know the cross, but Prague is only 5 blocks long, and he said he’d be able to find his way once he got there. As I was wondering why this clearly foreign visitor wanted to go to a random residential block in the Excelsior, he explained that he was an Argentinian on day 1 of a 3-month English language course, and was staying with a family in the neighborhood.
As it happened, the best way for him to get where he was going was the 52, so I told him to get on the bus with me, and showed him the sign that said the next bus was coming in 3 minutes. (more…)
What does Muni say about San Francisco? 07.21.10
Photo by Flickr user Omer Simkha
The next morning as I was walking under the 90 degrees heat to the Coloseum, who do I see but the same woman from the bus, leading a group of Chinese tourists, speaking in fluent Chinese to explain the history of the Coloseum! I pretended not to recognize her.
The experience on the bus really soured me for a moment on Rome. This leads me to wonder: what kind of impression on our city do visitors get from riding Muni?
Muni thefts can happen anywhere, anytime 07.19.10
Yes, you’ve heard it all the time. Be careful with your fancy electronics such as phones while on the Muni, especially while you’re riding through a sketchy part of town or on a sketchy line. But that caveat is becoming less and less the case.
I was on the 1 heading westbound coming home from Western Railway Museum today (7/16). The bus (5616) stopped at Sproule Street. Then, out of nowhere, a lady screams, “Help! That guy took my phone!”
I turned my head toward the window and saw a man who looked like he was in his 20s, with a hairstyle of Gavin Newsom (without the gel) and looked like Yvan Attai (the taxi driver in Rush Hour 3). Other than that, he was wearing a black sweater turtleneck and black jeans.
After he ran off, the lady ran after him only to stop short of the alley. A couple of people from the bus went to her, and deliberated on what just happened. The rest of the bus, however, was talking about how young he looked.
What about the driver? Oh, he didn’t do anything except he answered a passenger’s question of what happened. No call to Central Control. Nothing.
After a minute, we pulled off, and as I looked into the alley, I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I run after him?” The answer was not common sense, but it was because I felt an anger, an unexplainable, intolerable anger.
So, a word of caution: NEVER EVER EVER USE YOUR PHONE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT. NOT EVEN ON COMMUNITY SERVICE ROUTES. The lowlifes who roam Muni all day looking for someone to prey on make me sick. And I’m sure they make you sick too. That is, unless you’re one of those lowlifes.
