Fast Best Friends on Muni 08.15.11
Photo by Jessie Johnson
Mike’s story was originally published on his website, MikeLee.org. Here’s an excerpt:
Girl #1 looked at Girl #2. She smiled. The other girl looked away. Then back. Then away. Then back.
Girl #1 said, “Hi.”
Girl #2 looked at her for a moment. Then, “Hi.”
Girl #1 said a few more things. I didn’t catch them, but it looked like quite an animated message. Her little hands flailed about excitedly.
Girl #2 smiled. Her arms stayed at her sides while she answered. She gripped her mother as the bus rocked and lurched.
…
Then came Girl #2′s stop. Her mother got up and took her arm. The little girl frowned. “I don’t want to go,” she told her mother.
“But this is our stop.”
“I don’t want to go,” Girl #2 repeated as she dutifully stood up.
The two girls exchanged sad glances. The mothers smiled. “How cute,” said Mother #1. “In just thirty minutes, they’ve become the best of friends.”
Read the whole story on Mike’s website.
Ringside on the 19-Polk 08.09.11
Photo by Jeff Rizzo
It didn’t take new Muni rider Mari long to experience the underbelly of San Francisco transit.
At about 7th Street and Mission Street at 5:45 PM on a weekday, the bus driver stopped to pick up a few passengers. Everyone’s attention turned to the back door where a middle-aged gentleman was grasping with all his might to get on the bus. Behind him is another middle-aged gentleman in a wheelchair grabbing on to the other man’s jacket while yelling, “Oh, no you don’t, you are not running away from me!” and other expletives while punching and pulling the man trying to get on the bus.
The bus driver says nothing, of course. We are stopped and us passengers look back and forth at each other just wanting to get to our destinations. A teenage boy starts to cheer them on: “kick his a**, old man!” while blocking the back door.
Finally, the bus driver says, “Move away from back door,” but the teenager continues to taunt and cheer on the old men who are punching each other on the sidewalk now. Passersby yell, “Stop, stop!” to the stronger man doing most of the punching.
Finally, my patience has dwindled and I say in a very loud voice to the teenager, “Move out of the way! We need to go!” The teenager rolls his eyes at me and slowly walks off the bus. Finally, we are able to drive away.
Just another day on Muni…
At least the teenager got off the bus, right?
What’s your Muni story? Share it on Muni Diaries.
A Jarring Morning on the 10-Townsend 08.05.11
Photo by Sergio
Jared @lickthefridge was on a 10-Townsend in May when the bus stopped, jarringly and strangely, at Second and Folsom. He says he still wonders how this story ended.
The bus driver did not say anything and from my vantage point in the back of the bus I could not see outside very clearly. The passengers on the bus began to talk and complain and inquire about what was going on. The driver made no announcements and would not answer anyone’s questions. He continued to sit in his seat.
When it became apparent that the bus was not going to continue its route, people in the front of the bus began to exit. I tried to exit out the back doors but the doors would not open. I waited as the line of people moved forward to the front of the bus and exited.
While I was waiting to move to the front of the bus, sirens from police cars and an ambulance and a fire engine filled the air. The hustle bustle of the city streets was reduced to background noise. A police officer came onto the bus and ordered everyone to get off the bus.
As I stepped off the front steps into the street, the cause of the sudden stop became apparent. Lying in the street about five feet diagonally from the bus’s front right tire was a young woman. She was semi-curled up with her hands by her side.
Read the rest of Jared’s story on his site, Lick the Fridge.
There wasn’t anything in the news about this one, but we think it ended OK. Per this message from SFMTA spokeswoman Kristen Holland:
…there was an incident on May 6 at 8:25 a.m. at 2nd and Folsom Streets involving a bus on the 10-Townsend route. The pedestrian, who evidently walked into the front door of the bus, was transported with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries.
Poetry+Public Transportation, Muni Style 07.27.11
Here’s the poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” in its entirety:
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
The Muni-hook post-script: I’ll be awake for a long-ass time, too.
Thanks, tweetsweet!
Necessary Skills to Drive the 1AX-California 07.22.11
Photo by Tom Prete
Muni rider Susan wants to give her 1AX driver a high five. Here’s why.
She also has a great skill at driving the bus; she doesn’t feel the need to speed up, then jam on the brakes, sending all of the standees flying (a skill that would be good to teach most of the other 1AX drivers!).
A few months ago, to try to balance all my negative reports to Muni, I sent in a compliment about her, and printed out a copy to hand to her in case the Muni computer eats the compliments the way they seem to eat the complaints. She was really suprised to read that compliment, and now I always get greeted with a big smile.
THANK YOU #1619! You are a wonderful example of how Muni could be.
Ah, daydreaming now of “what Muni could be.” If you have more examples of exceptional Muni operators, let us know.
16X Swan Song 07.20.11
Photo by Telstar Logistics
Joshua Kwan is moving to New York, but before he leaves, Muni gave him a surprisingly awesome parting memory.
Even before I got on, I knew it was unlike any other bus I’d ridden in San Francisco. At the initial stop on the north side of 5th St. at Market, there wasn’t a crowd clustered around the stop waiting. Instead, there was a civilized line of commuters waiting to get on.
I thought I was going to miss the last bus, but I was saved by the inevitable (even for this line) rush hour Muni delay. When the bus came it filled up and I started watching it pull off onto Market, then Turk.
Side note: Actually, in true Muni style, the bus that I got on turned out to be the second-to-last one: it was actually 16 minutes late. I noticed this when a totally empty 16X pulled up alongside us on Fell — at which point all the riders kind of looked at each other for a second and grinned, a precious moment.
The first thing that got me about the 16X was the complete absence of the typical Muni jokers — people listening to music loudly on phones and teenagers trying to look tough with their friends. Instead, a few women were chatting about what they’d bought for dinner and how fresh their vegetables were. A man was snoring after a hard day’s work. Another woman was finishing up her paperwork. Total peace.
The second thing I noticed was that this driver was a pro. He would honk ahead of stops to see if people were actually interested in getting on, and if not, he would breeze by. Conversely, he would stop in between stops if he found someone who wanted to get on and it wouldn’t be too big of a delay.
The third thing is that really, the stops were totally secret, which I find to be common with Muni express buses. They were in the middle of the block and most of the downtown stops did not have shelters or even signs on poles announcing that this place was a stop. Only the splash of yellow paint and black stencil on the utility pole – and then again only at some stops – announced to me that this was indeed a Muni stop.
So you can imagine that I felt like I had inducted myself into a secret Muni commuters’ club — business class Muni, if you will, where the riders are courteous, the driver rocks, the stops are secret, and the ride is blazingly fast. I made it from 5th Street and Market to Lincoln and 9th Ave in 20 minutes flat at the peak of rush hour. On a bus. That’s good by *private car* standards.
So, rock on, Muni. And farewell, because I hear the buses in NYC suck compared to you. (But their Metro is better. Don’t take it personally, OK?)
How sweet of Joshua. And yes, you’re better of going underground in NYC.
A pleasant morning Muni experience 07.18.11
Photo by Tito Perez
Jim needs to get something off his chest.
I just want to say thank you to the 44-O’Shaughnessy outbound driver who picked me up at 9th Ave. and Kirkham around 8:20 a.m. last Friday for being such a great driver!
and…
Thanks for giving a short and friendly honk farther on to a man and his daughter walking toward the Laguna Honda and Clarendon stop, asking them if they needed to be picked up by the bus. (answer was yes…with smiles all around)
You really made my day!
Who made your day today? Share your Muni story on Muni Diaries.
What happened on the L-Taraval the other day? 07.01.11
Photo by Christina B Castro
Rachael has a bizarre story that we’d love to get more info on.
The driver, who was wearing only one shoe by this time — possibly after having lost the shoe as she was sprinting across the street — was screaming at the man and tried several times to spit on him while also trying to kick/punch. She’d go into a little fighting stance here and there before finally swearing and running off back towards her train. The guy she was after tried to board the 29, but the driver didn’t seem to want to take him on.
Rachael says she doesn’t know what prompted the altercation. We’re sure it was quite the scene. Were you there? Can you shed any light on what caused this riffraff? If you’re a Muni driver, have you heard anything about this?
To Muni, with Love, from Croatia 06.29.11
Visiting San Francisco again was great. On my first day in San Francisco two years ago I fell in love with the city and was very happy to get a chance to visit it one more time. We took long walks and used public transit (Muni/Bart/Caltrain) as we are (like most Europeans) used to public transit.
A few things that I like about Muni: it’s affordable, you can take your bike with you on Muni which is not possible to do on Zagreb (the capital of Croatia) public transit, more seats reserved for seniors and persons with disabilities, people are mostly very polite and are not pushing around the entrance to get on Muni.
One more thing that I find very amusing is pulling the string when you want to get off the bus.
Things you can do on Zagreb public transit (except trains): buy your ticket by sending SMS from your cell phone.
Wow, I’d like to buy my Muni tickets from my cell phone. Pretty cool. Wonder what transit in Zagreb looks like?
Trippy.
Thanks, Melita!
How does Muni compare to public transit in other countries? The comments section is wide open…
Muni Cowboy, I salute you 06.28.11
Photo by Marianne Giesemann
He looks like he’d be more at home on the wide-open country of a Montana ranch than a packed Muni train full of hipsters and people in business clothes, and it makes me wonder whether he is a stranger to the city or in fact a long-time local, refusing to change his manner of dress throughout decades of surrounding change; an aesthetic rebel to societal averages.
It would seem he’s not accustomed to the underground; he hovers as close to the door as possible, seemingly anxious to be released, one slightly shaking hand ignoring the pole altogether and instead tentatively reaching out to its reflection in the window for support. Yet stop after stop he stays put, dodging the swarm of people boarding the N during rush hour. Or maybe he’s not unused to Muni at all, maybe he’s just claustrophobic, or in a hurry. Either way, I salute you, Cowboy, Muni can be a scary enough place even after years of riding it.
Have you ever imagined a backstory about a fellow passenger you’ve seen on the bus? Tell us more.
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