Every Sunday from now until Feb. 1, 2009, Muni is offering all-day passes for $1.50, meaning one transfer serves the whole day. “Sunday FunDay,” as Muni somewhat inaptly calls it, is Muni’s way to encourage ridership and local shopping. Not that you have to shop to enjoy the deal — or the fun, which we all know one ride on Muni can stir up. But try to keep the giggles to just Sunday, OK?
Written by:
Jenny
Until the store in Pier 39 of the same name (Only in San Francisco) starts selling Eau de Urine parfum and employs a yelling, angry schizophrenic mascot, I’m going to go ahead and call bullshit on their choice moniker.
Favorite thing overheard on the 49 last night:
“I’m just doing this until I get into in clown school in January.”
If you’re wondering, “this” is living in a work-here-and-get-free-room-and-board hotels off Van Ness. (I thought those were whorehouses?)
Anyway, many in SF (and in many major city) seem to be in a state of flux. I’m only doing this until I get into grad school. I’m working as a barista because I got laid off. I had a high-stress job, now I’m working on my writing and taking it easy. But I wonder how many other people around the world hear “clown school” in relation to a career on their ride home.
Maybe that Only in San Francisco store can start selling clown attire for the budding painted-person-entertainment industry.
-Tara
Written by:
tara
Muni Diaries is now on Twitter! Your humble Muni Diaries editors will be obsessively twittering away, so subscribe to the Muni Diaries Twitter feed to read about every nose-pick, overheard cell phone conversation, and Muni musing in real-time!
Best of rides to you,
Muni Diaries Edit Team
Written by:
jeff
Muni rider Walter wrote in to let us know that T-shirts with Muni line logos are available at The Artist Xchange Gallery in the Mission (on 16th and Guerrero), SoMe in the Haight (on Haight and Masonic), and Brand Fury in Nob Hill (on Sutter and Jones).
You can also show your Muni pride in a variety of other forms from Walter’s San Francisco Transit Line Design store on Cafe Press. I did a little sleuthing and found that my line, the 49 Van Ness, can be displayed on sweatshirts, magnets, messenger bags, and a minimalist thong, should you want to flash your love for our public transit in a more…covert manner.
Written by:
eugenia
December 18th, 2008 in
muni fashion |
6 Comments
Submitted by Muni rider Jared
Last April, I picked up the 38-Geary around Divisadero and rode it to the Outer Richmond with my brother and friend who were visiting from back east. The bus was pretty crowded for a while so we stood close to the front. After one of the stops around Arguello, two consecutive seats on the right side of the bus opened up so my friend sat down in one of them and I went to do the same next to her.
As I moved close to the seat, keeping the conversation going with my friend, I suddenly felt a hand on my butt. I looked to the right and saw that an elderly Hispanic woman had placed her hand on my ass of steel to prevent me from sitting down. Confused, I looked around and saw a group of people giggling. One guy then says “you don’t want to sit there.”
“How come?” I asked.
“Because a guy was sitting in that seat earlier, picking the scab on his leg and rubbing the blood in circles.”
I immediately look down at the seat and, what I once thought was probably dirt or a soda stain, is in fact dried blood in a swirly twirly pattern. The guy then proceeds to tell me I’m the fourth person he’s stopped from sitting in the seat. I told him he should be proud of his good-deed-doing.
Ever since then, I carefully inspect every seat before I sit down. If the only options look suspect, I’ll stand and grip the poles like my life depends on it (which it usually does).
Written by:
Jared
December 17th, 2008 in
diaries,
gross |
6 Comments
Rode a 49 down Mission the other day for the first time in a month or so, and I noticed that the stretch between 16th and Cesar Chavez has actually gotten worse. It’s like kids have been out there with pickaxes, tearin’ shit up.
Perhaps the Obama administration’s infrastructure-stimulus plan can start right here in the heart of the Mission. I am now officially unemployed, and would love to get all Habitat for Humanity, only on road repair. Sign me up!
Written by:
jeff
December 16th, 2008 in
diaries,
reflection |
2 Comments
Shoppers. They’ve been taking up extra leg and chair space on the bus over the past couple of weeks, with their big plastic bags and boxes. I might sound a little bitter, but I usually have absolutely no problem with this; after all, how else are people supposed to load their gifts back home? Over the weekend on the 33, though, I met two she-shoppers who I had a big problem with. One of the mid-20-year-olds in particular, toting her Gucci handbag knockoff and several recently purchased items, unleashed the annual holiday grouch in me.
Withdrawing perfume from her handbag, she began spraying it on her neck, all the while rambling on in high decibels that “this perfume works best with my chemistry.” And “Oh my god, we haven’t been on a serious, no I mean serious, shopping spree in so long.” With the high-pitched inflection on the “so.”
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Written by:
jenny
Story and photo submitted by Muni rider Charlie
So I just rode the 5 inbound at a very atypical (for me) time: early evening. A trio of quite loud, quite drunk kids got on at Fillmore and promptly took up a good portion of the back of the bus, where I was conveniently sitting. The duration of their ride was basically without incident, but when the 6th-7th Street stop came and went and the bus stopped at the 6th Street stoplight, things got interesting.
One of the girls stood up by the back door and started to get her friends’ attention by saying, quite colorfully, that they should get off here and not wait until the normal bus stop. Her guy (who was making out with her at one point in ride - oh, did I miss that?) said he didn’t want to get off. The whole exchange was loud and scared a family of mumbling tourists sitting in the back row behind me. They were going to get off there too for some reason, but elected to wait until the next stop (for safety and out of sheer terror).
The girl at the back door then started flipping out and screaming about how she wanted to get off there, then she punched through the manual door operation cover (ouch!) and pulled the door open. She and her boy took off leaving the third behind, who ended up getting off later.
The tourists then asked each other what happened, and did that girl break the bus. I told them they broke through the emergency exit thing, but that I don’t think it was an emergency. Their response? “It was for us.”
To commemorate the experience, I grabbed the biggest piece of the broken cover as a souvenir. I’ll break it if I need to escape.
Written by:
Charlie
December 15th, 2008 in
diaries,
funny |
5 Comments
So I boarded a 49-Van Ness the other evening, with Gida, my 12-pound Boston Terrier, stowed safely in her bag. I paid my double-fare, per SFMTA regulations, and kindly asked the driver for an extra transfer. One “for my dog,” I said.
“Huh,” he answered, incredulous and condescending.
“Can I get a transfer for my dog? She’s in this bag.” I said, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
“You don’t need that,” he said, as if I were new to this routine. Clearly, it was the other way around.
“Well, I’ve been asked several times for a transfer for her. I’m paying fare for her.”
At which point he begrudgingly handed me the transfer.
So, I refer this driver (and you, dog-owning Muni rider) to SFMTA’s rules concerning traveling with pets:
- All other pets and non-service animals must be carried in small closed containers.
- A fare equal to the owner’s must be paid for each non-service animal
Maybe, since I’m now unemployed, I can get some side work schooling Muni operators on their agency’s rules.
Written by:
jeff
December 15th, 2008 in
diaries,
muni gripe |
3 Comments
Posted by Muni rider Whole Wheat Toast
It was really pouring today, if you guys didn’t notice. What were my original plans of going to Grandview Park fizzled when it was raining in the Sunset.
Of course, me riding the N with nothing happening is not interesting news, but when I got to Embarcadero Station, I came across this guy, who was blind and deaf, and had a sign that said:
HELP ME GET ON THE N OR THE T
I AM DEAF AND BLIND AND NEED HELP.
So I helped him on the train. Then I went off, but when I already got on the escalator, I decided to go back and help the guy. There, I saw him talking to the operator of the Muni train, and from how he looked like, he didn’t speak much English either. He tried to use his finger to “write” on the operator’s hand, and she didn’t get much of it. She offered him to sit up front but he refused.
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Written by:
Whole Wheat Toast
December 15th, 2008 in
diaries,
reflection |
4 Comments
