Old-school blue seats on the 48-Quintara 02.20.12
Katja sent us this photo and says, “Hopped on the 48 this morning, and was greeted by some very bright blue seats — a nice change of pace to start the morning…”
Thanks, Katja! And indeed, a nice change of pace.
Lo, the blue Muni seats have popped up again. Read the comments, especially Carlos, Brian, and Jay, on this post.
Feeling Pretty on the 48-Quintara 05.06.11
Muni rider Mike has the latest on the 48:
A burly man with at least a hundred keys hanging from his belt buckle mounted the bus, planted his feet, pulled out a book and flipped the pages with his PRETTY ORANGE METALLIC LONG FINGER NAILS. I love San Francisco!
I like to think they’re orange to celebrate the Giants‘ return to town. Yeah.
Learning West Portal the Hard Way 07.16.10
Photo by skew-t
My sister and I had gone into Noe Valley one fine February Sunday. We were checking out bookstores in the area since it was her last day in the city.
After we were finished looking around, I didn’t feel like going back onto the J-Church inbound and transferring to the N-Judah. The 48-Quintara bus stop was just across the street, so I insisted we take that bus line back to Outer Sunset.
We boarded the bus and went up and down the hills. When we got to West Portal, the bus stopped and all the other passengers got off. I was befuddled. Surely the 48-Quintara went out further than West Portal? Why else would it be called the Quintara bus?
My sister and I got off the bus and tried to figure out the situation. Then I decided that maybe the bus in front was going to continue on to the Outer Sunset, so we hopped on. That bus started driving back the same direction we had just came from, so we got off at Portola Drive.
We were somewhat stranded in West Portal, but then we found comfort in another bookstore there. After the Quintara bus shocker, I looked around at the street signs and decided that we could actually find our way out to 19th Avenue by following Wawona or Ulloa. We walked down one of those streets and I felt great relief from seeing the busy traffic go by on 19th Avenue. We boarded the 28 and transferred to the N-Judah to get back home safely.
Later on, I checked Muni’s website and discovered that the 48-Quintara only continued out to Quintara on weekdays. Oops. But luckily, this was just another tale of getting lost on Muni with a happy ending.
How not to share your coffee (an exercise in stereotyping) 04.17.09
I’m becoming more convinced that coffee has become less of an aesthetic or culinary element in our culture as it’s become an accessory, just like the handbag or the pearl necklace. And for some people, going out (and, say, riding Muni) without it is like going out naked.
Or so I imagine, for the hapless young musician-cum-fashionista boarding the 22-Fillmore a bit south of Geary the other day. A moderately crowded 22, plenty of people standing, and where having an extra hand available could be useful. Especially since the other was already taken up with your roll-on suitcase, upon which your handbag was precariously perched. At least you’d strapped your guitar to your back somewhat firmly.
Remember that thing about the free hand? Know what Muni buses tend to do when pulling away from a stop? Right, they often lurch. This one lurched. You promptly fell down the aisle like a pregnant cheerleader with a boyfriend about to ship out for Basic. Okay, I have some sympathy — it’s hard to wrangle suitcases on crowded buses. I picked up your suitcase for you. And handed you your bag. It was more or less at that moment that I noticed the Starbucks cup occupying your other hand, whose contents had just discharged all over the lap and legs of the guy sitting across from me. A cup thickly and thoroughly covered with your bright red lipstick as if to be more an advertisement of your fellatio technique than a caffeine source.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
