Summer Ballet Season on Muni 08.17.09
Photo by Flickr user aussiegall
San Francisco is lucky to have two great ballet companies right here in the city: The San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet. However, along with these formidable dance institutions comes summer dance camp. You know it’s summer in the city when the teeny tiny little 14 year olds arrive on the #5 Fulton.
Every summer they arrive after the 4th of July and stay for a few weeks. The girls (and occasional boy) all stay at the vacant dorms at USF, but the ballet companies are all near the Civic Center. So every morning they all get on the bus in the middle of rush hour traffic. The #5 doesn’t get a lot of school kids in the morning so the ballerinas are an unwelcome gaggle of chatterboxes for the morning commuters.
Photo Gallery: Inaccurate or Outdated Muni Signage 08.13.09
Found this amazingly neato photo set on Flickr the other day. It was shot and assembled by Octoferret, to whom we owe a humble thank you. In light of upcoming Muni lines slated for extinction, we feel this is a moving tribute to the routes that time has forgotten.
Bus drivers, courtesy, ‘the other side’ 07.22.09
Photo by Flickr user juicyrai
(from Thursday, December 18, 2008)
While on the bus today, I began to think about things relating to my many bus rides and such. Ever since I began commuting to work by 7:30 or so, I notice how I have come to recognize the morning bus drivers and almost the exact times of arrival at my stop.
I was thinking these things, and thinking about others and courtesy. On Tuesday, the bus driver had trouble with making the left turn from Hyde onto Market (that turn is already very tricky). As a result, the driver disconnected the bus from the electrical power lines and, despite attempting to reconnect the bus to the lines, had to tell us all to migrate to the bus behind us. I felt so bad for the driver, although I guess the bus drivers have to deal with situations like this every day.
Anyway, today I caught the bus with the same bus driver, and I greeted him as usual. But, the bus disconnected again today, this time on Fulton and 8th Avenue; I was afraid that we would have to change buses again and again felt bad for the bus driver. Luckily, this time the bus driver was able to keep the bus’s cords connected to the power lines, so we made it downtown safely.
During the bus ride, I was thinking about those situations, and thinking about how hard the bus drivers do work. Yes, some of them may supposedly have “ego problems”, but then again, aren’t they human, too? Still, in the end, they do work pretty hard, and often times passengers are not so appreciative of the bus drivers.
Homeless man and his luggage 07.20.09
Photo by Flickr user roijoy (cropped from the original)
(from Friday, April 3, 2009)
While on the bus ride home today, a seemingly homeless man boarded the bus with several pieces of luggage. He had a band-aid across his nostrils and he kept getting in the way of others since his luggage was quite cumbersome. I was sitting in a window seat and trying to read to distract myself from his presence near me. I feared that the woman beside me would leave and then the man would sit down beside me since I was sitting in one of the “wider” seats, i.e., there was more space between my row and the row in front.
My fear came true as I watched my bus mate stand up and exit through the back door of the bus. The man took that opportunity to stake the claim on the seat (well, he asked others first if they wanted to sit); he proceeded to box me into my window seat with his luggage and then he sat down beside me. I scooted closer to the window and attempted to stay as far away from him as possible. I was feeling slightly paranoid since we had been talking at work about strange characters in the city, so I held my guard up in case the guy would try to swipe my belongings.
Muni Mind Reader: The Happenstance Rider 07.17.09
Every Friday, we are the benefactors of mind-reading genius here at Muni Diaries. You see, we are lucky enough to employ the telepathic talents of one Tiffany Maleshefski, aka, Muni Mind Reader. This week, Tiffany explores the mindset of yet another familiar fellow Muni rider: those who ride unwittingly. Those who’d really (no, we mean really) not be on this stinkin’ bus.
Ugh. Where’s the bus?
Could it be any colder out here? I mean, so much for my good hair day. Why did I even bother trying to do my hair this morning if it was going to get blown to hell and back? I cannot believe my car is in the shop. I looooooooove my car. I can’t believe she’s going to be gone for a whole week. It gives me a massive headache just thinking about it.
WHERE IS THE BUS?! GAWD! It’s been like 5 minutes!! I am freezing! Oh wait, what’s this? N-e-x-t-b-u-s. NextBus. 5-Fulton in…6 MINUTES. My god! I would’ve been at work by now. Why is there never a bus when I need it? At least my car is available whenever, wherever. And check it, I got parking so I don’t need any pitiful looks from all you transit champions who just gloat at the thought that it hopefully takes me HOURS to find parking.
Nope. I just slide right into my space at any time of the day. So ha! FINALLY! The bus is here!
Twirlwind on the 21 06.25.09
I used to ride the 5-Fulton every morning and afternoon to and from work. I’d hop on the bus either at Clayton or Masonic, hang on for dear life, and thirty minutes later, arrive (slightly windblown and disheveled) at either my fantastic place of employment or within a half-block of my abode. From June through early August, San Francisco Ballet’s summer school students take the 5 to and from USF. The good thing is these students are very well behaved. They keep an eye out for the elderly and parents with young children, move their large dance bags filled with pointe shoes, iPods, and breakfast (bagels and bananas), stay mostly quiet in the early mornings, and travel in small groups.
And I stress this last part because a few years ago, two new dance summer programs started housing their students at USF, and they traveled in packs. And by packs, I mean 30+ students at a time, on their cell phones constantly, and heaving their bags to and fro like boulders. These new kids made riding Muni during rush hour a living nightmare. And it’s not just the sheer mass of them now 60 dance students at a bus stop is just crazy in and of itself… But that combined with the attitude of the newbies is a lot to handle at 8AM.
So what’s an intelligent, city-minded girl to do? Switch bus lines, right? Oh, wrong. Two years ago, I switched to the 21-Hayes bus line. It’s an extra few blocks walk south from the Fulton line. It’s a quieter, more local bus line. Neighbors are friendly, most people are pleasant, and the drivers, if they see a regular hobbling in three inch heels and frantically waving her bus pass while dragging her gym bag behind her, will hold the bus and say, “It’s good to see you!” as she climbs aboard. Who can’t heart the 21-line? Well, right now, me!
A Letter to a Fellow Passenger 06.23.09
Photo by Flickr user Mylla
The use of cell phones appears to be the biggest bus etiquette faux pas this week. Rider Sara had an earful of phone conversation on the 5 from “Caroline” so she’s written her a personal letter here.
Caroline, summer student at the Lines Ballet School at USF, SHUT THE HELL UP.
The next time you think it’s a good idea to get on a completely packed 5 during evening rush hour and make phone call after phone call, why don’t you actually stop and think about it. And realize it is a terrible idea. I don’t need to hear you scream to your friend that, after much consideration, you decided you’d like to go to law school at Harvard or Yale. Oh, wow, it took consideration to realize the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked law schools in the nation are where you need to be? Good luck fighting for those spots with the million other idealistic kids who are going to apply to law school this year.
But as you said, your dad is right, you’re a shoe-in. I mean, you did three practice LSAT questions and got them all right! Congratulations. And your dream of going to law school so you can work at a nonprofit? I hope you’re willing to fight with the zillion laid off lawyers and deferred incoming associates whose law firms are paying them to go work at nonprofits.
Fortunately, I was able to turn my Kanye West up loud enough to drown out whatever you said next. That is, until you took the empty seat next to me and proceeded to call person after person at USF to inquire about the iPod you lost on campus today. It probably got stolen while you were on the 5 by someone like me who wanted you to pay dearly for making their commute more irritating than usual. I hope whoever stole it is enjoying the Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson you most likely have on that damn thing.
Got a Muni gripe or a holler? Let us know.
Weekend Photo Diary: Tilt-Shift 5-Fulton Sails Into the Night 04.03.09
Okay, not really, but this is a cool photo nonetheless.
Photo by captin_nod from the Muni Photos Flickr pool
Weather should be moderately nice this weekend, so enjoy it. And again, thanks for making our first year so great.
xoxo
Muni Diaries
Emergency Exit on the 5 Fulton 12.15.08
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.
Outside Lands Update: Bike It 08.23.08
Muni hasn’t gotten any better with providing enough transportation for big events. After last night’s Outside Lands show, Muni was jammed. As with Bay to Breakers and any Giants’ game, Muni couldn’t keep up with the crowd overflow. At least three full buses passed me without stopping. Meanwhile, people continued to flock the stops.
Muni promised extra services on the 5, 71, and N lines for the three-day event. To see the full pre- and post-concert travel schedule, including tips for best stops, visit MTA’s Outside Lands page. But there’s really no bother. I ended up walking three miles to get home.
If you’re going to the concert, the best way to travel is by bike.
-Jenny
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are on sale 
