A few days after we posted a roundup of various Muni tattoos, one of the tattoo’s owners contacted us to tell us more.

Julie is the proud owner of the Muni neck tattoo. Here’s what she had to say upon discovering it on Muni Diaries:

That is me 3 years ago, at the fresh-faced age of 18 when I first got the tattoo. The day after, I was in Costco with my mom, and three dudes stopped me to ask if it was really the worm, and snapped this picture.

Here’s what Julie said about why she got the Muni worm tattoo’d on the back of her neck:

At 15, my mom kicked me out of the house, and I was out on the streets. I would sleep on the 90 or 91 when it was extra cold or rainy out. The drivers, despite their rough exterior, showed me ultimate compassion and sometimes would give me food or hot chocolate. The entire experience of being a street kid had a huge part in the chick I am today, so I got the worm.

Plus, it’s unique to San Francisco, and I’m a city kid to the core.

And the reaction she gets to the tattoo?

It’s always fun. Usually a laugh or two and then a question of why I got it. A lot of tagger kids think it’s pretty cool which always amuses me. Muni operators get a good laugh out of it too, and cable car drivers always tell me it’s my life pass and I can ride their trolley for free any day.

So much awesome is happening on the nape of Julie’s neck and in her story. Thanks for sharing, Julie!

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Rider Madeleine sent us a story about Vivienne, who drives the 108-Treasure Island. Vivienne has been a Muni operator for 20 years and is “very humble as to the importance of her job,” Madeleine reports. Madeleine, who is Swiss, tells us one reason why she enjoys having Vivienne on her bus:

I like her calling me ‘sweetie.’ I know, this is nothing unusual around here, but given that I am Swiss and used to Swiss public transit operator attitudes, the idea of being called ‘sweetie’ by a Swiss bus driver just amuses me… they are waaay too stiff and formal to do something like that.

Vivienne told Madeleine about what happened during a graveyard shift on the 91-Owl when she picked up a man on Van Ness who said he had just been hit by a cab. Read the rest of the story at Madeleine’s blog, SFCharacters.

Got another Muni driver who made an impression on you? Let us know. Or even better, are you a Muni operator? We want to hear from you!

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The word ‘heartwarming’ and the 91 Owl can so rarely be used in the same sentence that when they can, the story must be told.

A few years ago I was riding the 91 Owl outbound towards 19th Ave SOBER (my first mistake) around 2 a.m. So what plesant surprise greets me as I step aboard this packed to the gills, designated driver mobile disguised as a public transit vehicle? A 20-man strong, singing at the top of their lungs, British rugby team, ‘natch.

Now I like a British accent just as much as the next easily impressed girl, but these aholes must have lost their match that day ’cause they were on a bender of angry drunk, the likes of which I haven’t seen in a long time.
After about 10 minutes of a mind-numbing tribute to the old country (as I imagined it to be because I couldn’t understand an effing word they were saying) and after the driver (who I was standing next to) yelled repeatedly that if they didn’t stop she was going to pull the bus over and throw them all out, I possibly let out something along the lines of, oh… “shut the fuck up” slip out (possibly my second mistake).

Definitely a bad call to open my fat mouth because for the next 10 minutes I was constantly berated with things like ‘shut up bitch’ and ‘she must be on the rag’. (Honestly mostly offended by the lack of creativity- seriously, ‘the rag’? Who are you, my grandma?) Anywho, I couldn’t take it anymore and at the next stop I said, ‘Thats it! Let me the fuck out of here!’ When the door opened I jumped out somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Inner Sunset.

That’s when my guardian angel disguised as a Muni bus driver lady came to my rescue.

She puts the bus in park, gets out of her seat, goes down the stairs after me, into the street, and starts yelling, ‘NO! You get back on this bus right now! There is no way I’m leaving you out here all alone. Don’t let them upset you! I’m taking where you need to go!’

My heart melted because of this woman and I had to restrain myself from giving her a big ol’ bear hug. So we get back on, some people on the bus applaud (swear the Christ- it is the original street theatre, after all) and the guys get off two stops later and life is peaceful again.

But I will always love that driver lady. She could have just driven off and left me there to walk my self-rightous ass home, but she wasn’t havin’ it. Thank you brave Owl lady, wherever you are…

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Here we are, arrived at another wet weekend. The worst might be over, though. In which case, go Go forth and have your fun. (srsly, that hard-ass rain lasted, what, 14 minutes?) Don’t forget to go gripe talk to public officials (in government, police, MTA) at a City Hall hearing on Monday.

Here’s your MTA weekend traffic advisory:
Construction on San Jose Avenue between Geneva Avenue and Niagra Avenue will require the closure of both northbound lanes and one southbound lane of San Jose Avenue from 11 p.m., Friday to 4 a.m., Monday.

Beginning at 1:45 a.m. Saturday, the M-Ocean View Muni line will turn back at Plymouth and Broad streets. A Muni bus will provide service between Plymouth Avenue and Broad Street and San Jose and Geneva avenues on Saturday and Sunday.

Also, the N-Judah track repairs will pick up this evening. Pay attention, folks!

Traffic Detour/Construction Schedule: 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 20 – 5 a.m., Monday, Nov. 23

Muni Bus Shuttle Schedule:

8 p.m., Friday – 1 a.m., Saturday
6 a.m., Saturday – 1 a.m., Sunday
8 a.m., Sunday – 1 a.m., Monday

Note: The N-Owl service will operate until 6 a.m. Saturday; 8 a.m. Sunday; and 4 a.m. Monday

Additional Muni routes affected: 28-19th Avenue, 29-Sunset, 91-Owl, N-Owl

That, as they say, is all. Enjoy the photos!

Photo by Flickr user Troy Holden

Photo by Flickr user ebtmikado

Photo by Flickr user Whole Wheat Toast

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Happy 1906 anniversary people, as you all know, people gathered at 3rd and Market remembering those who died. Eventually the crowd went onto Church and 20th to spraypaint the gold hydrant. But, I’m pretty sure most of you guys got lucky — the Owl was working for you and you guys got on a fake cable car and headed there with ease — mine was different.

So, anyway, I started out at Van Ness and Jackson, heading on the 90-Owl hoping to time-transfer with the 91-Owl at Van Ness and Chestnut. Unfortunately, as I got to Van Ness and Chestnut I saw the NextMuni display and it said “91-Owl: 22 minutes & 37 minutes.” So I ran as fast as I could to catch the 90-Owl, hoping to catch the 38. Unfortunately, some guys got on at Union and tried to get a free ride. “I gave you a free ride yesterday,” the driver said, but he still got on and asked people around for a dollar. Nobody gave him one, so he began this long talk with the driver which lasted three minutes or so, and the bus was heading slowly up Van Ness. The bus let the guys off at Pine, and continued slowly.

Around Geary Street, that’s where I saw the 38 go by. By then I thought I was going to be late, but seeing that I missed the 38, I had no other choice, as I was desperate, to get off, and run through the Tenderloin on O’Farrell. Not fun.

I finally made it around 5 minutes before the bagpipe went off, playing “Amazing Grace.” I’ll have video of that later. After that, the sirens started going off, symbolizing the quick and efficient response the firefighters were heading to rescue people affected by the earthquake.

Around 5:20-ish, we were told to head to Dolores Park. I asked around, figuring out whether we would be riding the fake cable car instead of getting there ourselves. And the worst part is, the Metro wasn’t really open yet.

So I waited for any bus that went up around there, and here came a K-Owl. We all got on, except for this lady who asked how to get to 20th and Church. The operator then replied, “You need to…get on the 9-San Bruno.” The lady tried to reason, then the operator said, “9-SAN BRUNO,” and closed the doors on her. I think the door almost got her head.

There was another thing, on the K-Owl, when someone was trying to get on at 9th and Market, this guy asked the driver how to get to Mission Dolores. She said, “I don’t go on Dolores. I go straight up to Castro.” He replied,”So how do I get up there?” She said, “I told you three times already, and I’m not going to tell you again because you are holding me up, I said I don’t go to Dolores, I go straight up to Castro.” The passenger then told her whether she stopped at Dolores, then she realized, “Oh, yeah, yeah.”

But, instead of letting him off at Dolores, she let him off at Church.

I don’t have her driver number because she ripped it off, and as I tried to get a picture of her, she covered herself. After that ordeal, she told me, “I ain’t rude, I’ll be the nicest person you’ll ever meet.” Yeah, right. Then how come you were all like “9-SAN BRUNO!” and shut the door on her? “That’s what you wanted to hear, you see, there’s a war going on, you don’t understand that.” Well…yeah…kinda…at least she wasn’t like…Cynthia Thompson?

Anyway, since I heard there was a parade of firetrucks coming, I decided to hang around Church and 14th for a little while, until I saw a bunch of firetrucks heading down Dolores. I started running again, hoping to catch up with the firefighters, until I realized I couldn’t catch up. I ran anyway.

I’ll have photos and multimedia up later.

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