New Level Seat Etiquette on Muni 10.26.11
Photo by Anna Vignet
Across from me, there were three seats together. In the middle seat, sandwiched between two empties, was a very tall and fit-looking older (late 60s? 70s?) man wearing a retired U.S. Marine Corps basecall cap festooned with pins and a Marine Corps jacket. He had headphones in, and his legs were spread out into the seat space on either side.
Enter wholesome young couple with toddler daughter in a stroller. There was some struggling to move the stroller out of the aisle and get everyone situated. Dad leaned over and asked Mr. Marine if he wouldn’t mind moving so he and his wife could sit together. Mr. Marine, who had not so much as glanced in their direction, kept his steely gaze fixed forward, didn’t turn his head or anything, simply raised his [large] hand and gave Dad the finger. It was awesome. Then Dad muttered something about, “Well, THAT wasn’t very nice.”
I won’t get into the father-daughter interaction that ensued for the rest of the ride, but it was insipid and annoying enough that I wanted to flip him the bird too.
Oh who said San Francisco is not a children-friendly city? What else happened on your Muni ride today? Our inbox is thirsty!
John Waters Muses About Muni 10.24.11
Comedian John Waters was recently at the Jewish Community Center where the host asked him about riding Muni. According to the host, “everyone hates Muni!” I think he means love-hate. Or love to hate. But John Waters actually just loves the ride.
“Sometimes when I have nothing to do, I feel like it’s just like an amusement park ride…I love it, it really makes me happy to ride Muni here.”
Watch the video and find out what he has to say about the F and the J, and hear why his love for Muni is the only controversy he’s ever caused.
Hat tip: rider Shoshannah.
Muni Tattoos Revisited 10.07.11
Photo by SFLocal.net
Some people literally wear love for San Francisco on their sleeves with Muni-related tattoos. There’s everything from an F-Market/Wharves PCC streetcar to a Fast Pass to the Muni worm. The owner of that Muni-worm tattoo, Muni Tattoo Girl, contacted us after that first post and sent us some more pics of her iconic neck piece.
Tattoos being permanent and all (for better or worse), not everyone is willing to make the commitment. Enter temporary Muni tattoos, courtesy of SFLocal.net. The artist celebrated 10 years in our fair city this year.
Fast Pass tattoos above go for $2.25 a pop. Get them — and other SF-related ones — at SFLocal or in the artist’s Etsy store.
Rude Surprise for Tourists on Muni 10.03.11
Photo by Aaron
He said, “This is a crackpipe. Look.” and proceeded to light the thing and smoke the residue on the F-Line.
Lovely.
Needless to say I lost my shit with him. When I did, the man said, “Why are you even talking to me if you don’t have money to give me?”
Whoa. Sassy crack guy. How do you explain this to tourists (or kids, for that matter) on Muni? Comment away, or tell us your Muni story.
Will a Car-Free Market St. Make Muni More than Mediocre? 09.15.11
Photo by: Kevin on Flickr
Can it be?
Whenever it happens — and we’re crossing our fingers that it does — will this make our Market Street Muni run more efficiently? Perhaps there will still be late starts, downed power lines, and pedestrians/bicyclists/transit vehicles moving out of turn. But private cars sharing lanes with transit vehicles is a major piece of the puzzle, from where I stand (and sit, crawling on Van Ness heading home or Market Street on the way to work).
Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.
Travels with Shady on the 8BX 08.24.11
Photo by Rubin 110
There’s this guy stationed at the North Point and Stockton stop. He has maps and acts as a slightly pushy, official tour guide. He’s exceedingly polite — and accurate — when pointing people wherever they want to go. Then, almost like it didn’t happen, you see dollars exchanged for transfers. He’ll quietly explain that they’re good until the time listed — also accurate — and they stare interestedly at this slip of paper. Some are skeptical and some just pay, no questions asked, like they knew he was there with the “discount” tickets. One guy asked tons of questions, which tipped me off to his dealings in the first place.
But one woman who bought a $1 transfer was obviously a local. She knew exactly what she was doing, and I’m surprised I don’t see it more: paying $1 for a still-active transfer instead of $2 honest fare.
And he did it again at the same time the next day.
I don’t know where he gets the transfers. I figured maybe he stole them from a parked bus in the Kirkland Yard, mere steps away from this stop. Maybe he has a buddy who just hands them to him like it ain’t no thang.
It is, though. It’s illegal to sell transfers, so Muni at least kind of agrees: buying and selling transfers only cheats the paying customers. It’s also kind of a shitty thing to do.
Muni streetcar vs. cop car 07.28.11
Ever wondered what would happen if an ambulance crashed into a garbage truck? A fire truck into a city bus?
D shares this peculiar story of kiss-and-tell involving a Muni vehicle.
Another F line operator told me that the squad car was too close to the tracks while the F-Market operator should’ve waited for the squad car to move, so in her opinion both parties were at fault.
She also said that when two city agency vehicles collide, things can get pretty bad.
How fair of that second F-Market operator, no?
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…
NextBus Live Maps now show actual F-Market streetcars 06.15.11
Market Street Railway asks: How Cool Is This? Very, very cool, we say. Very cool.
Try NextBus’s live map here.
But what else does F stand for? 06.09.11
Photo by jon|k
Fun stuff in Twitterlandia @munidiaries: the alphabet according to Muni Metro.
@_mola_mola: #muni driver says: L is for late, M is for missing, T is for tardy.
@Bordash: is the N for never? i can’t come up with anything better.
@Owenchristoff: N: Non-existant. J: joke. K: Knocked-out :)
@simplelife9: And J and K is for Just Kidding, there really is no Muni in 5 minutes lol…
This all reminds us of that silly kerfuffle over T-shirts that mocked Muni routes.
Care to fill in the rest or add some to the list? F and S (Shuttle) are feeling left out of the party.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are on sale 
