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.
Six Injured When Big Rig Hits Muni (Update) 03.21.11
File photo by Devery Sheffer
Update:
CBS5 has video footage of the scene:
Original post:
Six people were injured when a big-rig hit the Muni KT-Ingleside/Third Street line in Dogpatch this morning, reports Bay City News/SF Appeal. The accident was reported around 10:30 a.m. on the corner of Third and 23rd Street, causing minor injuries to six people at the scene, who were taken to a hospital and expect to be ok, according to reports.
Read the rest of the Bay City News/SF Appeal report on this morning’s accident.
Two bland phrases and a red wire 10.14.10
Devin describes what he saw aboard a stuck Muni Metro train …
I say “attempts” because the driver (a) was talking far too quietly, (b) had the PA set far too low, (c) was speaking thickly Mandarin- or Cantonese-accented English, and (d) was trying to use standard SFMTA jargon for describing fine technical points of malfunction, in which all the words that have specific or useful meanings are replaced by bland and fault-disclaiming phrases. Normally that jargon runs to phrases like “equipment issue” and “temporary delay,” but given his command of English vocabulary, he was mainly resorting to variations on the phrase “train broken.”
After a while of this, a brusque man strode down the aisle wearing an SFMTA jumpsuit and an air of technical competence incongruous with the rest of the scene. He announced simply, “This train has no air pressure” into his radio, quickly removed the panel covering this huge mass of wiring and quietly ticking relays, and pulled a single patch cable out of his pocket. He shorted two points within the panel, left the cover where it was, and left. The train, its pneumatic safeties presumably thus disabled, crawled slowly into the station. There the driver discovered the use of another phrase, namely “out of service.” Fortunately he also discovered the volume knob on the PA, so the huge crowd of commuters did eventually agree to stay off the train.
Come to think of it, I suspect the competent man in the jumpsuit was talking to the driver, and probably sharing some of the same frustrations as the rest of us.
Overheard While Commuting to School 09.22.10
Photo by Anna Conti
Girl 1, to her friend wearing a headcovering: You know you can’t wear that if you go to France?
Girl 2: What about Paris? Can I wear it there?
Girl 1: You can wear it in Paris, but you can’t wear it to France.
__________
Girl 2: When I grow up, I want to travel the world.
Girl 1: Me too!
Girl 2: Do you like books?
Girl 1: No. Why?
Girl 2: Because to travel the world, you have to be smart.
__________
Girl 1: You want to hear something about Paris? Guess what’s under the city? Catacombs.
Girl 2: What’s that?
Girl 1: Dead bodies. Seven million dead bodies. On one hand, you have Paris – the city of love. Then you also have Paris – the city of seven million dead bodies.
Muni Superhero 05.27.10
Photo via Hoodscope
Gene at Hoodscope sent over this photo of his seat mate on the K. Thank goodness for riders like Gene, who, instead of just staring at the Muni Superhero, decide to have a conversation with the man himself.
Muni transformations: My K ain’t what it used to be 01.15.10
Photo by Flickr user balmes
The following story is by Muni rider Nina:
on my way home tonight, i board the K train at embarcadero.
yay, i think. i won’t have to walk as far as when i take the N. (luckily i live in a nexus of muni lines, so they all go by my house in the castro).
oops! after van ness we somehow veer off track and end up coming out of the tunnel. our K train has spontaneously turned into an N! unannounced! passengers are looking confused, angry. one man tries to make light of it:
“i mean, what are you riding?” he asks a perturbed woman.
she just stares back.
“…muni!” he finishes triumphantly. the lady is unamused.
Got a good Muni story? We take the bad ones, too. Send us your tales today.
J-K identity crisis 10.29.09
Photo by Flickr user Jamison
Muni rider Ace sends us this slice-of-life Muni fail.
Last night while I was waiting at Montgomery Station to go home, the disembodied female PA announced (and the electronic station signs confirmed) that an outgoing K was approaching. The train that pulled up bore “J-Church” on the front. The sign inside each car read “J-Balboa Park.” I wondered how the people inside knew where they were going…
Got some Muni anomaly to report? This is the place to do it.
Muni’s new insurance policy — too late to cover this weekend’s West Portal crash? (update) 08.06.09
Photo by 2girls1queen
Update (August 6, 2:17 p.m.): SF Appeal helps answer the question this post asked 18 days ago. Thanks, guys!
Original post: Regular service has resumed after yesterday’s West Portal accident, but the fallout is far from over. The SFAppeal reports that 48 people were injured, four of them critical. Ahem, anybody smell a lawsuit coming? This brings us to a KCBS story that a reader sent to us about how the MTA board approved the purchase of something known as catastrophe insurance, which pays for lawsuits. Pretty sad that such a policy is warranted.
But lo and behold, a mere three days following the board’s vote, an accident more or less validates that decision.
Since the MTA board just voted to purchse the “catastrophe insurance” last Wednesday, we’re not sure if a further vote is necessary to enact the insurance policy. Or does the Board of Supervisors need to approve this?
And does the policy cover Saturday’s crash? We doubt it, unless this is a magic policy that’s magically already in place. It would be nice, if only to cover Muni’s already-broke ass. If the policy isn’t in effect, we foresee the potential for multiple lawsuits. If that happens, does Muni fall into an even deeper hole? Ugh.
Light-rail vehicles collide at West Portal, dozens injured (w/updates + video) 07.22.09
Photo by Flickr user chrisjbarker
Started seeing many tweets just now about an apparent Muni collision near West Portal Station. We’ll try to update this post as frequently as possible with new information. For now, there are reports of 12 injuries, and delays on the K, L, and M lines in both directions. Updates are in reverse-chronological order, beginning with the latest:
Update:(Wednesday) just caught wind, via Twitter, of the first-ever videos of the crash, from SFGateSF Appeal (wtf, SFGate?):
Mohawk Town 06.15.09
Last night I took the K to West Portal. I don’t know when she got on the train because I was busy playing with the new apps on my blackberry, but sometime between Forest Hill and West Portal I looked up and saw her. She looked like a beautiful, swirly and colorful cartoon. She had stars and swirly things painted on her face. She had fake flowers tucked into her mohawk. I’m so glad I put down my crackberry and enjoyed the ride.
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