Muni in Top Form 12.06.11
Kyle and his friend, whose evening was saved by some very nice people.
We arrived at Van Ness station and offboarded onto the platform. We had just barely climbed the top of the stairs to the mezzanine level when my date exclaimed “Oh God! My purse!” She had left her purse on the train.
Surely her cash and belongings were now lost in the clutches of the city forever, to be divvied up and forgotten about. I quickly made my way to the station operator booth and told the operator, “She left her purse on the last inbound J train!”
The operator quickly picked up his phone and called the train, told them the situation, nodded his head and put down the receiver. “They have it, wait downstairs on the outbound platform and look for train 1502, should be here in 20 or so minutes, happy holidays!” he said with a warm smile.
We thanked him and made our way to the platform to wait. When train 1502 rolled in, I entered the front car and was greeted by a friendly operator who was laughing and telling us how lucky we were and wishing us well.
It was all a pleasant and smooth experience, the kind you don’t usually expect from a Muni ride, especially when you are starting with a bad situation. I wrote a compliment on the SFMTA website for all the operators involved in the ordeal. Happy Holidays and wish you all the same fortunes on your commute.
Or at least let’s hope we can turn a small misfortune around like Kyle did. Hey, what’s your Muni diary today?
Mystery smell at Van Ness Station explained 07.14.11
Photo by franciscophile
Jeff (not me) has got a doozy …
Then one day about 2 p.m. on my way to work, I’m heading down the stairs and this dude is walking to go up the escalator and talking on a cell phone. With his other hand, he starts grabbing at his crotch — which catches my attention.
He then pulls out his schlong, looks at me straight in the eye as we pass by each other. I look back and as he heads up the escalator, he starts pissing while talking on the phone. And there’s a lady about 10 feet ahead of him.
Just another Tuesday. I now know why the place smelled like a sewer.
Well, that explains that. Thanks for sharing, Jeff (not me)!
Improvisational escalatoring at Van Ness Station 03.29.11
“Muni Better Late Than Never” shares this unbelievable treasure. Remember this when you get upset that your smartphone has no bars, or worse — god forbid — 1G.
Predictions May Not Be Valid 05.13.10
Photo by post author, Julie
This post is by Muni rider Julie, who happens to be one of our favorite people. Julie is the creator of iliveheresf.com and a founding member of SF-based photography site calibersf.com. She’s also Broke-Ass Stuart’s “Broke Ass of the Week” this week, but we swear we didn’t coordinate that one.
Tuesday was my first day on Muni since the new changes to the system took effect. Yes, the impact was noticeable. Yes, I was late. (You might have been late too, so it’s not like I’m telling you something you didn’t know already.)
I’m phobic about being tardy. I don’t know where I got this personality defect from, but I’ve had it for a long time. So when I know that I’m going to be late, and there’s nothing I can do about it, I tend to let it overwhelm me, which I know is stupid but it happens nonetheless. Today was the first day where I seriously considered not buying a Muni pass for June, the pass of which, up until today, had been an emblem of my San Franciscan-ness. But I couldn’t help scowling: What was I paying for, anyway?
I was supposed to talk to a class of high school students about photography, and portraiture specifically, at the request of a friend of mine who organized this group. It wasn’t just a bunch of regular students, but a group of “at-risk” kids: kids who had been expelled from other schools or could no longer attend regular high schools. This school is their last chance of getting some sort of education. My friend had set this class up months ago, after a luncheon we had where I loaned him my DVD of Born Into Brothels and we talked about the transformative power of photography. And here I was, mentally swearing a blue streak that I let that last Yellow Cab pass me by, thinking the N-Judah would come when it said it would. I envisioned this group of kids patiently and eagerly waiting for me and my wisdom to arrive, and here I totally blew it.
A Silent Van Ness Station and Finding the 9 San Bruno 12.14.09
Photo by Mike at Epic Road Trips
After dinner at Olivo’s in the Tenderloin I walked down to Van Ness and Market to catch a bus to Potrero Hill.
At Market and Van Ness I saw an underground where I could catch the N Judah which crossed the 22 Fillmore line at Church. I knew this was not the quickest way, but I know it would get me home.
I got to the turnstiles and there was a guy blocking the way as he was talking to the attendant in the glass booth. A woman who wanted through said, rather disgustedly “Are going in or coming out?” The guy said, “The trains aren’t running and I’m trying find out what’s wrong. But, you can come in.” And he stepped aside with a flourish.
Now it was my turn, I used my FastPass and then asked the attendant if the N was running. She said “Yes, but the are running slow. But they are running”. Ok. Down to the platform.
The above photo was what I saw when I got to the platform stairway. Everyone was milling round, some resignedly others were more agitated. Some were looking at there watches and mumbling. This was not a good sign.
I went down to the platform and then realized just how bad it was. There was not one sound to be heard in any direction. It was very eery. And to me it meant there was absolutely no movement in the tunnels. You can here the trains for miles down here and now it was absolute quiet. Time to leave.
I stopped on my way out and asked the attendant what surface transport I could take which would cross the 22 line going to Potrero hill. She thought for a moment and said, “Take the number 9 and get off at Potrero and 16th.” This intersection I knew well by now and so I thought I was on my way. But, when I got up to Market Street I could see no sign anywhere for a “9″ Bus stop. I walked a complete circle around the busy intersection and could see nothing.
Now what!? I went back down into the station using the stairs on the other side of the street. Again, I asked the attendant (a different one) the same question. She gave me the same answer. But this time another MUNI worker told me the stop was up at the Bank of America. He said “When you get to the top of the escalator go right to the stop for the 9 San Bruno”. Ok, now we are getting some where.
I did as instructed, and , guess what! I was right back where I started. Oh, brother… No sign of the 9 bus stop.
I noticed some people on the street car platform and decided to take a chance. I asked one of the ladies standing there where I could catch the number 9 and then the 22 and she said “On the other side of the Bank of America. It comes down Market and turns there.” Ah ha!
I crossed the intersection again and walked past the escalator I had come out of and it was then I realized what had happened. The previous instructions to “go right” should have been ” go straight to the first street, then go right. So, there I finally was, at the stop for the 9 San Bruno.
I had been waiting for about 5 minutes when I was surprised to see the woman from platform turn the corner and walk straight towards me. She came up to me and said “Oh, I see you found it. I just realized I didn’t ask you what direction you wanted to go on the 22. I said “To Potrero Hill”. And she said “You’re Ok then”. I thanked her sincerely for coming to check on me and I was quite amazed she did it. She could easily have missed her bus.
Now, to make a long story even longer. I boarded the San Bruno and confirmed where I needed to go with the driver. He said he would call out the stop when we got to. Groovy. I might get home yet. I sat down and we just sat there. The driver was having some king of long conversation with another MUNI employee. Finally she got off and bus driver said: “Sorry folks, Supervisor.”
The driver yakked amiably with several of the passengers and then called out my stop for me. I waited about 5 minutes and boarded the 22 behind several people. When we all boarded the driver stayed put, and looked around at one of the passengers and said “Is that wadded up piece of paper you showed me actually a valid transfer?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. The older gentleman he was talking two tottered up to the front of the bus mumbling “It should be valid…” He showed it to the driver who dismissed him with a wave of his hand. What a jerk.
Next stop – same thing. Someone got on and I guess he didn’t stick his transfer in the drivers face so the drive stayed put and said “I didn’t see that transfer”. The guy ignored him – ear buds. The driver then got half way out of his seat and waved his arms and said the same thing. Guess this time the guy heard him. Satisfied, he finally pulled out of the bus stop. Brother…
Finally we got to my stop. It was nearly ten o’clock. I went upstairs and it was lights out in short order. Interesting day.
M-car Grinds the Lip at Van Ness Station 11.04.09
This just in from Muni rider Christopher:
I was riding an M-car inbound today just around 2:30 PM. There was a strange K-KLAK sound of metal-on-metal between Church and Van Ness — like the streetcar had run over something on the tracks.
This being Muni, I thought nothing of it.
But as we arrived at Van Ness, the same noise repeated as the the streetcar entered the station. The M-car came to an ordinary halt, and the driver calmly asked everyone to disembark. That was when I noticed the front streetcar’s left main door was jammed open.
School-kids playing hooky flashed V-for-victory signs for their friends’ digital cameras in front of the huge side panel of the streetcar that was now folded unnaturally above the lip of the station’s boarding platform.
However it had come undone enough to impact whatever flipped it over the platform’s edge, the lock on the side of the streetcar had been torn through right through the panel.
To his credit, the Muni driver kept the situation mellow and casual.
I exited to the street and legged it to the 14 so as to avoid the crowd on the F-car.
All images by Christopher Rogers
Massive downpour forces underground Muni closure 10.19.09
Update: And … no sooner do we post than we hear that service is restored, although trains are apparently bypassing Van Ness Station. Update from ActionNewsSF.
Original post: According to several Twitter sources and SFist, Muni has suspended all subway service after extensive flooding at several stations.
The agency (SFMTA) plans to have more buses on the streets to try to alleviate what’s expected to be a huge commute-ache. Good luck out there!
How are you getting around the problem?
The Day of the Muni Fails 06.04.09
Today seems to be the day of the Muni Fails. We have a taxi running into 2 cable cars, a Muni driver talking on the cell phone, an old guy driving on the J-Church tracks, and the streetcar stall at Van Ness Inbound that delayed for 15 minutes. Oh yeah, how can anyone forget about the Muni Humper and the racist douchebag?
I’ll comment on one of them since there wasn’t much media coverage on this one. I was riding the L to Van Ness Station when all of a sudden we slowed down. At first, I thought it was a regular stop and go, because that’s what usually happens during rush hour. Then, the operator made an announcement, saying, “There appears to be some delay, we should be moving in a couple of minutes.”
…a couple of minutes later, she said, “There appears to be a stuck train, so they’re working on it, we should hopefully be moving very soon…”
But, eventually, the passengers were told to disembark the broken train as they were “trying to get the train out of there. We hopefully should be moving in a minute or two, maybe three or four.”
As we finally approached Van Ness Station, she thanked everyone for being patient, and, as I got off, there was this guy who thanked the operator for making regular announcements.
Personally, I think this problem could have been avoided if trains were single-tracked around the station, but hey, it’s Muni, powered by shoddy OS/2 run ATC and sometimes patient, frequent-announcer operators, and fare inspectors.
Helpful Muni Bathroom Sign 05.20.09
We found this picture taken at the Van Ness station via Twitter user dustinshafae:
I saw this in Muni. I don’t think they needed a sign. It smells like everybody in the city does it already.
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