Homesick for Muni

old F trains
Photo by Flickr user bingolio

What would you miss about San Francisco if you had to move away? Muni turned out to be on the top of the list for many people. We got a nice email from rider Andrew, a San Francisco resident currently finishing school in Southern California. Muni reminds him of home, he said. “Having gone to high school in the city, I never got a drivers license, and I still don’t have one, so Muni is a big part of every day.”

On our Twitter feed, rider @tlarrywong said, “Is riding Muni to church for the first time in fifteen years! Kinda miss it! : ).” Auto registration and smog test made @polinadou miss the days of Muni (come on back, it’s not too late!). Meanwhile, @wilmeleene is in San Diego and misses our transit: “I miss SF and I’m bored in SD!!! no more BART no more Muni no more cable cars!”

According to our web stats, some of you are from cities as far flung as London, New York, and Chicago. Are any of you former SFers? And for those who are still here, what would you miss about Muni?

5 comments

  • I’d miss it, too. The things you did every day (whether they riled you or not) tend to be remembered fondly once you leave, methinks.

  • Rob Nagle

    I may be playing the role of cynical jerk here, but you’d have to be pretty home “sick” to miss muni. But I guess there are all kinds of diseases in the world, most of which can be contracted on muni. I kid, muni, I do. I mean where else can you spend a measly two dollars to get nowhere fast, I mean people spend thousands of dollars on college and these days are lucky enough to be working at Starbucks. What they should have done is skipped college and become muni drivers. At least they know when the bus is going to come.

    • eugenia

      My sister used to live here and when I talk about taking the N, she always says, “Aaaw the N!” and then goes on to talk about the many miserable foggy mornings she spent waiting for it when we lived in the Sunset. 😀

  • Dexter Wong

    I live in Honolulu and I miss the streetcars and the LRVs. The bus system here is good although no one pays attention to it unless there is trouble. I remember Market St. before, during and after BART construction. I also remember the whole dialogue over what kind of cars should go in the subway, and watched the changeover from PCC to LRV. I also saw what occurred before the F line got started (the Trolley Festival).

  • Amy

    Almost a month later…
    A native San Franciscan writing from Tokyo.

    Yeah, I know I’m near one of the “best” public transit systems in the world, but I miss MUNI’s charm and crazy personalities every single day. No one here talks on the trains and it’s nowhere near as scenic…

Leave a Reply to eugenia Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *