Eugenia Chien has been eavesdropping on the 47, 49, or 1 lines since the mid-90's. She lives by the adage, "Anything can happen on Muni" (and also, "That's not water.")

What Would Lady Gaga Wear on Muni?


Photo by Lilah Johnson

Lady Gaga, you got a call, it’s from the Muni Diaries store!

We said goodbye to the type “A” Fast Pass this week, but you can show your beloved monthly passes (and Muni Diaries) some love with these shirts. They are designed by New Skool‘s Nate1, who is also an in-house artist at Secession Art and Design.

Here’s what the shirt looks like if you don’t have a soda can wig to go with it:

This design is also available in baby onesies and adult hoodies at Secession Art and Design on 3361 Mission Street (and 30th Street).

Upclose:

I’ve got my bubble wrap ready so check out the Muni Diaries store if you want to buy one of these awesome shirts!

Kicking Off Muni Fashion Friday

James Taylor, CCSF student & Stylist

San Francisco is a fashionable city, and we look good riding the bus. To celebrate that, we’d like to start a little fun post that we call Muni Fashion Friday. Here’s how it works: submit a photo of a fashionable rider on and around Muni, and you can win a prize from our post sponsor. Our first sponsor is Secession Arts and Design, where you’ll find mixed-media art, beautiful clothes, and jewelry.

The deadline for submission for our first Fashion Friday will be Thursday, Nov. 18.

To give you some inspiration, here are some fantastic photos of fashionable Muni riders taken by Racine Serrano. Racine is a student at San Francisco State University. She said:

“In a city where fashion can be spun any which way, I found individuals whose personal attention to detail forces those around them to pay attention and observe the story their personal style tells. Some people are blessed with not only a keen sense of fashion and a great eye for what works well together — whether it be color, prints, or patterns; they also have the confidence that exudes far past the garments they so skillfully engineer together.”

In the photo above, James Taylor, a student at City College of San Francisco, waits for the F while sipping his iced green tea. His military-inspired style was sourced by H&M, American Apparel shorts, vintage hat and belt, and Marc Jacobs boots.

Racine caught up with more fashionable Muni riders:

Kayla Jaramillo, SF State Art major

Kayla Jaramillo, SF State Art major, was on a break and waiting for the M inbound to do some shopping in West Portal. Clothing: compilation of vintage finds from all over SF. Jewelry: vintage pieces, including a Sergio Gutierrez bracelet, Urban Outfitters boots.

Leilani Thompson, Sac State Nursing student

Leilani was just about to hop on the J to the Greyhound station to head back to Elk Grove after visiting family for the weekend. Cardigan: Urban Outfitters. Tank and leggings: Forever 21, Handbag: Nine West, Boots: Bakers

Javier Francis, CCSF Fashion Merchandise Marketing student

Javier Francis, CCSF Fashion Merchandise Marketing student, Javier exits Civic Center Muni heading to the Academy of Arts for a go-see (model casting call.) Leather bomber jacket: Zara. Tee: Hans. Acid-wash denim: Levis. Snakers: True Religion

Bianca Solorzano, SF State Student & American Apparel VM

Bianca Solorzano, SF State Student and American Apparel VM. She was waiting for the 49 to see some friends. Coat: Ruffian. Crop top: American Apparel. High waisted trousers: Vintage. Shoes and bag: Marc Jacobs.

Inspired? The next time you see someone rocking some seriously good fashion, take a picture of them, let them know that it is for Muni Diaries Fashion Friday (and that they look beautiful), and send the picture to us!

Nominate Your Muni Route in GOOD Magazine’s Best Bus Route Contest

Meltdown In Progress
Photo by Troy Holden

The good people at GOOD magazine are having a big Best Bus Route Contest! If a Muni route doesn’t win this contest, then nothing in life makes sense. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. But check it out, a word from GOOD magazine:

Bicycles can be chic, subways artful, but buses? Buses are not exactly the golden child of transportation. They’re more like the red-headed step child: Deep down you know they mean well but they’re just a little harder to love.

Yet public buses are an essential form of transit in cities across the country, and they account for a big chunk of the nearly 10.2 billion trips Americans took on public transportation in 2009. We think it’s time to give a little love to one of the least celebrated modes of transit. To that end, we’ve teamed up with Transportation Alternatives and an impressive group of bus-loving jurors to see and hear why your bus route is the best in America.

What is it about your bus route that you love? Is your bus driver brilliant? Is the view from your window breathtaking? Do your fellow riders characters belong in a Hemingway novel?

Is your Muni bus driver brilliant? We’ve got drivers who threw a party on the bus, decorated the bus with Halloween goodies, saved you from fare-evading hooligans.

Is the view from your window breathtaking? Our Muni Flickr pool doesn’t lie.

Do our fellow riders belong in a Hemingway novel? We’ve got Dali, a chicken, Jack-In-The-Box, and “service animals” riding the bus here in our fair city.

Buses are such a big part of San Francisco that at least two of you even took wedding photos in Muni.

You guys, we Muni riders have this competition in the bag.

If you need inspiration, try the drop-down menu on the right hand side of the page to see stories by line. And meander over to GOOD Magazine to see details to enter.

Hat tip: Streetsblog!

Are Muni Riders Good for Business?

"N" Scale
Photo by Brandon Doran

Are transit riders good or bad for business?

StreetsBlog points us to a report from Columbus, Ohio, where businesses actually don’t want bus riders on downtown commerical streets. The Columbus Dispatch reports that “downtown developers have complained that COTA passengers waiting for transfers … and buses lining the curbs make the area less attractive for retail stores and their customers.”

Some businesses in downtown Columbus claim that bus riders who transfer downtown don’t shop, and that “large numbers of people waiting for a transfer can be intimidating for someone walking down the sidewalk.”

StreetsBlog and the Columbus Dispatch rightly point out the class and race implications in these reports.

Having never been to Columbus myself, I can only guess that maybe the negative attitude toward transit riders comes from the city’s relationship with public transit. In San Francisco, Muni is a must, whereas in other cities it might be cast as some kind of “second-class” transportation. As one of the commenters observed, maybe the problem is with the businesses if these retailers don’t cater to the many people who pass by their storefronts — are they only selling stuff that car owners (and not transit riders) want to buy?

Maybe I am being naive, but I think we live in a town where easy transit access to your business is a good thing?

From the driver’s seat: ‘Sometimes I Miss Driving Muni’

Ed. note: A reader who calls himself Trolleypup and tells us that he works as a Muni supervisor shares his perspective on what it takes to “have happy people instead of cranky people,” especially on Halloween. He even sent us a picture of his train decked out in Halloween fun. – Eugenia

As a supervisor, I describe the job as “Less Stress, Less Fun!”

Not that operating buses and streetcars for Muni is a bowl of cherries all the time, but sometimes you can make your own and others’ day.

So, Halloween: a night that one tries to avoid being out in the mayhem, unless you can be part of it! My schedule request for Halloween was always “Late finish NIGHTS, if not available, early finish DAYS.” And if I got a late night run, I would decorate my bus and wear a costume (adding bits to the uniform, anyway).

One night, I was doing the Halloween Shuttle in the subway — two-car train, back and forth. I had decorated my train in each cab with electric pumpkins, Halloween lights, custom head signs, with me in some sort of costume, Halloween music, and sound effects over the PA. By the end of the night, I was the ONLY shuttle train that without some sort of incident to write up.

Sometimes it just takes a little bit of work to have happy people instead of cranky people. And on an extremely crowded train, that can make all the difference.

Important Lessons from Muni Diaries Live 4


Photo by Breanna Lambert of Scoutmob

More than 150 of you came out to share a night of good laughs, strong drinks, and general fun at our fourth spoken word party Friday night. We learned a few important things from our stellar storytellers.  If the rain kept you away from the fun on Friday night, let’s review:

  1. Never try to skateboard wearing cowboy boots.
  2. It takes approximately 12 people to lift a car off of the Muni tracks.
  3. Reading a low brow book on Muni can give a certain fellow passenger Lit Rage.
  4. Holding onto the handrails with both hands on Muni can have unintended consequences.
  5. Muni Interruptus can ruin your dating life.

What else happened on Friday night at Muni Diaries Live? Let’s see… Read more

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