Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Photo by SlinkyDragon
The other day over drinks, my friend Blair told me all about her beloved/behated “Phantom Folsom” (the 12-Folsom). I hadn’t heard that one before, probably because I rarely ride that route.
But it got me thinking: Besides the infamous “Dirty 30,” what are some other good Muni nicknames?
A group of 11-17-year-old youth media producers from BAYCAT shot, edited, and produced the movie above. It’s all about SFMTA/Muni.
There’s some fun history from a cable car gripman, and then the movie takes a closer look at the business of getting around San Francisco, for better and for worse.
Kids. These are some of the same kids whose laptops were pathetically stolen last month. BAYCAT, the nonprofit that serves these kids, is hosting a fundraiser to help replace the lost equipment, tonight at Cigar Bar. Help out if you can. RSVP here.
Via Ariel at Mission Mission.
Photo by LiveSoma
LiveSoma took a ride on the newest Muni streetcar line, and wrote about their experience.
I sat at the very front of the car and found the driver, Angel, to be a friendly and great resource for how the waterfront has changed. A longtime resident of San Francisco for over 30 years, he was able to share a magnificent history of San Francisco’s waterfront as we passed the different structures and attractions along the embarcadero. The weather seemed perfect and an ocean breeze drifted into the open windows. The scenic views from the streetcar were lovely and interesting. You could see ships on the bay and colorful and interesting people buzzing about outside.
Read the rest of this fun adventure at LiveSoma. And if you got a chance to ride the line, tell us about it here!
Photo by juicyrai
Spotted on #muni: girl wearing a broken analog watch with no hands – #sohipster #sanfrancisco
— Rachel Egan (@rockegan) August 8, 2012
We asked, what’s next?, and heard this:
“I once saw some girl wearing a CD on a necklace on the 22.” via @LSH
Then this:
“Floppy disk belt buckle?” via @SaraPantera
Which prompted this reply:
“not hipster enough. Needs more vinyl. :p” via @kwpianist
To which we come full circle and ask, what’s next?
Photo by /\/\ichael Patric|{
Kim’s totally unsocial rules:
While much of Kim’s research was done on long-distance bus rides, some of the same conditions apply to intra-city travel. And this rang all sorts of bells for us:
Kim found that the greatest unspoken rule of bus travel is that if other seats are available you shouldn’t sit next to someone else. As the passengers claimed, “It makes you look weird.”
Read more about Kim’s work, including what people tend to do when drivers announce a full bus, here.
How do you handle strangers on Muni and BART?
Photo by foggydave
Not many (most?) of us can say that their mother took them around town on Muni when they were kids. Not so for one of our favorite Muni Diaries commenters, Dexter Wong. Take it away, Dexter:
My mother’s most memorable Muni story is that she was taking me to the doctor on the old B Geary streetcar (I was still a baby.) As we neared our stop, she picked me up (I was wrapped in a blanket) and walked toward the open door. A gust of wind came through it and blew the blanket open, revealing I was barefoot. An old lady noticed me and said loudly, “That baby must be cold!” My mother then covered me back up and got off, saying nothing, but feeling quite embarrassed.
Sweet stuff.