Category: diaries

Clipper cards: Is resistance futile? (update)

45 comments

I had planned on getting my August fastpass on a Clipper card
Photo by Steve Rhodes

Update (2:21 p.m. Thursday): A rep from Clipper has dropped by to reply to some of your comments. Read them all here.

Original post: An interesting conversation started on the Muni Diaries Twitter feed yesterday morning. It concerned the usefulness/headache-causing effects of Clipper. Here are the highlights, in chronological order:

Lol at people who still are resisting#Clipper — if you have a monthly pass its really not that different, maybe even better? — @DevonEleven

@DevonEleven Muni monthly pass doesnt cause the scanner on train to screech incessently if s’one else tries to scan @ same time — @SaraMurphy

@DevonEleven i KNOW! #Clipper is so much more useful. — @firstwavedown

@SaraMurphy true, but I honestly do find a reloadable card more convenient — @DevonEleven

@SaraMurphy &it seems to be a better way of tracking line usage which gives me hope for more frequent/plentiful busses/trains @DevonEleven

@DevonEleven if you don’t have a monthly pass Muni’s even worse… some of us lost our comm checks with the downturn #clipper — @noelleaharrison

That last comment is a sad one. But the rest of the conversation makes us wonder: If you’re a monthly pass-holder who hasn’t made the switch yet, why not? And if you have already got a Clipper card, how are you liking it?

PS: If it’s simply aesthetics that explain your aversion to Clipper, fear not. We’re selling card holders that look like the old paper Fast Passes in our Etsy store.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

Fancy-Pants Reporter: NYC Buses Are Better Than Muni

9 comments


Photo by Jennifer 8. Lee

Oh no you din’t, Ms. 8. Lee.

Chances are you don’t know WTF Jennifer 8. Lee is. No matter. She visited our fair city last week and actually had the gall to declare that she “prefers the NYC” buses to Muni.

Also, I’m glad The New York Times has copy editors. (“Whats with all the brown?” What’s with no apostrophe, more like.)

Okay, you’re right about the brown. Most of us would prefer an orange something along the lines of 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants or something. We’ll see what we can do.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Who Can Outwalk Muni: SF Examiner or Willie Brown?

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Photo by Mike Koozmin/Examiner

Who can walk faster than Muni? Intrepid SF Examiner reporter or Da Mayor?

SF Examiner transportation reporter Will Reisman says that the 30-Stockton is his nemesis, and he took on a personal challenge: “To exact revenge, I decided to best the 30-Stockton, on foot, covering a distance from the bus stop at Pacific Avenue and Stockton Street to Market Street.”

You might remember another man attempting a similar challenge to best the bus. In September 1998, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Mayor Walks, Muni Runs“:

The race began at the Civic Center station at 7:40 a.m. Brown, stung by a Chronicle story on Tuesday that said walking down Market Street was as fast as riding beneath it, said he wanted to give the Municipal Railway another chance. He donned his sharpest Panama hat, Rockport wingtips and orange polka-dot hankie for the jaunt.

Looking at young Mr. Reisman, I can only surmise that his gait may be faster than the mayor and that he may be wearing footwear more appropriate for power-walking than Willie’s wingtip shoes. You can read more about Reisman’s trip at SFExaminer.com.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:
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