Category: diaries

Confession: I’m a rude newspaper reader on Muni

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Yesterday while on the J train, I thought I’d use my time wisely by reading my Sunday New York Times (yes, yes, I am two days late but it’s only the Style section).  As soon as I took out the paper from my backpack I realized that the Style section isn’t a very stylish and practical read while on Muni. With riders sitting on both side of me and two more people standing right at my knee, I could hardly even turn the page! The guy who sat next to me was reading a compact little novel and gave me a dirty look when I accidentally brushed the side of his face with my unwieldy newsprint.

Thankfully, the lovely ladies at Muni Manners pointed out the correct etiquette for reading the newspaper while in transit. They suggest “folding for minimum impact” by preparing the paper pre-boarding. Brilliant!

– Eugenia

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni

morning hazards

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In one of the more unpleasant wake-up calls I’ve had in a while, I took a pointy high heel (with weight behind it) to the second toe this morning on the F.

There was probably a missed run or an accident up the line this morning, because I had to cram into an already moderately full F. The 30-deep crowd on the island at Market and Main Street all crammed in both sets of doors, which led to the accidental jab to my sandaled foot.

The F has consistently pissed me off, but this is the first time it actually bit back.

Tara Ramroop may never wear open-toed shoes on the F again. Got any Neosporin?

Category: diaries Tags:

burn, baby, burn

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Could this be the solution to all our problems?

Of course, not. But honestly, think about what would happen (and how busy our fire department would be) if people did this every time Muni was late during commute hour.

On a more serious note, think about how many Muni-dependent workers might have this same story:

“Many passengers said the delays, caused by a broken down train, had cost them a day’s work.”

Disclaimer: Muni Diaries is, in no way, suggesting this as a solution to our craptastically unreliable transit system.

Category: diaries, reflection

tales of the 49, part 2

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The two main buses running down Van Ness have a certain je ne sais quoi. Actually, scratch that, I do know what it is: they can’t run properly (i.e., on time) because that street is a horrible place to attempt a move from Point A to Point B.

6:19 p.m.: Time I step on a 49-Van Ness, heading toward the Mission.

7:11 p.m.: Time I step off the same bus and start walking to Jeff’s house.

Summary: I was on the same bus for 52 minutes, mostly on Van Ness, as it crawled along at an infuriating snail’s pace, to go a total of 3.3 miles. To put it in perspective, the 2.2-mile, straight-line leg from North Point and Van Ness to Mission and Van Ness took 40 minutes; 511 Trip Planner says that same leg should take about 24 minutes.

Crappy service on Van Ness is one Muni meltdown that usually isn’t the agency’s fault. Yesterday was especially not its fault, thanks to a brush fire on Yerba Buena Island that snarled traffic on the Bay Bridge and on the Van Ness approach to the freeway. Still, I think we can all agree that it really sucks to be on a bus for an hour.

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Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,

Delicate Etiquette When Giving Up Your Seat

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I was on the 47 Van Ness yesterday following the fire at the Castro station that put KLM etc out of service for a period of time. When a group of riders got on at the Van Ness and Geary stop, I saw that a few of them were perhaps elderly and definitely looking kind of tired. So I got up and gave up my seat because I was getting off at the next stop anyway.

“Ugh! Do I look THAT old?”

I heard a voice behind me as I tried to make my way to the back of the bus.

You just can’t win!

– Eugenia

Category: diaries Tags:

O txtmuni, why hast thou forsaken me?

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That’s what I’ve been wondering the past couple of weeks. Txtmuni, a wonderful little service that you can use with your cell phone to check when the next bus is coming to your stop, suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks ago. Instead of useful displays of how many minutes I’d have to wait for the next death-trap-on-wheels, it would say “no times avail.”

So I dug up a contact for the guy who runs txtmuni, and finally heard from him today. It turns out that Muni changed all the “stop codes” on the Web site — all the data txtmuni was using to get ITS information. And the guy who runs the site just moved away for grad school and won’t have time to fix things on his end for a while. I get that.

However, he says there’s an alternative; NextBus has its own SMS system, with a slightly different syntax than txtmuni’s, but the same basic functionality. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m definitely going to. I’ve come to rely on the ability to use my cell phone to find out how long I have to wait.

So, for those of you who wonder, like I did, what happened to txtmuni, that’s the story. For those of you who didn’t know about these handy services, now you do.

— Beth W.

Beth W. is still wondering why txtmuni never had time information for the 38 line, but it’s a moot point now.

Category: diaries
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