Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
BART rider and Glen Park resident Beth sends us this charming story of a 4-year-old boy who had a wish, and that wish was fulfilled.
Yes, please.
Just the other day, I was in a grocery store and remembered what a freaking joy it was each year to dream up what I wanted on my birthday cake. For me, it was things like the shark from Jaws or, more often than not, anything Star Wars-related. But this kid’s choice, well, takes the … cake?
Thx: Beth and Glen Park News
Photo by DavidTakesPictures
Need a little cheerful pick-me-up? Here you go.
We want to see San Francisco and Muni through your camera lens! Don’t forget our Flickr Muni Photos pool.
Photo by Telstar Logistics
Update (August 4, 7:36 a.m.): Chris Roberts has a nice gallery and story up about the Transbay Terminal over at SF Appeal.
Update (August 3, 12:20 p.m.): California Beat has a great article detailing the history of the terminal, along with more awesome photos.
Original post:
The building will soon be demolished to make room for a high rise and high-speed rail station. In the mean time, you’ve got to check out the photos from the last official tour of the Transbay Terminal.
Check out those antique Corn Flakes, all those goddam payphones, the bar set with Martini glasses and a shaker or two, a drunk tank (no comment), all from the set taken by the talented Telstar Logistics, who also took the photograph above.
Photo by James Vonbaron
I was on Muni headed to Church one afternoon. It was packed, but not like sardines (as it is sometimes). There was a girl next to me who seemed so sweet and a short old man comes on with his MJ t-shirt and dark thick sunglasses. He can’t find a seat so he stands next to the girl and begins to sing into her ear, “I’m only going to break,break…your heart”(obnoxiously!).
I felt bad for the girl. A man offered a seat for him to sit in (probably in hopes that he would stop singing), but the old man sat down and stopped singing. I got off my exit and a few steps back I heard the old man shouting out the song again. I picked up the pace and exited the station.
If you’ve been living under a rock or listening to some other over-played song on the radio, here’s Taio Cruz’s Break Your Heart, just for good measure. – Eugenia
I was walking along California on my way to the bank on Friday when I spotted a bunch of tourists getting off of the cable cars. Guess who was waiting for them?
Too bad I had to rush off before the bank closed. The funny thing was that nobody batted an eye. Jack was looking at his phone the whole time…videotaping people’s reaction, perhaps?
Photo by shandopics
This diary teeters on the edge between tragic and comic. This driver is Tara’s Newman. The Muni system in the far northeast corner of San Francisco is her white whale. Read on …
Thursday after work, I saw the 47 idling at a red light before turning left at the corner of Beach and Powell. Great: I’m a few steps from the route’s origin, and the light’s still totally red. Surely, if I knock on the door (the bus was technically still touching its stop), I’ll be let on with plenty of time for everyone to be on schedule.
Nope.
The driver acknowledged my knock with a step-back motion, confusing me a bit, then continued to sit there for a few seconds until the light turned green.
And then she left.
I’ve booked it to the second stop before with good results (knowing that the bus has two more lefts to make before it gets there), so I indignantly jogged as best I could with a full gym bag, a yoga mat, and a purse. I was the horse and this bus was my carrot. Surprisingly, I made it to the outside back of the bus at that second stop. A guy stood on the stairs for a second before boarding, then I watched the doors close and the bus roll along.
There is no goddamn way she didn’t see me the second time, which made it even worse. I fumed via voicemail at the stop; yeah, I was that girl screaming obscenities into a phone while toting a peppy pink yoga mat. Welcome, tourists!
It got me thinking of what a driver once said to late arrivals; you can either get on the bus as it leaves a stop, or you can have the bus stay on schedule, but you can’t have both. Is it really one or the other? I’d hope it would be more case-by-case than that, personally.
Tara is saddened, almost to the point of tears on some days, that her only transit options away from Fisherman’s Wharf elude her so regularly.