Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
I mean, you tell me. Can it get worse than THIS GUY?
Ronn Vigh, comedian, Muni Diaries Live veteran, and reigning Muni Haiku champ, brought this to our attention.
“Hey buddy, they got rid of all the bacteria soaked seats on BART. You didn’t need to bring your own!”
Don’t tell him. He’s busy pointing out for all to see just who and what is so awsum about him.
I thought I’d seen all there was to see at a @SFBART station. Then I saw this guy play tennis at Powell. #OnBoardSF pic.twitter.com/yw83pTvvA4
— Nick Josefowitz (@josefow) June 18, 2015
I think of Muni as our public living room, but public gym? This dude is taking the concept to the next level in a little indoor tennis action here. We found this video via Nick Josefowitz, who happens to also be on the BART board of directors. He says, “I thought I’d seen all there was to see at a @SFBART station. Then I saw this guy play tennis at Powell.”
As if your sunny Sunday can’t get any better, here’s a little more happiness for you. Meet Sneakers, the Muni-riding corgi! He can typically be found wearing an owl backpack or pink Godzilla suit, doing very San Francisco things like partying at City Hall, frolicking in the fog, or, of course, waiting for the bus. Sneakers is in good company with the rest of the cute animals riding Muni.
Sneakers’ social media handler informs me that he is on Instagram @sneakersthecorgi. I think I might have even ran into Sneakers at the City Hall party, but I think he was a bit busy saying hi to fans. Next time, my little friend.
Noticed more government types on your daily commute lately? For the last 19 days, some of our city supervisors (and maybe the mayor) have been riding Muni nearly every day as a part of San Francisco Transit Riders Union’s “22 Day Muni Challenge.” Supervisor Scott Weiner is in the lead so far, according to SFTRU’s leaderboard, which is tracking rides of participants who use the official hashtag #onboardsf. The challenge ends Monday, which means the other supes have a few days to really understand what it’s like to be a daily rider. Read more
Photographer Kian Lavi was struggling to keep up with his hobby because, like most of us, his day job always seemed to get in the way. But people like you—Muni riders each with a story of your own—inspired him to start a 100-day photo project that has captured the best of what we love about life on the bus. Lavi has been photographing one rider a day on his commute, and he is just a little more than halfway done. Along the way, he says, “I’ve gotten job offers, heard fantastic stories, and have fallen in love with every person I get to talk to.”
And of course, getting to know your fellow riders gave Lavi a Muni story or two of his own. We chatted with him last week:
What made you decide to do this 100-day project?
I heard about The Great Discontent’s #The100DayProject after reading an article about Michael Bierut, and it made me realize how out of touch with my own photography I had become. I do street photography in my downtime, but without downtime, I’d all but stopped. The project’s prompt to make something, however small, for 100 days caught my eye and has held my attention for over 50 days now. I love people, so it was natural for me to focus my project on the people around me every day.
Model of new LRV built by Siemens | June 16, 2015
Photo by SFMTA photo department