Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Because we observe the ancient adage that what cannot be unseen by one must be shared on social media/the Internet with all, we bring you the above. Toe shoes are one thing*; paired with fuchsia leg warmers, they are another thing entirely.
h/t Muni rider Genevieve
* A big, big “No.”
The talk of the town this week was all about that sleek new alternative to Muni as your chariot of choice (and affordability). What better way to show which transit system is clearly superior than our weekly celebration of shit that happens, you guessed it, #onlyonMuni?
This week’s Things on Muni is brought to you by proud fellow Muni riders @Just_a_SF_girl, @ImekaSF, @SANEofTheFix, @Horsehead102, and @pinkhandgrenade. Do yourself a solid and follow Muni Diaries on Twitter today.
Update: A quick phone call to Courtesy Tow, who performed the removal seen above, confirms that the bus did, indeed, break down. It’s hard out there for a pimp bus.
Original post (March 19, 12:02 p.m.): Well, this is embarrassing.
While any number of words can be used to describe this unfortunate situation, such as “irony” or “schadenfreude,” it’s a little weird that this Leap bus broke, right? Did the people on it have to use Muni? Muni certainly doesn’t refund your cashola if the bus breaks (LOL!), but would the premium bus refund that premium fare? Or does it just roll out a red carpet as you exit the spotless vehicle? That doggie-looking logo is pretty cute, though, we reward points for that.
Previously (as in, yesterday): New private bus wants you to avoid the crowded 30-Stockton, Blue Bottle coffee optional
Photo by Yarbs, on Spear near Howard
Taking Muni used to be an equalizing experience in San Francisco, but new ride-share apps are making public transit optional for people who’d rather not stand with the masses. A new pay-per-ride service is launching in the city today, with Blue Bottle iced coffee and hipster-appropriate wood paneling as the backdrop for morning selfies. For $6 a ride, Leap buses will take commuters from the Marina to the Financial District during peak hours. The company bills itself as the “Virgin America of buses.”
The area served by Leap’s bus line has “a high concentration of people who work downtown and a high concentration smartphone users. We’re particularly interested in serving areas where it’s tough to get a seat on public transit, and surge pricing is too high for daily use,” says Kyle Kirchhoff, founder and CEO of Leap.
The launch is not Leap’s first go-around in San Francisco. The company is launching the same proposed service today, more than a year after a scathing editorial in 2013 that called Leap a “selfish disruptor.” San Francisco also has seen other private bus apps like Loup or Chariot, which has four lines and offers a $93 monthly pass.
To be fair, private jitneys like Leap, Loup, or Chariot have sometimes been the basis of our current public transit system. SFist put it best: “While this all may seem ugly and capitalist in an era when Muni needs all the help and financial support it can get, it should be noted that many of Muni’s routes were, at one time (pre-1912), run by private entrepreneurs and were only later absorbed under a single system.” So this may not be all bad news in the long run, right?
With the proliferation of these private buses, life on Muni could start to look really different, and that scares me. When we started Muni Diaries seven years ago, public transportation felt like the great equalizer. We all had to get from point A to point B, and Muni was the only viable way for most people. Taxis were unreliable, parking was inconvenient and expensive, and bicycling wasn’t always an option. As a daily commuter, I saw a cross section of San Francisco whenever I got on the bus, and I loved it. Interactions on Muni helped us learn about one another and added layers to our experience of living here.
Sure, you might complain about WTF behaviors on Muni (hello, dude gulping Franzia), but you also see moments that restore your faith in humanity. Who wouldn’t want an impromptu Happy Birthday serenade on the bus?
There were always people in San Francisco who never rode the bus because they can afford to take cabs or drive to work and pay for parking every day. But that used to be an option only for the very rich. Now there are a lot of alternatives for people who make enough money to forgo public transit altogether. With life in San Francisco looking more and more segmented, who will be left to advocate for public transportation?
Our transit problems don’t come with a simple tech solution, but I’ve seen some creative attempts like the BART Twitter forum, the SFMTA Hackathon, and of course, this year’s TransportationCamp (maybe it should be a requirement for VC’s and business school grads?).
There’s no denying that it sucks when the bus is crowded and uncomfortable. It’s highly unrealistic to say that you should ride Muni just so you can learn about humanity. There’s a market for better public transit, but does the solution have to be a smart phone app for a private bus with bar stools and Blue Bottle coffee? I should hope not.
The Onion drew a great deal of “ha ha ha ha…awwwwww oh…man” from all San Franciscans with Man with Serious Mental Illness Committed to Bus, and it’s stealing y’alls’ material once again with a new, very real-sounding anthropological classification of “weirdos within subway ecosystem.” To whit:
The people riding the bus are like 99 percent of our inspiration for doing this silly little website. This week’s nominees are …
This week’s Things on Muni is brought to you by fellow Muni riders @elphant_, @TheresaGarnero, @mamcart, @cool_becca_, and @thegreatzone. Follow Muni Diaries on Twitter and contribute to next week’s roundup.