Muni Diaries

A heap of Muni news this week:

• Problem Muni bus shelter in San Francisco’s Tenderloin could be removed (SF Examiner)
• BART Cut Cell Service on Spur of the Moment, Emails Show (The Bay Citizen)
• Dennis Herrera may lose San Francisco Central Subway job (SF Examiner)
• San Francisco fleet’s gas costs (including for Muni) rise as usage drops (SF Examiner)
• Public nudity? Who actually rides Muni? Mayor’s debate reveals all (City Insider)
• 28L-19th Avenue bus stop changes effective Oct. 17 (The Daily Dose)
• Muni passenger punches woman for littering on bus (SF Examiner)

Photo by Scallop Holden

You know that overheard conversations on Muni can be entertaining, but who knew it could solve crime? A savvy passenger who overheard a man on Muni bragging about stealing a cellphone and decided to do something about it, reports Bay City News on SFAppeal:

A man was arrested Wednesday for stealing a woman’s iPhone after a passenger on a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus overheard him bragging about the robbery.

The robbery occurred at 9:12 p.m. at a store in the 3200 block of 20th Ave. in the Stonestown Galleria.

A 24-year-old woman had her iPhone snatched out of her hand by a suspect who then ran out of the store along with another suspect, according to police at the department’s Taraval Station.

Shortly afterward, a passenger on a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus overheard the suspect bragging to a group of people on the bus about a robbery he had committed, police said. The passenger called police, who responded and stopped the bus and detained five people.

Sometimes I wear my headphones while riding Muni even though I’m not listening to music just to see what I can overhear. Occupational hazard? Maybe. But looks like it pays off! Click over to SFAppeal to read about what happened next.