Take Muni, Break the Dating Rules

i love you
Photo by Jen Di

Yay or Nay: Should you take your date on Muni?

Perhaps I’m too biased to give an opinion on the matter, but I think taking Muni on a date shows your urban cred. There are a lot of great dates you can go on via Muni, at least according to my quick poll of San Francisco friends:

SFMOMA (half-off Jan. 31 to Feb. 24, open late on Thursday evenings) + Zero Zero: Take the 5, 9, 14, 30, 38, 45, J, KT, L, M, N to SFMOMA. This week you can catch the Henri Cartier-Bresson or the screening of “Voyeurism and Early Cinema.” Hot! Then walk over to Zero Zero for their excellent pizza and very respectable Folsom Street Sour.

F-Market excursion: Take the F-Market to Pier 39 for Trish’s Mini Donuts, digest with a walk on along the Embarcadero, and taste chocolates at TCHO.

Brunch at the Beach: Take the 5, 31, 18, or N to Ocean Beach, have brunch at the Beach Chalet, walk back up through the park, and you can rent paddle boats at Stow Lake.

I’ll throw in one of my own: SF Bookstores Muni tour: take 1, 2, or 38 to Green Apple Books, have lunch at Burma Super Star, then take 1-California all the way downtown, walk through North Beach to City Lights Bookstore, and end your trip upstairs at Vesuvio to talk over your finds.

What other dating rules will you break? Over at the new dating website HowAboutWe.com, there is a Break the Dating Rules contest for San Francisco (voting ends tonight!). People are proposing all kinds of quirky dates, like doing handstands and aerials at the Athletic Playground, performing offensive karaoke songs, and participating in a no-hands pie-eating contest.

One contestant suggested breaking the “don’t eat with your hands” rule by taking a few pounds of Dungeness crab and crawfish from the Boiling Crab and chow down on a dock near the Bay. I think that date should also be accompanied by consuming whiskey-in-paper-bags and throwing crab shells at tourists. Now that’s breaking the rules.

Fair? Muni Drivers Can Keep Jobs Despite Accidents

Muni Accident
Photo by Flickr user Jamison

Some Muni drivers can stay employed despite accidents, and if they aren’t at fault in another accident within 12 months, their records can be wiped clean, SFExaminer.com‘s Katie Worth reports. What’s your take on this?

More than 16 percent of Muni drivers were at fault in at least one accident last year, and a handful of them were in three avoidable collisions in 2010 alone.

But of the 348 drivers who were in preventable collisions in 2010, only seven might be fired.

Those who remain employed have to make sure to avoid being at fault in another accident within 12 months, after which their records will be cleared.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told SFExaminer.com that “Ninety-nine percent have either zero or only one preventable collision, and that’s saying that the vast majority of our operators are exceptional at what they do.” You can read details about how SFMTA deals with operators involved in accidents over at SFExaminer.com.

To be fair, driving a bus is no easy task. The Journal of Occupational Health Psychology calls bus driving “a classic example of a high-stress occupation.” Bus drivers are at risk for health problems due to their working conditions, reports Slate.com. Last month, a woman was arrested after she attacked a New York City bus driver for, as she claimed, “driving too slow,” Slate.com reports. According to a Cornell University study, “over twenty epidemiological studies of city bus drivers reveal excess rates of mortality and morbidity for heart disease and gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disorders.”

Do you think SFMTA’s treatment of drivers in accidents is fair?

Wanted: Your Singing Muni Driver

 

The word on our Twitter stream is that a few Muni operators have been adding some light-hearted fun on your commute:

  • “My Muni driver is announcing all the stops in a Donald Duck voice. It’s kind of amazing.” — @thelynchbox
  • “The 71L bus driver is singing the stops instead of yelling them. So awesome.” — @Grahamcrackersf
  • “This J line operator keeps doing a Donald Duck impression over the PA, and it’s freaking me out.” — @mrfb
  • “I swear my Muni driver is singing out the stops…” — @simplelife9
  • “this 38 Geary bus driver srly thinks she’s a flight attendant announcing every stop and tourist trap in a sensual voice. Lol” — @MMMeliO
  • “in response to people angrily yelling “BACK DOOOR!” on the 49,driver is now repeatedly yelling it into his own mic. Won’t stop” — @kailielaine

 

 

 

In the craziness of getting across town, I can definitely appreciate drivers who have a great sense of humor. Does anybody have audio or video of such entertaining Muni operators to share?

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