Photo Diary: Back in the Day
Photo by Joel S.
Joel S. on Flickr saw this sticker on Muni that we can definitely identify with. We love old timey shit too, especially transit-related ones (got anything for Muni Time Capsule?)
Weekend Photos: Beautiful Bay
Photo by Aaron Cole
- Mayoral hopefuls had best keep Muni on their minds (Ken Garcia/SF Examiner)
- Prop. G passage means changes loom for Muni perks (SF Examiner)
- Woman Involved in Muni Accident Last Week Expected to Survive (BCN via SF Appeal)
- Supervisor Wiener Calls for Hearings on Historical Preservation, J-Church Line (Fog City Journal)
- New Phase Of Muni Subway Construction Set To Begin (KTVU)
- Case of the runaway Muni bus is under investigation (SF Examiner)
- Board of Supes Resolution Urges Free Muni Passes for Low-Income Youth (Streetsblog SF)
- Muni switchback, service hearings headed for City Hall (SF Examiner)
- It Could Take Up to 5 Days for Clipper Card Value to be Added (Akit’s Complaint Department)
- BART may allow more businesses at stations. Should food and drink policy be revised? (SFGate/SFAppeal/SF Examiner/SFist)
Muni Time Capsule will be back next week with another piece of our transit history. If you have a story or artifact from back in the day, be sure to let us know.
And don’t forget to “like” the Muni Diaries Facebook page, where a lively discussion is underway about how Muni rules are a lot like the unspoken rules in the men’s bathroom about which urinal to stand…
With that, enjoy these photos and have a great weekend!
Photo by Keoki Seu
Photo by Troy Holden
Photo by Thomas Hawk
Photo by Michelle Chandra
Found! Singing Muni Driver
It’s like Christmas morning here at Muni Diaries headquarters.
The good folks at Tenderloin Geographic Society found our white whale, and in so doing, have made our week, our month, our year with the video above. Thanks, guys!
But the rest of you 71 passengers, don’t take this as a case-closed signal. Gluttons that we are, if you’ve got more audio or video of this mobile baritone, share it here on Muni Diaries!
Take Muni, Break the Dating Rules
Photo by Jen Di
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
Photo by Flickr user Jamison
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?
Meanwhile, on Muni
David Lytle on Flickr captured this shot of adorable riders.
Share what you saw on Muni today in our Muni Photos Flickr pool.