Muni Diaries

Photo by FlickringAbility

We spend a good portion of every day (and night) getting from point A to point B on the bus, and it’s time to gab all about it…in person! Next Friday is our fourth Muni Diaries Live at the Make-Out Room. We have an exciting new addition to our lineup: Andrew Lam, NPR commentator, the author of East Eats West, and two-time winner of Literary Death Match. We’ve also got a surprise guest: an ex-Muni insider. You’ll have to come and find out who it is. So permanent marker this in your calendars for next Friday — we want to see your happy faces.

This week, Muni was disrupted by a signal problem at the Embarcadero station, a fire on Hyde street, gas leak at the Castro station, and a police car crash (into a utility pole).

In other Muni news:

• Muni Mess means more maintenance (City Insider)
• SFMTA Considers Issuing Bonds to Finance Capital Projects (Streetsblog SF)
• Muni’s service disruption hearing set for Nov. 2 (SF Examiner)
• Ending 25 Cent Fee for Muni Tickets Costs $2.13 Million Yearly (Akit’s Complaint Department)
• Muni debt plan to free up cash (SF Examiner)
• Streetsblog SF‘s take on Fix Muni Now/Prop. G

I unearthed some terrific photos from our Flickr pool last night, from Christina’s morning shot inside an N to FlickringAbility’s gorgeous foggy night photo of two Muni operators. Enjoy these photos, and have a great weekend!

Photo by Christina

Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch

Photo by carwashguy_99

Photo by Bhautik Joshi

Photo by FlickringAbility

Photo by Shannon K

SFMTA sent this service alert a few minutes ago:

As of 12:54 p.m., regular service on the following Muni bus routes has been affected due to an SFPD evacuation caused by a gas leak in the vicinity of 18th and Castro streets. Also, Muni Metro service both inbound and outbound is not stopping at Castro Station as a precaution requested by the SFPD.

24 Divisadero
33 Stanyan
35 Eureka
37 Corbett

Service on these routes must reroute around the area until the evacuation has been cleared.

Muni Metro customers are advised to use Church Street station instead of Castro at this time.

PG&E has been called to the scene.

Updates will follow.

Photo by AgentAkit

The day is upon us.

As we first reported back in early August, SFMTA is phasing out all paper Fast Passes, beginning with the Muni/BART-in-SF “A” pass at the end of October. If you’re an “A” passholder and haven’t already, Akit has great information on when/where/how you can get a Clipper card with your pass loaded onto it. Good luck for a smooth transition. No, really. You might need it.

Streetsblog SF has more on next week’s transition from Fast Pass to Clipper. Be prepared, folks!

Photo by Tenderblog

The TenderloinNob just can’t catch a break the past couple of days. A massive fire destroyed 824 Hyde Street this morning — entire blocks are still closed off, and the 27-Bryant, 2-Clement, and 3-Jackson are still being rerouted. The photos of the blaze are pretty terrifying — Tenderblog has pics from the fire and the evacuation. Elia at the Tenderblog told us that the Red Cross used Muni buses to evacuate people, as you can see from the photo.

The Red Cross is setting up shelter for the 75 people displaced by the fire, according to SF Appeal. They’ve gathered people initially at the St. Francis Hospital lobby before the shelter is set up.

More coverage of the fire from Tenderblog, SF Appeal, ABC 7, and KCBS.