52-Excelsior: Center of the Universe?

4 comments

52 EXCELSIOR / Persia + Prague
Photo by dannyman

I. Narges has this delightful story to share (and to think, just yesterday, Eugenia asked “What does Muni say about San Francisco?“):

I live in the Excelsior, at the top of the hill near McLaren Park. On days when I commute on BART, I sometimes take the 52 Excelsior for my uphill homeward trip, although the recent service cuts can mean a wait that’s longer than my total walk home.

Monday night, I saw by the Next Muni sign that I would have a very long wait for the bus, so I decided to start walking. I was carrying several heavy bags, my knee hurt, and it was foggy and windy – not a great evening for the 9-block schlep up the steep hill to my house. I was moving slower than usual, so when I got to Silver and Mission, I checked the sign at the bus shelter – 9 minutes for a 52. I decided to sit down and wait for it.

As soon as I did, I realized that I didn’t want to spend the next 9 minutes inhaling second-hand smoke from the kid standing directly upwind – and I didn’t want to move my tired, sore self from the bus shelter seat, either, so I asked him to move downwind. He turned around, and the last thing I was expecting to see was a sunny smile, but that’s what he gave me as he said “I’m sorry, I don’t speak English” (in quite passable English).

I made myself understood, he moved downwind, and I was settling back in to wait when he popped back, saying “excuse me, can you help me?” and brandishing a map. Now, I was not in the best mood, but he seemed very harmless, I had time to kill, and I never mind giving directions. I had a hard time understanding him at first – his accent was odd, though he spoke well – but figured out that he wanted to go to Prague Street. He didn’t know the cross, but Prague is only 5 blocks long, and he said he’d be able to find his way once he got there. As I was wondering why this clearly foreign visitor wanted to go to a random residential block in the Excelsior, he explained that he was an Argentinian on day 1 of a 3-month English language course, and was staying with a family in the neighborhood.

As it happened, the best way for him to get where he was going was the 52, so I told him to get on the bus with me, and showed him the sign that said the next bus was coming in 3 minutes. Read more

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

What does Muni say about San Francisco?

8 comments

03.bus
Photo by Flickr user Omer Simkha

What do experiences on public transit say about a city? I started thinking about this question when I was on a bus in Rome last week, having just arrived from the airport with my parents. We sat across from a fashionable Chinese woman in a purple dress who seemed like a local. As my parents and I conversed in Chinese about whether we were on the right bus, I looked over to the woman to see if she understood us. She eyed us briefly and took out her cell phone to make a call, speaking in accented Italian. Well, fine, I guess she doesn’t speak Chinese after all, I thought.

The next morning as I was walking under the 90 degrees heat to the Coloseum, who do I see but the same woman from the bus, leading a group of Chinese tourists, speaking in fluent Chinese to explain the history of the Coloseum! I pretended not to recognize her.

The experience on the bus really soured me for a moment on Rome. This leads me to wonder: what kind of impression on our city do visitors get from riding Muni?

Category: diaries, reflection

Last Chance to see Muni Art at Secession This Friday

Leave a comment


Art by Nate1

This Friday is your last chance to see Outbound, a collection of transit-related art curated by Eden Stein at Secession Art and Design in Bernal Heights. We had a blast with you at the gallery opening last month and look forward to wrapping up the show with Eden and the amazing artists in the collection this Friday!

Details:

Happy Hour at Secession
Friday July 23, 2010, 6:30 – 9:30pm

OUTBOUND: Street art & design shows off its symbols, colors, and shout outs to culture at Secession.

Both sides of the Bay represent! The link that holds the bay together – transportation, bridges, media, and graffiti. Our gallery remixes graf into art for your home. Spray paint, stencils, and signature looks make each hand-picked item in our collection a must-see.

Category: News Tags:

‘Almost Generous’ Muni Theft

2 comments

February 1981 Fast Pass
Photo by Flickr user Steve Rhodes

Just today we posted about a phone theft on Muni, San Francisco Examiner reports that a group of thieves let a victim keep her Muni pass:

A woman who was robbed by three males at a bus stop at Geary Boulevard and Spruce streets at 5:20 a.m. on July 11 asked her aggressors, who had snatched her purse, if they could let her keep her bus pass and identification card, according to Richmond Station police.
…

In the end, however, the suspects appeared to have heeded her request. They ran off with a cell phone and credit cards, but then gave her back her purse before fleeing on Geary Boulevard, police said.

Read the rest of the story at the San Francisco Examiner.

Wow, I guess the Fast Pass price hike gave the thieves a tiny dose of sympathy?

Category: News

Muni thefts can happen anywhere, anytime

9 comments

Muni Accident At 3rd And Market

Whole Wheat Toast shares this cautionary tale.

Yes, you’ve heard it all the time. Be careful with your fancy electronics such as phones while on the Muni, especially while you’re riding through a sketchy part of town or on a sketchy line. But that caveat is becoming less and less the case.

I was on the 1 heading westbound coming home from Western Railway Museum today (7/16). The bus (5616) stopped at Sproule Street. Then, out of nowhere, a lady screams, “Help! That guy took my phone!”

I turned my head toward the window and saw a man who looked like he was in his 20s, with a hairstyle of Gavin Newsom (without the gel) and looked like Yvan Attai (the taxi driver in Rush Hour 3). Other than that, he was wearing a black sweater turtleneck and black jeans.

After he ran off, the lady ran after him only to stop short of the alley. A couple of people from the bus went to her, and deliberated on what just happened. The rest of the bus, however, was talking about how young he looked.

What about the driver? Oh, he didn’t do anything except he answered a passenger’s question of what happened. No call to Central Control. Nothing.

After a minute, we pulled off, and as I looked into the alley, I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I run after him?” The answer was not common sense, but it was because I felt an anger, an unexplainable, intolerable anger.

So, a word of caution: NEVER EVER EVER USE YOUR PHONE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT. NOT EVEN ON COMMUNITY SERVICE ROUTES. The lowlifes who roam Muni all day looking for someone to prey on make me sick. And I’m sure they make you sick too. That is, unless you’re one of those lowlifes.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:
1 … 639 640 641 642 643 … 801