Loretta: Muni bus driver, guardian angel

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America
Photo by Thomas Hawk

100 Muni StoriesLast night I fell asleep riding the 49 inbound up Van Ness around 9 p.m. Fell asleep BAD. Like I’m surprised no one checked my pulse to see if I was still alive (well, maybe they did and I just slept through it). When I woke up, I realized I had missed my stop at Jackson by several blocks and raced out the door. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that my phone, which I had been holding when I fell asleep, was no longer with me. I panicked, but there was no way to catch up to the bus.

I got to my friend’s house, and used his phone to call mine. Nobody picked up, and I expected the worst. It was a hat-trick in the worst way: the Giants get shut out by the A’s, I miss the season finale of LOST, and my cell phone is now being kicked around an empty bus. But awhile later we got a call from Loretta, the Nicest Bus Driver on the Planet. She had found my phone, and rather than sending it to lost and found—where she insisted it would have been gone forever—took it with her.

Today I met her on her route and she returned it to me. I tried to give her some cash as a thank you, but she wouldn’t accept it. Anyways, Loretta, you saved the day! Thank you!

Caitlyn

Category: 100 Muni Stories, diaries, reflection Tags:

Watch Your Arm on Muni!

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Muni at Church
Photo by Flickr user Joey.Parsons

Rider Fannie saw a scary incident this morning at Church station:

Around 8:45 a.m. I got on a train that was quite full, after waiting for three full trains to pass by at peak rush hour. Then, this chick got her arm stuck in the door. Like in the sliding track…her left arm and elbow. I watched her scream with hysteria. Originally, she’d been very busy trying to cram on to the very full train, and getting angry. I would have helped her, but there were more than three people already trying to do so.

Somehow, they got her arm out. She had a pretty big bruise on the bone of her elbow…She was distraught (and I would be too).

They made us get off. (As in, empty out the entire two car train)

And some of us filled out information cards (as witnesses).

And then waited for two more trains before getting on.

Lesson learned: Muni vehicles are not worth (almost) losing a limb over.

Yikes. I’ll remember this the next time I try to jam onto a train…

Category: diaries Tags:

‘That One’ Comes to Town

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Danboard & President Barack Obama
Photo by 邪恶的正太

Despite the fact that Warren G. Harding died here in 1923 (of pneumonia) and Gerald Ford suffered an assassination attempt (Sarah Jane Moore, released from prison in 2007) here in 1975, Barack Obama is pressing his luck and visiting Baghdad by the Bay tomorrow.

Why do we care? Well, not only are we still wearing our Obama T-shirt (hey, it’s almost laundry day!), but this presidential visit will cause some minor Muni disruptions. Street closures from 11 a.m. Tuesday to noon Wednesday include:

· 4th Street from Market Street to Mission Street
· Mission Street from 3rd Street to 4th Street

Affecting service on:

· 8X /AX/BX Bayshore Express
· 14 Mission
· 14 L Mission Limited
· 14 X Mission Express
· 30 Stockton
· 45 Union-Stockton
· 91 Owl

Feel free to line up along the route and ask for a public-transit bailout.

Category: News

Audio diary: Mel’s early ’90s party bus

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Photo by Chipmonkey (^o^)

Stories are stories, and the internet is nice enough to let us listen to them as well as read them. For those of us in too much of a hurry, or simply too lazy to let your eyeballs scan and decipher the words here, that’s a bonus.

Stephanie from NPR’s Snap Judgment captured some of the stories told on-stage at our last Muni Diaries Live event. This one, by Mel, concerns a vivid memory of a cloudy ride on the N-Judah.

Have a listen, and let us know whether you like the audio diary format:
Mel’s party bus

Category: diaries Tags:
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