Important Things: Giant Styrofoam

@RitaBookNews tweeted us this gem the other day, with this title: “Woman brings a huge, life-size piece of Styrofoam on Muni?”

Question-mark, indeed.

We lament the 500 breaches of Muni etiquette that flew out the window so this thing could have a seat(s). But it does look damned comical just sitting there. Perhaps these are the beginnings of a Halloween costume? It reminded me of Ol’ Drippy from Aqua Teen Hunger Force in its blobularness.

Spotted something cool (balloon animals) or ridiculous (see attached) on your ride? Talk to us about it @munidiaries.

See Muni Diaries Live!

Twice a year, we bring you Muni stories live on stage in San Francisco. Our stellar storytellers spin tales from the bus, just like we do on the site, on the internets, and IRL, day in and day out. If you want to be in the lineup for the next Muni Diaries Live please contact us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. In the meantime, […]

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Edible Gifts From Muni Drivers

A gift from the MUNI driver (only in sf):

The above photo shows a gift received from a Muni operator, according to jasontoff, who took the picture. Nice photo, but, it raises the question: Would you eat a gift like candy from a Muni driver? Is this like that creepy neighbor who only wears sweatpants and hands out apples at Halloween? You know, turn it over to mom first for inspection? Or, is it … kinda totally rad and a great-day-maker?

Well, what would you do if a Muni driver gave you some candy?

Nominate Your Muni Route in GOOD Magazine’s Best Bus Route Contest

Meltdown In Progress
Photo by Troy Holden

The good people at GOOD magazine are having a big Best Bus Route Contest! If a Muni route doesn’t win this contest, then nothing in life makes sense. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. But check it out, a word from GOOD magazine:

Bicycles can be chic, subways artful, but buses? Buses are not exactly the golden child of transportation. They’re more like the red-headed step child: Deep down you know they mean well but they’re just a little harder to love.

Yet public buses are an essential form of transit in cities across the country, and they account for a big chunk of the nearly 10.2 billion trips Americans took on public transportation in 2009. We think it’s time to give a little love to one of the least celebrated modes of transit. To that end, we’ve teamed up with Transportation Alternatives and an impressive group of bus-loving jurors to see and hear why your bus route is the best in America.

What is it about your bus route that you love? Is your bus driver brilliant? Is the view from your window breathtaking? Do your fellow riders characters belong in a Hemingway novel?

Is your Muni bus driver brilliant? We’ve got drivers who threw a party on the bus, decorated the bus with Halloween goodies, saved you from fare-evading hooligans.

Is the view from your window breathtaking? Our Muni Flickr pool doesn’t lie.

Do our fellow riders belong in a Hemingway novel? We’ve got Dali, a chicken, Jack-In-The-Box, and “service animals” riding the bus here in our fair city.

Buses are such a big part of San Francisco that at least two of you even took wedding photos in Muni.

You guys, we Muni riders have this competition in the bag.

If you need inspiration, try the drop-down menu on the right hand side of the page to see stories by line. And meander over to GOOD Magazine to see details to enter.

Hat tip: Streetsblog!

From the driver’s seat: ‘Sometimes I Miss Driving Muni’

Ed. note: A reader who calls himself Trolleypup and tells us that he works as a Muni supervisor shares his perspective on what it takes to “have happy people instead of cranky people,” especially on Halloween. He even sent us a picture of his train decked out in Halloween fun. – Eugenia

As a supervisor, I describe the job as “Less Stress, Less Fun!”

Not that operating buses and streetcars for Muni is a bowl of cherries all the time, but sometimes you can make your own and others’ day.

So, Halloween: a night that one tries to avoid being out in the mayhem, unless you can be part of it! My schedule request for Halloween was always “Late finish NIGHTS, if not available, early finish DAYS.” And if I got a late night run, I would decorate my bus and wear a costume (adding bits to the uniform, anyway).

One night, I was doing the Halloween Shuttle in the subway — two-car train, back and forth. I had decorated my train in each cab with electric pumpkins, Halloween lights, custom head signs, with me in some sort of costume, Halloween music, and sound effects over the PA. By the end of the night, I was the ONLY shuttle train that without some sort of incident to write up.

Sometimes it just takes a little bit of work to have happy people instead of cranky people. And on an extremely crowded train, that can make all the difference.

Important Lessons from Muni Diaries Live 4


Photo by Breanna Lambert of Scoutmob

More than 150 of you came out to share a night of good laughs, strong drinks, and general fun at our fourth spoken word party Friday night. We learned a few important things from our stellar storytellers.  If the rain kept you away from the fun on Friday night, let’s review:

  1. Never try to skateboard wearing cowboy boots.
  2. It takes approximately 12 people to lift a car off of the Muni tracks.
  3. Reading a low brow book on Muni can give a certain fellow passenger Lit Rage.
  4. Holding onto the handrails with both hands on Muni can have unintended consequences.
  5. Muni Interruptus can ruin your dating life.

What else happened on Friday night at Muni Diaries Live? Let’s see… Read more

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