Muni driver gives new meaning to “express bus”

31ax
Photo by Tom Prete

Ever wonder what the Road Runner has been doing since his retirement from television? Here’s your fellow Muni rider Jenni with more:

Today’s ride home on the 31AX at first had me annoyed, but by the time I got home I was laughing hysterically. You see, the driver is an unnecessary horn honker. Not honk, actually – it’s not rude – just two short beeps. Car double parked? Beep beep! Pedestrian maybe thinking about stepping somewhat close to the edge of the sidewalk? Beep beep! Car changing lanes? Beep beep? Car on the right? Beep beep? Car on the left? Beep beep! Car in front? Beep beep! Nothing at all? Beep beep! Ambulance coming through the intersection? You guessed it: Beep beep! Didn’t even slow down. Niiiice.

The other passengers seemed to be equally amused…

Wow, not even for an ambulance?

31AX

Clearly, the “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” adage is not Muni Diaries’ style. Usually. But today, we have something nice to say.

The 31AX (express service running between the Outer Richmond and Financial District) earned itself some kudos today. By the time it showed up at my stop on Balboa at 28th Avenue (at 8 a.m.), it was packed. But the beautiful part is that at Park Presidio, it stops picking people up. It zooms along, down Geary, then down Bush, to get this busload of people to their jobs downtown. Even in spite of the full bus, it was still punctual, pleasantly quiet and got me to downtown in a record 30 minutes. I had more than enough time to stop and grab coffee during my walk up Sansome to the Wharves, and I felt fantastic because of it.

Getting to work on time, reliably, is one of the biggest beefs I have with the system these days. But I might be less inclined to strangle people and pen angry letters to Muni HQ if the limited service runs continue performing as well as they did today.

Is an increase in express lines the answer? Think and discuss.

-Tara