Coffee Spill on Crowded 71L

muni coffee
Photo by anitakhart

Muni rider Michelle W. observed some exemplary behavior on the 71L-Haight/Noriega Limited the other day when a man spilled his coffee. One point for humanity.

This morning, a man spilled his coffee on one of the new hybrid electric buses. He asked for newspapers from passengers, got none, so he took off his shirt and mopped up the mess. Kudos to him, wherever he is now.

That is pretty sweet. Could it be the same mighty good man we spotted earlier this year?

The King of Pop Is Alive and Well on the 71L


Photo by peskaour

100 Muni StoriesSome people sing on Muni. Some Muni drivers sing on Muni. Many are annoyed by this. Not Josiah.

@josiahq: Dude singing MJ on the 71L. Monday #winning thus far.

Don’t stop ’til you get enough, Josiah.

Submit your 100 Days, 100 Muni Stories to commemorate Muni’s centennial this year. The four best will be included in ads on every single Muni bus later this year.

Ew de Muni: Fried chicken and formaldehyde

Jeez.
Photo by Flickr user adotjdotsmith

This olfactory delight by Mary Stream arrived in our inbox the other day:

Here’s a smell vignette from last night’s (July 14) 71L ride home:

At Fillmore and Haight, a senior Asian man gets on with two large containers of Popeye’s chicken. The chicken smell fills the bus causing one man in the back to yell “Hey, who’s serving chicken up front. Remember us back here.”

When the bus turns on Lincoln by UCSF Medical Center, an intern (name tag so indicated) got on and sat beside me. He smelled of formaldehyde.

What a great combination of smells (gag): Fried chicken and formaldehyde!

Got a story to tell? Funny, gross, gripe? Send it our way.

Breastfeeding on the 71L

On est bien chez sa maman

In March, we posted a photo of a woman breastfeeding on the J-Church. The post prompted a lot of comments on either side of the public-breastfeeding debate. We learned that it is perfectly legal (of course, why wouldn’t it be?) to breastfeed in public in California — in fact, it is illegal to prohibit anyone from doing so in a public place. But what’s legal might still be considered out of the norm, as you can see from this email that we got from Mary today.

At 5:15 p.m. last night, the 71L was packed with the usual mixed clientele of workers, tourists and street people. At Van Ness a woman with small baby in front carrying pack got on the bus. She was offered a couple of seats as she passed toward the back of the bus, but she said she would stand. She had a cover over the baby, but as she passed me I could see from the side she was breast feeding the baby.

About four stops later the bus driver, woman, stood up and asked that the woman with the baby come forward. She did. After the bus driver spoke to her, she turned around and said to everyone, “Hey there’s no pornography going on here so you can all relax,” as she made her way back through the bus to where she had been standing. As she spoke to the woman accompanying her, she said the driver said several passengers had complained about her showing her breasts.

Unbelievable. It took me back 40 years to when I was breast feeding my son in the reception area of UCSF Medical Center and a security guard came and asked me to go to the restroom to feed my son. Yes, I had a blanket over him and me and “nothing” was showing.

So the most natural and best of motherhood is still not acceptable on Muni in San Francisco.

And as all this played out, two very intoxicated men stood over me swearing and carrying on a very drunk conversation about sex with some tourist woman they had met.

And Muni wants me to pay $1 more a day for this ride!

– Mary Stream

Good for the driver to stand up for this mom. I’m surprised that passengers would have complained to the driver about the mother showing her breasts. If you’ve been a reader of this blog or if you’ve been on Muni at all, you’d know there are plenty of other things to complain about besides breastfeeding.

Photo by Flickr user Raphael Goetter