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.