eugenia

Eugenia Chien has been eavesdropping on the 47, 49, or 1 lines since the mid-90's. She lives by the adage, "Anything can happen on Muni" (and also, "That's not water.")

BART Plans to Order New Cars in May

January 12, 2012 eugenia 3 comments

Byebye, gross cloth seats and BART cars that smell like…you name it.

Last summer we told you about the proposed new BART cars and seats. Today SFGate reports that BART plans to order the first batch of these cars in May.

BART plans to buy a slick new ride – 260 new rail cars – for about $1 billion in May. The cars will sport a sleek modern look, cleaner seats, digital information displays, even air conditioning that works on hot days. And if transit officials are pleased, and can come up with another $2 billion or so, they’ll buy another 515 cars.

Don’t get too excited, though. After BART orders the new cars and the contract is awarded, the first of the test batch of new cars may arrive at the beginning of 2015.

Read the rest of the report.

Category: BART, News

Three Bloggers Walk Into BART…

January 10, 2012 eugenia Leave a comment

And the journey turns into the best BART ride ever.

From Brokeass Stuart, who always knows how to turn on the fun:

We were all coming back from Allan’s (from MissionMission) birthday in Oakland. Ariel (also from Mission Mission) started doing flips on BART and eventually there were like four people doing them at a time. It was awesome!

See the rest of the acrobatics (and the romantic connection they inspired) at MissionMission.

Category: BART, diaries, Photos

Muni Diaries Live Full Lineup

January 9, 2012 eugenia Leave a comment

Illustration by Jay Sacher

You won’t believe who will be spinning Muni tales at the next Muni Diaries Live! On Saturday, Jan. 21 at the Elbo Room, you’ll be hearing stories from these amazing storytellers:

Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries and editor of The Rumpus.
Sal Castaneda, longtime KTVU traffic reporter and radio host.
Glynn Washington, executive producer of NPR’s Snap Judgment.
Caitlin Gill, comedian and spoken-word artist.
Chloe Veltman, host and producer of public radio’s VoiceBox.
Pinched Nerve. San Francisco musician who will be performing his song, “Back Door, Step Down!”
Jan Richman, author of Thrill-Bent, a new novel about roller coasters and Tourette’s syndrome.

Don’t forget to ready your stories for the audience-participation portion. You might just win a bag from San Francisco’s own Timbuk2, a $50 gift card to Tacolicious, or cool (temporary) tattoos from SFLocal.net.

We’ll have transit goodies for sale by Secession Art and Design, and everyone in our audience gets a special show discount on Muni Diaries shirts and wallets.

This is gonna be good. We can’t wait to see you there.

Muni Diaries Live
Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St stations

Sat., Jan. 21, doors: 6:30, show: 7 p.m. Tickets: $12.
~~Buy advance tickets~~

Invite your BFFs on Facebook

Event photography by Right Angle Images.

Category: Muni Diaries Live, News Tags: announcement, muni-diaries-live

A Sneak Peek at the Next Muni Diaries Live Lineup

January 6, 2012 eugenia Leave a comment

Photo by Mike D

We have an exciting lineup for Muni Diaries Live on Jan. 21, and here is a sneak peek at some of the performers you’ll see on stage at the Elbo Room, spinning tales of life on public transit.

You’ll see Stephen Elliott — You know him from The Adderall Diaries and The Rumpus. But now you have to hear about what happened to him on the bus.

You’ll also see comedian and spoken-word artist Caitlin Gill, who tells one hell of a dirty haiku at Tourettes Without Regrets.

We’ll reveal the rest of the lineup in a few days, but in meantime, get your tickets now!

Muni Diaries Live
Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street
San Francisco
Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St stations

Sat., Jan. 21, doors: 6:30, show: 7 p.m. Tickets: $12.
~~Buy advance tickets~~

Category: Muni Diaries Live, News Tags: announcement, muni-diaries-live

Drunk Man Stabs Another With a Fork on Muni

January 5, 2012 eugenia One comment

Photo by malinky

Another piece of news from the “you can’t make this shit up” files, SF Weekly reports that a drunk passenger stabbed another drunk man on Muni in the nose…with a fork.

From SFWeekly:

According to police, one rider’s tip through North Beach ended in a trip to the hospital after two drunk men got into a brawl, which involved, of all things, a dinner fork.

At about 2:30 a.m., an inebriated man was “yelling and screaming” on the bus, which was traveling along Columbus Avenue. The loud man was getting on his neighbor’s nerves and another drunk man told him to shut the hell up.

And because alcohol, testosterone, and Muni don’t seem to mix well, it wasn’t surprising that the two drunk passengers got into a fight. Instead of pulling out a knife, the suspect brandished a fork and stabbed the victim in the nose.

SFWeekly has the exciting conclusion to this story. Hint: it’s meal-themed.

Category: News

Watch Out For Your Parked Bike at BART Stations

January 4, 2012 eugenia One comment

Photo by K. Todd Storch

Vic from MissionMission had his bike stolen on BART last week, even though he did everything right. After reporting the theft, Vic got some advice from BART police.

I took away the following advice from them:

Write down the serial number of your bike. You’ll need it if your bike is ever recovered. Seriously, do it now. Put it in your phone or something.

Powell street BART is most secure. Due to people traffic and location of the bike area, they have had the least amount of theft there.

Don’t park a bike in public for more than a couple of hours if you expect to keep the bike. Get a beater.

Write BART about improving bike security. They don’t listen to the BART cops, they do listen to you. You can do so online here.

Vic also had some great suggestions for BART to improve bike security. Read all about his saga at MissionMission.

What tips do you have for fellow bicyclists?