Author: 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.")

Who Rants About Commuting More: Boston vs SF?

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You might think Muni riders reign supreme when it comes to ranting about our public transportation, but rider Andy C sent over a tip: Bostonians put the T in hateraid. According to Andy:

The Metropolitan Massachusetts Boston Transit Authority recently started selling MBTA-themed gear (a way to close a budget gap?). Based on some rider suggestions to the Boston Globe, it would appear that Muni’s problems are unique.


In response to the MBTA’s online store, the Boston Globe challenged their readers to come up with slogans for transit-themed goods. The Boston Globe’s Top 25 Readers’ T Slogans sound a little like how we talk about Muni: “Raising Your Blood Pressure since 1964” and “America’s First Subway and Still Operating Like It.”

Ouch.

Got some merchandise ideas for Muni? Comment away!

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Meanwhile, on @munidiaries

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Photo by @amber_kit

The @munidiaries Twitter feed runneth over with the ins and outs of your daily commute. Blink and you might miss @amber_kit‘s picture of a man who brought his own seating on the bus (above). In case you aren’t a Twitter fiend like we and @munidiaries‘ 3300+ followers are, we’ve picked out this week’s best tweets.

Meanwhile, on @munidiaries:

@bryceyadolphson: If the hipster with the open mouth coffee mug spills on me… its gonna be Battle: SF.

@rockbandit: Homeless dude on Muni now giving tickets to women for “being too pretty.”

@ladue: Last night on the 22 bus, a crazy woman got on and proceeded to take up the entire front row of seats with her teddy bears. #muni

@lifebeginsat30: #Muni driver just cutely picked me up in the middle of the block. He: “You looked at me, you smiled, I had to give in.”

@andreaprete: Forgot my crochet stuff so today on Muni I’m gonna imagine who on the train can wear a bow tie w/o looking like a tool.

Follow us on Twitter and tweet your Muni ride to @munidiaries. Your tweet might end up here next week!

Category: diaries

Scratching an itch on Muni

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Photo by purpletwinkie

Katie posted a story on her Tumblr blog (A Streetcar Called Taraval) that had me covering my face in laughter and horror. Read on:

So I’m riding a 71 from downtown with my boyfriend. At Sixth street, a woman begs the driver, “I don’t have any money, I just need to go to the hospital!” The driver doesn’t have time for her story, so he lets her on without fare. She sits in the designated seating, spread across three seats. She’s wearing an ankle-length skirt. She has a stained T-shirt stretched over pendulous breasts that reach her navel. She has a shock of bright pink hair and is about 5’3” and 350. It’s late December, and she’s smiling and wishing a Merry Christmas to all of the riders.

All the locals summarily ignore her because we’re used to sixth street crazies on the bus. Then she starts itching her leg. She works her skirt up a little bit and claws at her calf. Whatever. A couple of tourists get on the bus with their muni 3-day passports. They look like a young couple from New England. The woman wishes them a drunk “Merrrrry Christmuss!!” and smiles. They awkwardly exchange a holiday greeting back. This woman has since moved on to itching her inner knee…. Her skirt is hiked up a little bit more, so she can reach it. She’s still overflowing with holiday cheer.

Finish reading Katie’s story on A Streetcar Called Taraval.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,

Bus Bridges Running During Muni Delays (updates)

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Embarcadero Station
Photo by David Lytle

Update (3:22 p.m.): SF Weekly says that SFMTA promises a fail-free evening commute today. We’ll just see about that, won’t we?

Update (2:26 p.m.): SF Appeal reports that, according to SFMTA, this morning’s mess was the result of damaged cables. The problem was fixed at 10 a.m. this morning, according to SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose. Read the rest of the story at SF Appeal.

Original post:The exact cause of this morning’s delays at the Embarcadero Station is still unclear, and it looks like we won’t find out for another few hours. The delays started early this morning, affecting inbound and outbound trains that feed under Market Street.

KRON 4 reports:

Muni spokesman Paul Rose says once the morning commute is over, repair crews will go to the Embarcadero Station and assess what’s going wrong. Rose wouldn’t estimate the length of the delays but says bus bridges are also running along Market Street to cope with the extra number of passengers.

SFMTA says that a mechanical issue might be causing the problem. Deja vu much? SF Appeal reports:

According to SF MTA spokesperson Paul Rose, “we’re still moving, we’re just going slowly” at the Embarcadero station, where he says mechanical issues are, yet again, delaying service.

Riders are understandably frustrated, especially loudly on Twitter, notes the SF Examiner. You can, of course, request a late note from the station agent like Kath did this morning. Genius, Kath!

We’ll keep you updated here on the status of the delay.

Category: News

BART Seats: Officially Gross

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Photo by Jared Zimmerman

Muni seats: officially less gross. Well, at least on the molecular level.

Muni seats are cleaner than the cloth seats on BART, which carry bacteria resistant to antibiotics, the Bay Citizen reported yesterday. Citing laboratory tests of swabs from BART seats done by an SF State biologist, the Bay Citizen says the results showed several antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains living in the infamous blue cushioned seats.

In two separate tests, [SF State biology lab supervisor Darleen] Franklin identified characteristics of the MRSA bacteria growing in the seat. The first test confirmed the presence of staphylococcus aureus, the skin-borne bacteria. A second confirmed that the bacteria, like MRSA, was resistant to the antibiotics methicillin and penicillin. But a third test intended to isolate the MRSA bacteria was negative.

MRSA is known as the “superbug” because it is resistant to antibiotics. It infects people through open wounds, attacking the immune system; 19,000 deaths each year are related to MRSA infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You might have read a couple of gross stories on Muni here (hell, we even have our own crowd-sourced dictionary of Muni aromas), but according to the Bay Citizen’s report, Muni seats are actually cleaner.

Franklin’s analysis also revealed that Muni, which uses acrylic plastic seats, appears to be more sanitary.

She tested a seat on the No. 28 bus, a route frequented by college students traveling from San Francisco State to Daly City. Two benign bacteria colonies were found. Unlike the BART seat analysis, Franklin’s test of the Muni seat after cleaning it with an alcohol wipe detected no bacteria.

Read the entire Bay Citizen article (“BART Seats: Where Bacteria Blossom“).

BART is asking what kind of seats riders want when the system upgrades its trains in the next few years. What do you propose?

Category: BART, News
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