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.")

North Beach Muni Riders Win OK Go Concert

For the last two months you’ve seen the Yahoo! Bus Stop Derby games all over town, pitting neighborhoods against one another for a free OK Go concert. We even tested out the game and pitched a few points for the Mission and Pac Heights. Alas, we were no match for the fierce bus riders waiting in North Beach, who edged out all the other ‘hoods to win a free concert this Saturday at the SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut Street).

From the folks at Yahoo! Bus Stop Derby:

The entire city is invited to rock out on the rooftop at the SF Art Institute, from the toughest competition (Mission and Tenderloin—so close!) to the slightly less tough (Noe Valley, thanks for playing). Come enjoy a variety of street food, games, and mingle with your fellow neighbors on February 5, starting at 3:30pm. Concert doors open at 5:30pm—but come early, since only the first 800 people will get wristbands to the show.

P.S. Take the bus. Parking at the block party is very limited so hop on the Muni (nearby lines: 45 Union/Stockton, 30 Stockton, and 41 Union) or ride your bike.

Will there be treadmills or puppies on stage with OK Go, or will the band incorporate some Muni antics into the show? Only one way to find out!

(Hat tip: FunCheapSF.com)

Weekend Photos: Beautiful Bay

Beautiful Day
Photo by Aaron Cole

While people in the East Coast sniffle about being stuck in inches of snow, it’s always beautiful here in the Bay, especially this week! Meanwhile, in Muni news:

  • Mayoral hopefuls had best keep Muni on their minds (Ken Garcia/SF Examiner)
  • Prop. G passage means changes loom for Muni perks (SF Examiner)
  • Woman Involved in Muni Accident Last Week Expected to Survive (BCN via SF Appeal)
  • Supervisor Wiener Calls for Hearings on Historical Preservation, J-Church Line (Fog City Journal)
  • New Phase Of Muni Subway Construction Set To Begin (KTVU)
  • Case of the runaway Muni bus is under investigation (SF Examiner)
  • Board of Supes Resolution Urges Free Muni Passes for Low-Income Youth (Streetsblog SF)
  • Muni switchback, service hearings headed for City Hall (SF Examiner)
  • It Could Take Up to 5 Days for Clipper Card Value to be Added (Akit’s Complaint Department)
  • BART may allow more businesses at stations. Should food and drink policy be revised? (SFGate/SFAppeal/SF Examiner/SFist)

Muni Time Capsule will be back next week with another piece of our transit history. If you have a story or artifact from back in the day, be sure to let us know.

And don’t forget to “like” the Muni Diaries Facebook page, where a lively discussion is underway about how Muni rules are a lot like the unspoken rules in the men’s bathroom about which urinal to stand…

With that, enjoy these photos and have a great weekend!

Tiny bubbles
Photo by Keoki Seu

Respect My Bus
Photo by Troy Holden

Outbound
Photo by Thomas Hawk

Inner Sunset Muni Lines
Photo by Michelle Chandra

Take Muni, Break the Dating Rules

i love you
Photo by Jen Di

Yay or Nay: Should you take your date on Muni?

Perhaps I’m too biased to give an opinion on the matter, but I think taking Muni on a date shows your urban cred. There are a lot of great dates you can go on via Muni, at least according to my quick poll of San Francisco friends:

SFMOMA (half-off Jan. 31 to Feb. 24, open late on Thursday evenings) + Zero Zero: Take the 5, 9, 14, 30, 38, 45, J, KT, L, M, N to SFMOMA. This week you can catch the Henri Cartier-Bresson or the screening of “Voyeurism and Early Cinema.” Hot! Then walk over to Zero Zero for their excellent pizza and very respectable Folsom Street Sour.

F-Market excursion: Take the F-Market to Pier 39 for Trish’s Mini Donuts, digest with a walk on along the Embarcadero, and taste chocolates at TCHO.

Brunch at the Beach: Take the 5, 31, 18, or N to Ocean Beach, have brunch at the Beach Chalet, walk back up through the park, and you can rent paddle boats at Stow Lake.

I’ll throw in one of my own: SF Bookstores Muni tour: take 1, 2, or 38 to Green Apple Books, have lunch at Burma Super Star, then take 1-California all the way downtown, walk through North Beach to City Lights Bookstore, and end your trip upstairs at Vesuvio to talk over your finds.

What other dating rules will you break? Over at the new dating website HowAboutWe.com, there is a Break the Dating Rules contest for San Francisco (voting ends tonight!). People are proposing all kinds of quirky dates, like doing handstands and aerials at the Athletic Playground, performing offensive karaoke songs, and participating in a no-hands pie-eating contest.

One contestant suggested breaking the “don’t eat with your hands” rule by taking a few pounds of Dungeness crab and crawfish from the Boiling Crab and chow down on a dock near the Bay. I think that date should also be accompanied by consuming whiskey-in-paper-bags and throwing crab shells at tourists. Now that’s breaking the rules.

Fair? Muni Drivers Can Keep Jobs Despite Accidents

Muni Accident
Photo by Flickr user Jamison

Some Muni drivers can stay employed despite accidents, and if they aren’t at fault in another accident within 12 months, their records can be wiped clean, SFExaminer.com‘s Katie Worth reports. What’s your take on this?

More than 16 percent of Muni drivers were at fault in at least one accident last year, and a handful of them were in three avoidable collisions in 2010 alone.

But of the 348 drivers who were in preventable collisions in 2010, only seven might be fired.

Those who remain employed have to make sure to avoid being at fault in another accident within 12 months, after which their records will be cleared.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told SFExaminer.com that “Ninety-nine percent have either zero or only one preventable collision, and that’s saying that the vast majority of our operators are exceptional at what they do.” You can read details about how SFMTA deals with operators involved in accidents over at SFExaminer.com.

To be fair, driving a bus is no easy task. The Journal of Occupational Health Psychology calls bus driving “a classic example of a high-stress occupation.” Bus drivers are at risk for health problems due to their working conditions, reports Slate.com. Last month, a woman was arrested after she attacked a New York City bus driver for, as she claimed, “driving too slow,” Slate.com reports. According to a Cornell University study, “over twenty epidemiological studies of city bus drivers reveal excess rates of mortality and morbidity for heart disease and gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disorders.”

Do you think SFMTA’s treatment of drivers in accidents is fair?

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