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.")

May Post of the Month – No More Bunnies

One comment

Sorry, emo bunny, I don't have food for you

After a day of some Interwebs hiccups on the site, we are finally back! We looked back at the most popular diaries you submitted in May, and the Post of the Month award goes to… No More Bunnies!

I really wish I’d been there to witness Laura’s story:

There was a man standing near the wheelchair guy loudly talking on his cell phone with someone who he later claimed was at his job, but I’m pretty sure I heard him address them as “Mom” at one point. I couldn’t figure out what he was referring to, but it involved complaining repeatedly about “cats and bunnies.” For about three minutes, it was “bunnies” this and “bunnies” that, until finally the wheelchair man became so irate that he literally screamed, “I DON’T GIVE A F*** ABOUT NO DAMN BUNNIES! SHUT THE HELL UP, MAN!”

Read the rest of the story.

Ah, this is exactly the kind of conversation that makes Muni awesome. I still want to know what was with the bunnies, though.

Got your own story to tell? Submit it to us. For June we will have a reader’s poll so you can vote for the Post of the Month. Power to the people!

Photo by Flickr user Benimoto.

Category: diaries Tags:

Muni Mind Reader: The Bigot

Leave a comment

The Shouting Balloon Finally BurstThis week’s crystal-ball installment of Muni Mind Reader channels a voice that you might have heard before on the bus — the opinionated bigot who loves to spew his spiel on the unlucky bus rider next to him. For the grouch, there is no “inside voice” and the Muni bus is his perfect soapbox where you have no escape. Well, not until your stop comes up anyway.

Good afternoon!

You look like a fine, upstanding citizen, one with a sound mind and solid principles. I am just certain you won’t mind if I drop a little of  my hate-filled agenda on you. In fact, I have no doubts whatsoever that you are 100 percent in agreement.

Now don’t you say anything at all. I know a person by just looking at them what they’re thinking and what they’re all about. And well, the second I got on the bus, I just knew you were on the same page as me. Can’t put my finger exactly on it. Maybe it’s because you smiled at me or moved your bags off the seat next to you so I could sit down.

Read more

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags:

Breastfeeding on the 71L

5 comments

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

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: , ,

30 Injured in 71 Haight-Noriega Crash

Leave a comment

71 Haight Noriega

Thirty people were hurt, many seriously, in the Muni bus crash on Market and Jones last night around 8 p.m., according to CBS5, SFist, the Examiner, and our usual local media sources. The 71 bus crashed into another car, both going east on Market, reports the Chronicle (via Bay City News).  Seven people were taken to the hospital and 23 were treated at the scene, Muni spokeswoman Kristen Holland told CBS5. The driver has been put on non-driving status.

We’ve reported about several past Muni crashes (F vs Zip car, N vs vehicle,  Muni blocking intersection). Earlier this year, an ex-Tribune reporter died from Muni accident injuries. We learned last year that Muni has paid out nearly  $66 mil to “people who allege injuries, fatalities, and property damage caused by the agency’s transit fleet.” Muni has reportedly been cracking down on their safety records.

So what the hell happened? The cause of the accident is still under investigation. No word yet on who was at fault. If you’ve got pictures or were around the scene, email us, tweet, or comment below.

Photo by Flickr user backofthebuspodcast of a 71-Haight/Noriega on a better day.

Category: News Tags:

Douche bag alert and regulation

6 comments

Cigar guyMy colleague Jeff and I were finishing up our drinks at 83 Proof around Midnight, last Thursday night-Friday morning – big shout out to Hazel and Mark, btw – after a hectic night of editin’, paginatin’ and copyeditin’ for the SF Examiner. While plotting our next move, Jeff suggested we go to the Toronado since we were going to the Lucky 13 – our regular Thursday night watering hole – the following night to drink with Muni Diaries’ own Jeff Hunt and Tara Ramroop, who are celebrating their recent engagement (Like it hasn’t been mentioned on Muni Diaries a hundred times already, but, I digress). So I says, “Since you want to go to the Toronado, I suggest we take the 6-Parnassus, cause it’ll drop us off right out front.” After some haggling and debate over the length of time the 6 will take versus the underground, Jeff acquiesced to my suggestion, and what a great decision that turned out to be.

With “trusty” nextbus on my cell phone, I saw that we had 5 minutes to catch one at Market and Battery streets. Five minutes turned into about 6 or 7, but the bus did come (thankfully) and we got on. I sat in the seat on the driver’s side that has that extra leg room, just behind the first row that faces forward. Jeff sat on the seat behind me, and at this time, we were the only passengers on the bus. As we head down Market, stop to stop, the usual mish-mash of folks slowly amble on, from the young man with the drum sticks and faux-hawk, to the late-shift restaurant workers getting off work, to the quiet, silent types with their headphones and glasses, to the crackhead who had a hard time getting his fare together who then sat behind the driver not far from the young man with drum sticks and proceeded to sing and talk to himself trying to make eye contact with everyone in the front of the bus. This caused young man with drum sticks and faux-hawk to move to the back of the bus, opposite the driver’s side, to the seats that face each other. He sat in the row facing the front of the bus. A couple stops later, wanna be alpha-male and overall-slick mother fucker douche bag gets on the bus.

Read more

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, reflection Tags: ,
1 … 286 287 288 289 290 … 303