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.")

Look out for a new glass canopy at Powell and Civic Center BART stations

June 4, 2015 eugenia 5 comments

Powell and Civic Center BART stations are getting a new do’, in the form of new glass canopy entrances along Market Street.

The designers’ rendering of the glass canopy is above, which you might have seen if you were being an A+ San Franciscan and attended the community event back in April. According to BART, Market Street will eventually (as in the next 10 years) have 30 new canopy entrances to product stations and escalators from weather damage and “improve station security and escalator durability.”

Don’t hold you breath yet, though. Construction for the new entrances is slated to begin toward the end of next year.

In other BART news, the San Francisco Chronicle is taking down circulation kiosks at BART stations, according to Mission Local. Oh, it’s the end of an era.

h/t: SFist, San Francisco Chronicle.

Category: BART, News

Iguana on Muni thinks he’s a cat

June 3, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

iguana-on-my-head-muni

My insider knowledge tells me that this is how all cat ladies wake up in the morning, with their felines on their head. I had no idea iguanas behave the same way.

This iguana hitched a ride all the way from its house onto Muni, and both the iguana and his owner seemed extremely relaxed about it. I can’t be sure that this is Charlie, or Charlie’s cousin, who is not to be confused with Skippy, the iguana of Wall Street Journal fame. But his athleticism is none the less impressive.

More of the Muni zoo this way, everybody.

Photo by @snacks_in_the_grass

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: animals

Video: Country band sings the tragic tale of Charlie and the SFTMA

June 2, 2015 eugenia One comment

At April’s Muni Diaries Live, Mesquite and Mustard sang the tragic tale of Charlie and the SFMTA and what happens when the bus fare jumps up just a little more than you realized. Look closely: The band also has the most amazing Muni-themed shirts (and bolo tie!) west of the Mississippi.

The band also impressed all of us with some awesome fiddling, mixed in with funny (and nearly real) Muni stop announcements. Bet you never imagined this!

This performance was recorded at Muni Diaries Live at the Elbo Room on April 18, 2015. More from that night:
Muni driver Doug reveals behind-the-scene stories
SF native Yayne Abeba’s childhood on the bus

Follow Mesquite and Mustard on Twitter @mesquitemustard.

Category: Muni Diaries Live, Muni Diaries Live Shows Tags: muni diaries live

Supes and mayor ride Muni and take selfies in 22-day challenge

June 1, 2015 eugenia One comment

Starting today and for the next 22 days, you can count your city supervisors and even the mayor as fellow Muni riders. Today marks the first day of San Francisco Transit Riders Union’s “22 Day Muni Challenge,” which challenges city officials to ride Muni for 22 days straight just like us. Could there be a Muni Diaries story from one of these supervisors in the near future? We certainly hope so!

In 1993, San Francisco voters passed Proposition AA: “City officials and full-time employees [shall] travel to and from work on public transit at least twice a week.” But the proposition was never enacted upon. The 22-day challenge signifies the 22 years since the proposition passed, according to Ilyse Magy of the SFTRU. The SFTRU even created a leaderboard to track the number of rides of participants using the official hashtag #onboardsf.

Participating supes already started with a slew of Muni selfies, including John Avalos‘ very dramatic ride (known to the rest of us as our daily Muni workout) this morning.
Read more

Category: News

Giant Bubble Wrap Dare on Muni

May 29, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

Muni rider Kim is on his way to bubble wrap all the things! I ran into Kim on the 38-R as he boarded the bus with his enormous cargo. He was nice enough to let me take a photo of his bubble wrap, but I didn’t ask him if I could pop a bubble because that would just be creepy, right?

Turns out someone else on the bus was equally impressed with Kim! Here’s a shot by Muni rider Lorena from the back of the bus.

Congrats, Kim, you have officially entered the Muni Diaries Strange Cargo Hall of Fame. You’re in good company with this styrofoam mountain and taxidermy deer head.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: 38L-Geary, strange-cargo

Tonight: amazing SF photography outdoor exhibit

May 28, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

This evening you can see some of our favorite San Francisco photographers display their work in a properly gritty, urban setting. City At Large II is an outdoor photography exhibit where photographs are enlarged up to 8 feet tall and installed onto brick walls using only wheat paste. The effect is pretty stunning, thanks to these five photographers:

Emmanuel Blackwell
Rian Dundon
Dave Glass
Troy Holden
David Root

You might recognize Holden, whose Muni photos you’ve seen here regularly. You’ll also see photos from the 1960’s to 1990’s by Dave Glass.

City At Large II is located in the parking lot across the street from Adolph Gasser Photography on 181 2nd Street. The opening reception is tonight 5-7pm. RSVP here and we’ll see you tonight!