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.")

Muni Double Berthing Starts This Sunday

May 20, 2015 eugenia One comment

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You know that frustrating minute when you’ve arrived at your station and you’re just sitting there waiting for the passengers in the train in front of you to get out? Well, no more of that. Muni is set to start double berthing this Sunday, allowing loading and unloading of passengers of multiple trains at the same time. SFBay’s Jerold Chinn chatted with SFMTA’s Ed Reiskin, director of transportation.

From SFBAy:

Normally, trains inside the Muni Metro have to be in the first position at the station platform to let passengers in and out, which can be a frustrating experience for passengers who can safely get off, but can’t…Though the second train will open its doors in the second position, it will also continue to stop in the first position to pick up and drop off passengers, the transit agency writes on its website.

Double berthing begins in select stations this Sunday. Let us know how it goes for you!

Photo by @sharonhanhdarlin

Category: News

Best Tattoo That Shows Your SF Local Cred

May 20, 2015 eugenia One comment

And here’s the best way to show how much you heart San Francisco forever. This tattoo was spotted at Dolores Park by @gtiewh02 on Instagram. You can’t describe what it’s like to live in San Francisco without making Muni one of the essential characters. We’ve found a few more amazing Muni tattoos:

Muni transfer tattoo honors family, Bernal Heights
Tattoo honors driver dad
Muni makes an appearance in tattoo declaring San Francisco love

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Amazing Photos Inside the Central Subway Tunnel

May 19, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

Crews have finished the digging for the 1.7 mile Central Subway Tunnel, which will house the T-line in 2019. ABC7 took a tour of the tunnel and captured some amazing photos of your $241M at work.

An onsite engineer took the news crew through the tunnel (look for him in the photo below).

Check out the rest of the subterranean photo shoot (and video), and more on reporter Wayne Freedman’s Twitter feed (@waynefreedman) too.

Category: News

Video: Muni Driver Reveals Behind the Scenes Stories

May 18, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

Doug has been driving Muni for 17 years, so he’s really seen it all. In this Muni Diaries Live video, he shares stories about being a Muni driver, including secret hand signals, tricky fare boxes, and how a Muni driver can tell if you’re really ready to ride this bus. Doug still has his “day” job working nights on the Mission Street buses, including the 49-Mission. He’s written two books about driving Muni. His first book, The Dao of Doug: The Art of Driving a Bus or Finding Zen in San Francisco Transit, is a behind-the-scenes look at being a Muni driver, with his philosophy on how to maintain dignity and peace when the going gets tough.

Find Doug’s books here.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs, Muni Diaries Live, Muni Diaries Live Shows

Clever Bay to Breakers Costume Shows Pain of Riding Muni

May 18, 2015 eugenia Leave a comment

This is quite possibly the most San Francisco Bay to Breakers costume ever. This awesome woman dressed up as “Muni Doors Closing”, reppin’ the daily annoyance that only Muni riders can understand. Cue the annoying beeping and eye rolling from fellow passengers! And more props to her for running a 12K in this get up. Thanks to Lindsay N for the photo.

Got more “only in San Francisco” moments? Tag us on Instagram @munidiaries!

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs, Photos

From the Vault: Paper Muni Fast Passes Through the Years

May 14, 2015 eugenia One comment

Image courtesy samsast

Before Clipper cards came into your life (“Translink” for you transit OGs), we marked our calendars by the monthly unveiling of the colorful paper Fast Pass. The paper Fast Pass was discontinued in 2011, and today we’re bringing back some of our favorite old Muni passes through the years. From the Muni Diaries vault:

Ken Schmier is the man who came up with the concept of the Fast Pass. He’s also the mind behind NextBus. Strange, right? But also, not. This happened around 37 years ago, to the best of our knowledge. The first passes went on sale sometime in 1974. The earliest we could find an image of (below) is October 1976.
In a blog post from Chronicle Books, designers for the book publisher lamented the lameness of the Clipper Card look, and paid homage to the beauty of the paper pass.
In 2009, local artist John Kuzich opened his Fast Pass exhibit at the de Young Museum. Kuzich asked for people’s passes on Craigslist, then assembled them on panels in really interesting and beautiful ways.

Photo by Cranky Old Mission Guy