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.")

T-Train Derailed in Muni v. Semi Collision

t-train collision
Photo via Jett S

In what is unfortunately not just an action-movie scene, a Muni light rail vehicle collided with a semi in the Bayview this afternoon, derailing the LRV by “several feet.” Rider Jett S. sent us the photo above.

According to the SFPD, the semi made an illegal u-turn; Jett notes that this intersection has a no-left-turn sign, visible in the pic. Some 20 people were injured in the collision and 11 were sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to SFPD spokesperson Albie Esparza.

From the SFPD:

Preliminary investigation revealed a Muni LRV traveling north bound 3rd street towards downtown SF (inbound). A semi truck also traveling north bound 3rd in the lane of traffic made an illegal left hand turn onto Innes from 3rd street in front of the LRV. The Muni LRV and the truck made impact and the train was derailed off the tracks by several feet.

The area is closed from Jerrold to Hudson along 3rd street at least for the next hour.

People are advised to take alternate routes and modes of transport as this will impact the evening Friday commute.

The driver was not yet cited at this time until the conclusion of the investigation.

KCBS has more photos and videos here. We hope everyone will be just fine.

Update
Aaaand it looks like a not-so-good day for Muni collisions today. Another collision earlier today on Geary and Webster between a Muni bus and a dumpster truck sent another 20 people to the hospital around 1:30 p.m. The SFPD says none of the injuries appear to be life threatening.

How Does SF Stack Up in FiveThirtyEight’s Transit Study?

fischer-baum-datalab-public-transit-map-24
Map by Reuben Fischer-Baum via FiveThirtyEight

The data wizards at FiveThirtyEight.com combed through lots of transit data across cities in the United States to see how cities stack up in transit use. At first glance, San Francisco was No. 2 (uh…appropriately?) in transit trips per resident, ranking our public transit system the second most used in the United States, right behind New York City.

FiveThirtyEight’s Reuben Fischer-Baum asks, “Do certain regions tend to support better public transit, or is this just a product of city size and density?” When he separated the maps of large cities against smaller cities, the answer might surprise you. Go to FiveThirtyEight’s story to see which small city actually ranked first in transit quality.

Related: Earlier this year, Walk Score rated SF’s public transit poop number two as well. A trend emerges!

4 New Unofficial Rules on Muni

muni f car by lynn f
Photo by Lynn Friedman

According to you guys on Twitter, there are some new important unofficial rules on Muni.

1. Don’t ever ask why it smells like rotten fish. (via @meganjelene)

2. When the bus is empty, for god’s sake, don’t sit next to someone. (@ericshin)

3. Summer officially begins when tourists take Muni to Fisherman’s Wharf (@c_vogelsang)

4. People who talk on speakerphone on Muni are the worst (and will be publicly shamed?). (@KaiKronfield)

What’s your Muni fight club rule? Inquiring minds want to know!

Mystery face sculptures found at Muni bus stop

muni stop face
Photo by danny_frield

Have you seen those strange smiling plaster faces around town, popping up between bike racks and on sidewalks? There’s one in FiDi on Sutter between Kearny and Montgomery, one along Clarion Alley, and one that Bernalwood‘s neighbor Ned saw all over Cortland Avenue. Now we’ve found another one at a Muni stop in Noe Valley, courtesy of danny_frield.

Spoiler alert: MissionLocal says that the smiling faces are by artist Bruce Hallman, and you can take one home if you’d like!

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