Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You(r Muni neighbor)

Jesse was recently, well, bemused on Muni. Here’s why.

I got up to ask the Muni driver if he thought the bus was going to make it to upper Market since the street looked like it was blocked off up ahead. As I was doing this, the crazy guy boarded the bus (an F Bus, btw, since there was something wrong with the streetcars) and started answering my question with “yes, yes, we’ll make it to Church St.,” which in hindsight is somewhat interesting because Church was my destination. Crazy guy and I both went to sit in the sideways seats at the front of the bus. I noticed there were two quarters on his seat just as he sat down on them.

I said to him, “Hey man, you just made 50 cents,” as I pointed to the quarters. Without looking at them, he reached back and grabbed them from practically under his ass and held them in his tightly closed fist. He said “Here, I can tell you the dates on them.” Then he seemed to concentrate for a second, and said “1977…1995.” He opened his hand and we looked. He was right on both accounts. “I can always predict dates on coins,” he explained. That was just the beginning.

Other topics of conversation covered:

  • His Superior Court murder case was dismissed.
  • He is turning 41 next week.
  • Everyone has transistor radios.
  • Fuck his dad.
  • His family is trying to kill him.
  • He can predict the date on coins. (see above)
  • His mom died at 57.
  • This is his first day without heroin or methadone.
  • He only wears Element shoes but doesn’t skate anymore.
  • Fuck his dad for ducking him for his whole life.
  • This city is pissing him off.
  • His last name rhymes with Bolinas.
  • The guy sitting across from us might be his dad.
  • He’s got to leave this city before he kills someone again.
  • His family is everywhere, even in City Hall.
  • Theres photography studios everywhere, and that’s how he knows how to find his dad.
  • He can tell that he and I are on the same wavelength.
  • Oh, and fuck his dad.

There’s a little something for everyone in that story, we think. What’s your Muni story?

K, L, and M Muni Metro lines to West Portal are down (updates)

Final update (7:25 a.m., next day): SF Appeal reports that Muni Metro is running again following repairs overnight.

Update (9:36 p.m.): SFGate now reports that crews will work throughout the night to restore power to the damaged lines. SFMTA spokespeople hope to have service running before the morning commute.

Update (5:57 p.m.): SF Appeal reports that a semi brought down the wires that are causing the delay. According to 511.org, the delay persists as of now.

Original post: SFGate has the story.

Serious question: Would you spend the night in a Muni streetcar?

A Dutch company would have you do just that. Well, sorta.

Muni rider Randy shared this one with us. Located north of Amsterdam, the Controversy Inn* converts old streetcars into rooms that it leases out to people who sleep. It’s a novel concept, sure. But it has us wondering whether such an idea would have legs this side of the pond.

What do you think? If a renovated, cleaned, out-of-service old Muni streetcar were available to spend the night in, would you do it? I mean, at least on Controversy Inn’s streetcars, there actually is a toilet on board. Right?

*Warning: Ugly website ahead

Muni News: BART lawsuit, Tube retrofit, Muni money


Photo by Octoferret

  • Lawsuit over S.F. fatal shooting by BART police (SFGate)
  • Lawyer For BART Goes On The Offensive Against Fatal Shooting Lawsuit (BCN via SF Appeal)
  • Next stage of Transbay Tube retrofit set to launch (BART.gov)
  • Will SF’s Leaders Turn Transport Policy Innovations Into Lasting Change? (Streetsblog SF)
  • Muni considers fees for home developers (SF Examiner)
  • Building BART cars overseas adds insult to cost (SF Chronicle’s Mattier and Ross)

Wanted: Photos For MSR’s 2013 Calendar


Photo by blarfiejandro

Market Street Railway is a favorite of ours — they help Muni restore and preserve its fleet of historic streetcars, they run a streetcar museum near the Ferry Building, and they publish a calendar each year with great images of those streetcars, among other things.

Recently elected MSR board member Jeremy asked us to pass this along: They’re looking for photos from the Muni-riding and -loving community for their 2013 calendar. Jeremy says:

2013 marks the beginning of Muni’s second century. The Market Street Railway’s annual Museum in Motion calendar is a very important part of our yearly activities. We would like to emphasize both its past and its future with fresh photographs of the vintage streetcars and cable cars in action. We’d like your help putting together our 2013 calendar.

Some specs to keep in mind if you’d like to contribute:

  • Photos should be landscape (horizontally) oriented, in color, and at least 3,000 x 2,000 pixels.
  • The calendar is in a “widescreen” format, so a traditional 35mm framing of a tight shot of a streetcar would be problematic.
  • The format requires cropping top and/or bottom from a standard 4×3 format.
  • Many people don’t post high-resolution versions to Flickr, but any photos submitted for publication should be available as camera original JPEG or RAW files without watermarks.

Head over to Market Street Railways’s blog for more information. And happy shooting!

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