Muni and the literature it spawns

Commute, N Judah
Photo by Heather Champ

100 Muni StoriesThe layers of life on and around Muni can be a damn good petri dish of creativity. As such, many of us turn on the creative juices and pay homage to our favorite transit agency with the written word. San Francisco’s a literary town, after all, isn’t it? The ever-prolific @cripsahoy posted a series of Muni limericks she’s written about our beloved transit system the other day, as one example. My fave:

Riding the Geary express
A lady cried out in distress
“A man in this seat
Was stroking his meat!
T’was impressive, but I digress”

And who can forget the lovable Muni Haiku Project?

Ahead of yesterday’s SFMTA board meeting that, among other things, concerned itself with outgoing chief Nat Ford’s severance package, former Rescue Muni member Herbert J. Weiner sent us this tome:

Nat Ford
Your Run is Over

Success and Failure
Failure:
You have left
MTA worse than

you found it Transit
First: Riders motorists
bus and taxi drivers
frail and elderly last

Success: You threw so
many under the wheels
Perhaps the most
skillful driver you

weaved in and out of
critics City Hall and
improvements that
could have been made

bringing quiet peaceful
streets to an end
cutting and eliminating
runs so crucial to

the frail and sick
So many thrown under
the wheels Now the
wheels welcome you

but not the victims
Your bus has finally
crashed Your run is
over You must leave

by the rear doors
With luck they won’t
slam on you

There’s even a site dedicated to what people are reading while riding Muni. Check out Between the Lines. And earlier this month, we told you about Raymond, the Muni poet laureate.

Are you aware of other intersections of Muni and literature? Let us know!

Muni News: Cameras on Muni, More Nat Ford, NX-Judah Express Bus

  • Can Muni Drivers Make You Stow Your Camera Phone? (SF Appeal, hint: NO)
  • Nathaniel Ford’s severance likely to be approved today (SF Examiner)
  • Pay Nat Ford His Money and Get Him Out of Here (SF Weekly)
  • BART plan to run wee-hour Saturday trains in doubt (SFGate)
  • Despite Growing Unrest, Nat Ford’s Golden Parachute Is All But Assured (SF Appeal)
  • First week of N-Judah Express bus called a success by Muni officials (SF Examiner)
  • Muni’s No. 2 in charge resigns (City Insider)

Matier & Ross: Mayor Ed Lee pushed Nat Ford out

nat ford
Photo by Brian Kusler

Who had a hand in Muni boss Nat Ford’s departure? Matier and Ross report that Mayor Ed Lee was key in escorting Ford out of the building. Money quote:

[Lee] wanted someone with a “150 percent commitment” to running Muni – and that Ford, with his constant job hunting, wasn’t cutting it.

Matier and Ross also report that Department of Public Works Director Ed Reiskin maybe a likely replacement, though it’s uncertain whether Reiskin will actually be taking Ford’s place.

Read the rest of the story at SFGate.

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