Photo Diary: Muni Waits for No One
Photo by jrodmanjr.
Author: jeff
Photo Diary: Dilated Peoples
Photo by Troy Holden.
We’re taking things easy this morning because we’ve got something up our sleeves in a few hours. See you tonight at Muni Time Capsule Happy Hours!
N-Judah *doesn’t* hit a Bentley (but it did!)
An accident happened on Muni rider Greg’s commute this morning. Here’s his account — details and colors from Greg. Please feel free to sound off in the comments section about how you would tell the story. Greg’s morning started like this:
So there I am, rocking out to some music trying to avoid eye contact with the one homeless person on Muni who always manages to sit across from me and talk loudly to himself, when I realized that the train has stopped in the middle of an intersection with a left-hand turn (not unusual) and the doors are open and people are pouring out (unusual). Immediately my spidey-sense is activated. I whip out my trusty camera phone to catalog the action that is sure to come. Outside, it appears that our train and a Bentley had an unfortunate meeting of metal.
A quick investigation revealed the source of the problem: The Bentley driver (from all appearances, a rich housewife possibly borrowing her husband’s car) had stopped at the red light and had gone much too far over the line, blocking the entire crosswalk. This of course put her car in the path of the train as it made its left-hand turn, and consequently the train had slightly impacted her car. Of course, more investigation and possible eavesdropping was the only course of action! UCSF police was on the scene almost instantly, and the blond woman driver (No, I’m NOT making social commentary, just saying how it was!) was trying to tell the cop that the train had turned to hit her car. I’m not joking. This woman was trying to say that the train had turned deliberately into her car. Never mind the giant rails in the ground that clearly determine the path of the train in advance, she was insistently trying to scream accusations at the Muni driver. The UCSF PD officer didn’t even know what to say!
A fantastic comute to work ensued on a different line (6-Parnassus, dirtiest bus I have ridden in a while!) and I was in a wonderful mood by the time I got downtown.
Photos by Greg
Just added: Food Carts at Wednesday Happy Hour with Muni Diaries
Photo by Gary Soup
Look, it’s happiness on a bamboo skewer! And we get to chow down on this tomorrow!
That’s because we’ve secured three great San Francisco food carts that will bless us with their delicious wares tomorrow. Sataysfied, Casey’s Pizza, and Nosh This will be on hand to help sop up the booze you drink as you loosen up to tell Muni stories. Or, you know, just to feed you dinner.
Details:
Happy Hours with Muni Diaries and I Live Here:SF
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
SOMArts: 934 Brannan Street (cross street is 8th Street)
Take Muni there: 12, 19, 27, 47.
Bring your neighbors! Bring your friends! Bring that old guy you see around the hood who told you about riding Muni back in th 1960s!
Cable Car Operator Stabbed in Chinatown (update)
Photo by wilhelmja
Update (9:19 a.m. Monday): SF Weekly reports that the cable car operator is “fighting for his life.”
Original post: A cable car operator was stabbed this afternoon. Police have arrested a total of four suspects.
SF Appeal has details, via Bay City News.
So, what is the best seat on the bus?
Photo by Genista
Michelle Olson is a journalism student at SFSU. She set out to find opinions on where to sit on Muni. Here’s what she found.
I traveled with many other passengers down Mission Street to Daly City, and then back again. On the way there, I traveled in a single-car bus, and it was clear that there was one seat that was always taken, even when the bus wasn’t full. It was the front-facing seats with their back to the back doors, the only ones like it on the bus. I was going to call this seat The Popular Seat, but then I found out it was Scott’s favorite seat too. Scott is a rider who prefers to sit there, and he said he called it “My Seat.” He likes that less people crowd around the seat, and enjoys the added leg room, plus it’s facing forward. For now, let’s say this is Scott’s Seat.
Photo by Michelle Olson
One thing I noticed is that people don’t like sitting in the seats that face backwards or that face each other. I call these seats The Social Network – you can get close, but not too close. Here a group of four could happily interact, but this didn’t seem like something Muni riders want to do because these seats were usually vacant even when the bus was full.
A woman named Marsha sat next to me in the back, one row back from right across the second set of doors. She likes to sit near the backdoor so she doesn’t disturb people when she’s getting off the bus. It’s a seat she calls The Edge.
When I got to the end of the line on Daly City, I met Maria at the bus stop. She prefers the front for its lack of people and noise. I call these seats the Library Seats. Shhhhh.. be quiet, you’re in the front of the bus.
On the way back, I was on an articulated bus, with its special seats in the the middle that I call I’m Not Here For The View.
Photo by Michelle Olson
Getting back on the bus, the single seats filled up first. You can only find these seats on articulated buses, and it is yet another sign that commuters don’t like to be social with strangers. Muni rider Miguel denies the anti-social implication of these seats, though. He said he sits there to leave the front seats for seniors and families. Plus, this seat allows him to look out the window and is close to the back door.
Photo by Michelle Olson
And you know those people who always go to the very back of the bus, no matter what? Van, a Muni rider, prefers those seats. He likes the view and the air circulation back there. He said he also prefers to leave the front seats for families and elderly people.
Followers of Muni Diaries on Twitter shared their feelings on where the best seats are on Muni trains and buses.
- @cripsahoy “I get on the 2nd car inner handicapped seat. It’s nearest to the escalator.”
- @WillieFDiazSF “The best seat is not any MUNI seat, its your own bicycle seat… it’s cleaner and faster.”
- @suzdal “I love the window seat with the little divider thingy closest to the center doors. Easier to get to, often available.”
- @SFcab271 “I like the rear of F line cars, with the big open windows. Great on a hot day, or to be a rebel and sneak a cig.”
While it may just be a tan plastic seat on the bus, it is a place where a rider will be spending time. So next time you board Muni, treat yourself to that window seat with extra leg room. Meals and peanuts might cost you extra, but the entertainment is free.