Author: jeff

Hot Operator Voice

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bart train
Photo by Flickr user drain

This charming story is by Suzanne

I always cringe if I end up on the N-Judah headed toward Caltrain with the conductor who likes to announce the 2nd and King stop as: “home to the house that Barry built.” I curse him for making me think about Barry Bonds, drugs, and the corporate sports machine so early in the morning.

There are many Muni voices we love and hate to recognize. Who hasn’t heard the announcer who draws out the broken elevator messages into three-minute pronouncements more fitting for a get-you-in-the-mood Motown record? Then there’s that BART conductor who takes on the role of airport commissary when en route to SFO, and city ambassador when at Powell. He has a zingy, upbeat, professional voice that is not wholly unpleasant.

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Category: BART, reflection

Canon in D Jam Out at Powell Station

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Here in the Bay Area, home to world-class symphonies, ballets, and operas, we tend to undervalue so-called street musicians. New York, Paris, and London, to name just a few “Western” examples, do not take for granted the value of a sweet, sometimes semi-spontaneous burst of aural delight to break up the monotony of their streetlife. Is it because streetlife here is so readily associated with mental illness? Is it because the music we hear at BART stations and even occasionally on Muni is actually just shitty, and we’d be better off listening to the crazy shit people say around here? What is it?

In any case, we were happy to find this gem on Twitter late last week. This is worth breaking up your day with. Come on, feel the noise!

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

Weekend Photo Diary: No Direction Home

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No Direction Home

Originally uploaded by tangobaby

Well, we’ve all renewed our ability to completely ignore weather forecasts, after rain was promised every freakin’ day this week, and delivered none. Nevertheless, we can’t be played off without referencing future skies, no matter how futile.

Not really sure what’s going on this weekend, other than Sunday Streets in the Mission. If you know of something fun, cool, vital, or pathetic, let us know in comments.

Otherwise, just enjoy yourselves these next coupla days.

xoxo,

Muni Diaries

Category: diaries Tags: , , ,

Wrong Way to San Jose on the J Tracks

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Just received this via email from Kiley McEvoy:

Saw this on my way home at about 5:55 PM today
Sorry I don’t have any other info, but the pics pretty much tell the story.

carontrackscarontracksdrivers

And this tweet from @ewindram fills in some clues:

I feel terrible for the elderly driver who accidently turned onto the muni tracks at san jose/mission 🙁

If you saw this, please comment, and if you’ve got pics or videos, email or otherwise send it in!

Category: diaries, News, reflection Tags:

Concerning a Morning Twitter Kerfuffle Involving NextBus and MuniTime

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photoLast night, we spotted a tweet that read thusly:

@NextMuni iPhone app shut down by Muni today. Thanks for taking away the only decent transit app for SF, Muni. Genius, as usual.

We retweeted, adding a “wha?” before the RT text.

Oh boy did we wake up to a storm this morning. I’ll spare the details, but a barrage of tweets came our way, saying this and that about what iPhone apps were working, what was taken down, and who was responsible. Soon enough, the message distilled itself a little, and most fingers pointed toward NextBus.com. So I got on the ol’ email machine and touched base with the kind gents over there at NextBus.com, and here’s what they had to say:

NextBus Inc did not ask MuniTime.com to take down their website. A separate company claiming ownership rights over the data did. We have asked the developer of MuniTime.com to clarify this situation on their website and they agreed to do so ASAP.

Still not sure who or what asked MuniTime to take down their service. When/if we get word, we’ll pass it along to you.

But the lesson here (which is one we could stand to learn from, to be sure) is: Watch what you tweet.

Good day.

Category: News Tags:

PeeWee

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little boy pee 2This story is by Janell

So I’m riding Bart from the Powell St. station down to Millbrae. As you could imagine it was pretty packed and standing room only. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of quite possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen anywhere.

A woman had pulled her 3- or 4-year-old son’s pants down, pulled his little wee out, unscrewed the top of a soda bottle, stuck the little boys wee inside and then told him to pee.

The little boy stood there peeing inside of this soda bottle on a FULL train.

When the boy was done the woman put the cap back on the bottle, set it on the floor of the train, and then got off the train at the next stop.

Yes, she left the pee-filled bottle sitting on the floor.

If you’ve got a BART or Muni story you want to share, no matter what it’s about, send it us.

Photo by Flickr user Lady Ema

Category: BART, diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: ,
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