Author: Tara

Tara Ramroop has laughed, cried, and commiserated with this amazing community from the start. She's been writing for as long as she can remember and riding Muni for more than a decade.

Why Mister Boston’s Muni community is no match for leukemia

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As a Muni operator, Mister Boston, AKA Mike Delia, has seen it all. He’s piloted many of the crosstown lines we know and love, he has been assaulted twice in the name of doing so, and he even had someone try to steal his streetcar once.

You might also know him via the limited-edition trading cards bearing his image and stats—that’s actually how we first became acquainted with him ourselves. At Muni Diaries Live this month, we welcomed him, in full Muni regalia, to share his journey as operator, trading card legend, and leukemia survivor, all of which have brought him even closer to his community of San Franciscans.

Originally from Massachusetts with an accent to match, he was bitten early by the transit bug thanks to his father, who was also a transit operator. He was recently named 2022 Muni Operator of the Year by the San Francisco Transit Riders Union.

Listen to his story:

No holiday gathering, gift-giving list, or treat yo’self season would be complete without strong San Francisco representation. We’re excited to bring you the Muni Diaries Art Market: a market featuring 10 local artisans showcasing their wares. Come see us, Muni Diaries Live alums Transit Supply and Yellow Line Art—and more!—from 12-4p, Saturday, Dec. 3 at 80 Albion Street in the Mission.

Photo: Emily Huston
Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: , ,

Get to know new additions to the Muni Diaries crew

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You might have seen these two awesome people who joined the Muni Diaries crew earlier this year, and in today’s episode, you’ll get to know more about our new editors, Kat Siegal and Sarah Katz-Hyman.  If you are a part of the local Transit Twitter community, you are probably already familiar with their names (and witty tweets), and today they’ll share what makes them so passionate about San Francisco.

We’ve always admired Kat and Sarah’s deep knowledge of public transit, their local activism, and their love for this city. You’ll meet Kat and Sarah live at our next Muni Diaries Live show on Nov. 3, 2022! Use the code PODCAST to get a listeners-only discount. See you there!

Listen to their story:

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni, Muni Diaries Live Tags: ,

The count down begins! Muni Diaries Live returns on Nov. 3

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Just one more week until we bring you the fall Muni Diaries Live show to the stage at Rickshaw Stop! You have tickets, right?

Every show we marvel at how everyday bus riders, comedians, and bus drivers come together to celebrate that Bay Area transit life. We can’t wait to bring you all the funny, weird, poignant, and always true stories about every San Franciscan’s favorite love-hate relationship: Muni! And we’ll be bringing back the Muni Haiku Battle, where reigning champion Wonder Dave faces challenger Kristee Ono. You don’t want to miss this! 

Get your tickets and invite your friends. See you at the show!

Category: Muni Diaries Live, News Tags:

Broke-Ass Stuart opens up about 20 years of documenting SF

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If you’ve lived in San Francisco for any length of time, you can’t not know Broke-Ass Stuart. Stuart Schuffman has been writing about San Francisco for two decades, and he is celebrating the occasion on Oct. 13 with a big 20th Anniversary Party. He started the journey as a way to become a travel writer, and he’s become quite the San Francisco local celeb, even running for mayor at one point.

To mark the anniversary, Stuart also published a new zine called Slouching Towards Neverland (where are my Joan Didion fans at?), available to buy at the anniversary party. Stuart says that the zine contains a never-before-published story that he shared nearly ten years ago at Muni Diaries Live about meeting his first love on the 71 bus!

We took the opportunity to chat with Stuart to find out what’s going better in San Francisco since he started writing, how he’s grown his Patreon in challenging times, and the behind-the-scenes story of his most popular TikTok video.

Listen to his story:

Category: News Tags:

Meaghan Mitchell on trauma at a 22-Fillmore stop and the long road to forgiveness

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We’re back on the storytelling tip with San Francisco native and San Francisco Standard journalist Meaghan Mitchell—first at Muni Diaries Live in April, and now on the podcast. Meaghan shared a life-changing experience from her youth at a 22-Fillmore stop that touches on summer love, physical trauma, her identity as a Black woman, and more.

We’ve long been proud of the fact that Muni Diaries stories range from sweet and quirky, to weird and funny, to powerful and deeply personal. This is no exception, as we were invited to lean into the vulnerable and, at times, uncomfortable story with Meaghan as she shared with us that night.

tw: violence against women

Listen to her story:

You can also watch the story below:

Meaghan had our tear ducts working a few years ago, when she told a different story at Muni Diaries Live about an especially rough day at school, playing hooky as a result, and the way Muni featured prominently—and personally—into the experience.

Keep up with Meaghan on Twitter @meaghan_m, and send any and all flavors of transit stories or tales of city life to munidiaries.sf@gmail.com or @munidiaries on all the socials.

Photo by Amanda Roosa. Video by Maya Curry.

Category: Muni Diaries Live, Muni Diaries Live Shows Tags: ,

Ghost of the 26-Valencia, AKA “The Rich Man’s 14-Mission”

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As spotted by Blair, behold the 26-Valencia enshrined in a mural at Senor Sisig on Valencia St.

Though the 26 bus stopped running in 2009, when one person lovingly eulogized it as “The Poor Man’s 14-Mission,” we can certainly remember its “I’ll see you when I see you” presence on the other Mission artery.

Blair is always great for a Muni sighting and, in their day, moonlighted as a makeshift Muni mechanic and saved happy hour. For real.

Thanks for sharing, Blair. You, too, can be featured by emailing munidiaries.sf@gmail.com, or tagging us @munidiaries on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni Tags: ,
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