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.

Spotless Spotted on the 49 (not sarcastic)

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My 49-Van Ness/Mission stories aren’t usually gross. The bus is often loud, grungy, full, and kept at varying degrees of warm and musty. But not every evening commute comes with a possible urine river in close proximity.

But, for the first time in nearly three years, I found a spotless 49. Sort of. See the photo I snapped above.

This is the only picture I shot. But every panel within view was just as clean.

A lot of, if not all, of these window-panel thingies was clearly new. Sitting next to one was almost like using a brand-new shopping cart. Or using the new gym shower.

Important note: the rest of the bus was not spotless. There was still some crap on the floor. Poles bestickered, as usual.  The windows themselves were clearly not new. It being an articulated 49, the bus was obviously not new, either.

But the panels, folks. Spotless! One step at a time.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags:

Swishy River on the 49

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Not every liquid on Muni is urine, but I always jump straight to that conclusion every time I see something like this on the bus. I’d argue that most of the time, it’s not urine, but I still think it is, anyway.

About the pic, though. I thought it was probably urine, especially given its proximity to the back corner of the bus. Then, I decided it wasn’t because I couldn’t smell it. Then, I smelled it and it was absolutely urine. Couldn’t be anything else.

But, the worst part, by far, was how it kept swishing back and forth (back and forth) as the bus started and stopped. It wasn’t a tidal wave or anything, but it definitely had momentum. So not only was this a urine trail, it was a moving urine trail. Boo.

I hopped off soon after my if/then/therefore thought process came to a close, but not before snapping this glorious photo. My foot’s there for scale.

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

Best Photo Diary of 2010: Every Day Is Caturday

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My choice for favorite photo diary of 2010 goes to Jaymi Heimbuch. The original post featuring this photo and one other is here: Screw Monday: Every Day Is Caturday

Much to Jeff’s chagrin, I love cats. But I probably love cats on Muni even more. Every cat I’ve ever known hated being moved, be it in a bag, a car, or just about anything that wasn’t self-propelled. Cat on a leash? Forget it. Given all that, I was struck by how calm and collected this one looks. All in all, I found it impossible not to smile at this one.

The cute internet (or, rather, teh cute internets) has us all by the balls, it’s true.

This week, the editors of Muni Diaries will be sharing our picks for favorite diaries and photos of 2010. Diaries will run in the mornings, and photos in the afternoon. We also want you to tell us your favorites from this year. Feel free to use the archive drop-down over on the right to peruse the offerings. Let us know in the comments or via email. We’ll share reader favorites all day on Friday.

Category: diaries, Photos

Best of 2010: Letter From an Operator’s Wife

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stop back
Photo by bhautik joshi

This week, the editors of Muni Diaries will be sharing our picks for favorite diaries and photos of 2010. Diaries will run in the mornings, and photos in the afternoon. We also want you to tell us your favorites from this year. Feel free to use the archive drop-down over on the right to peruse the offerings. You’ll see, like we did, that it’s not always easy, but it’s definitely always entertaining.

Let us know in the comments or via email. We’ll share reader favorites all day on Friday.

And without further ado, Tara gets the first editor’s favorite diary: Letter No. 2 From a Muni Operator’s Wife. Here’s what she had to say about this post from May 12:

It’s not all poop stories here on Muni Diaries, nor is it even just a showcase for the silly, weird, and gross that forces brings us together (aww). Sometimes, it serves a purpose beyond entertainment, like opening the lines of communication between the angry public and the drivers we bag on. The post comprised a letter from a Muni driver’s wife and 22 comments back and forth. Sure, comments on contentious issues can trend toward personal and passionate, and we keep a pretty careful eye on it to ensure it doesn’t devolve into YouTube or, ahem, SFGate. Even so, this post provided a perspective we don’t often, if ever, get to see on the site, and I was glad to have it.

Tell us your favorite diary and photo of 2010 in the comments, or share a new tale of life aboard Muni.

Category: diaries, reflection

For all those times Muni told us, ‘Eat me!’

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Mango, avocado, hamachi, and the most plentiful, reddest tobiko ever. You have to be OK with tobiko to like this one.

We finally did!

After this post on edible Muni (still gross, and still not what you think), we decided that trying something called a Muni Roll was within the call of duty. We were fully aware that it could come 30 minutes late or not at all, and we braced ourselves for three in a row to show up after we decided to eat something else, instead. Your comments from the previous post still make us laugh.

But, none of those things happened, thankfully. Just a good old-fashioned sushi dinner like the pilgrims had. Give this one a whirl at Crazy Sushi on 16th Street and Guerrero.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Back door black hole

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DSC02377
Photo by freya.gefn

The 47-Van Ness isn’t the most exciting ride in the evenings. It’s usually packed, but nothing really catches my eye beyond the standard staring problem, seat-hogger, sandwich-eater, or personal-drama-discusser.

But, sometimes, someone falls off the bus.

This girl was with a handful of friends, and they got off at a Van Ness stop, I forget which one. Something north of Geary. It was Tuesday, and a little rain was still coming down. She was the last one of her crew out. She slipped and fell down and onto the back stairs. Her friends and a guy standing near the door helped her out, but she seemed to bang up her knee and suffer at least a little ego bruising. I had never seen someone fall off the bus, but it reminded me to step carefully on Muni during rainy season. Falling off the bus is so much worse than regular falling, amirite, folks?

The driver stopped the bus and checked to see if she was OK, as I patiently waited for someone to get angry and demand that we get moving again. But that didn’t happen and everyone was deemed OK.

We went along until another stop, and another gal got her grocery bag stuck in the same area, in some no-man’s-land between the back row of seats and the doorway. She was freed after some collective shouting of “back door!” (which actually worked this time), but it made me wonder why this black hole was eating everyone passing through it. User error? Just one of those days?

Bonus: Obvious-Visiting Guy asks his Obvious-Local Friend, “Does shit like this happen on the bus all the time??”

Welcome, friend. And hold on.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:
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