Category: reflection

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

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.

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Edible Gifts From Muni Drivers

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A gift from the MUNI driver (only in sf):

The above photo shows a gift received from a Muni operator, according to jasontoff, who took the picture. Nice photo, but, it raises the question: Would you eat a gift like candy from a Muni driver? Is this like that creepy neighbor who only wears sweatpants and hands out apples at Halloween? You know, turn it over to mom first for inspection? Or, is it … kinda totally rad and a great-day-maker?

Well, what would you do if a Muni driver gave you some candy?

Category: diaries, reflection

Muni Frequent Rider Miles?

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Geary Blvd
Photo by Michael Risenhoover

I read a tweet the other day by @funderbug:

“Too bad they don’t offer bus miles, you know, like airline miles…”

Too bad, yeah. But it got me thinking: What if SFMTA had some sort of rewards program for loyal riders? All default jokes about “loyalty” aside, I think this is an amusing mental exercise.

My most frequently used route is the 49-Van Ness, which I ride 3.3 miles from the Mission to the end of the line, at North Point and Van Ness. From there, I hop on a 47-Van Ness for 0.75 miles to get to work. 4.15 miles to get there. And I repeat that ride in the afternoons to get home: 8.3 miles per day

Multiplied by five, I rack up 41.5 miles on Muni per week. Multiply that by 50 weeks per year, and we’re looking at a whoppin’ 2,075 miles per year!!! Holy crap!

Sooooo, what should my prize options be? Yeah, a bus that runs on time and all that. But what else?

How many miles have you piled up over the years on Muni?

Category: diaries, reflection
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