Vintage Muni: Geek out on this Bay Area transit ruin porn

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Sure, everything feels like this right now. But there is is still beauty to be had if we all look closely — or if you’re, say, just wandering around in Colusa County.
Hat tip to Jack, who found the mother lode of Bay Area ruin porn by doing just that. He said this appeared to be a facility where they restore buses, but he’s keeping the exact location close to the vest to protect the undoubtedly very cool work being done here.
This treasure trove featured old Muni buses — including the 18-Sloat pictured above; the artist currently known as the 18-46th Avenue, the East Bay’s AC Transit, and even the ye olde Key System.

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Video: A Day In The Life of a Muni Transfer

The life of a Muni transfer ain’t easy, especially if you’re bigger than everybody else. Mike Torchia and John Espey blew up a Muni transfer to take it around town, and fellow passengers acted like it’s no big deal. Which is why I love San Francisco, really.

But will station agents let these filmmakers catch a ride using their life-size transfer? One way to find out, if you’ve got 10 minutes handy for this ode to the humble transfer.

To Muni-Bubble or Not to Muni-Bubble?

Aw, such an adorable message, innit?

May Be
Its Time To Take Thoes
Things Out of Our Ears
&
Look Up From Our
I-PHONS
{By The Way Its Givin People
Double Chins}
&
Say Helloo To The
Person Next To
You
What DO You Think?

[sic the whole damn thing]

If I had to guess, I’d say that Muni riders are pretty evenly split on whether to hide themselves away from fellow passengers. We don’t so much do the 100-yard stare as just immerse ourselves in music, podcasts, reading, porn, whatever. About half of us do, anyway. 48-52, if I had to guess.

How do you ride Muni?

Via Tweets From the T.

Muni Route Nicknames


Photo by SlinkyDragon

The other day over drinks, my friend Blair told me all about her beloved/behated “Phantom Folsom” (the 12-Folsom). I hadn’t heard that one before, probably because I rarely ride that route.

But it got me thinking: Besides the infamous “Dirty 30,” what are some other good Muni nicknames?

The Kids Are All Right

Kids. They do the damnedest things.

A group of 11-17-year-old youth media producers from BAYCAT shot, edited, and produced the movie above. It’s all about SFMTA/Muni.

There’s some fun history from a cable car gripman, and then the movie takes a closer look at the business of getting around San Francisco, for better and for worse.

Kids. These are some of the same kids whose laptops were pathetically stolen last month. BAYCAT, the nonprofit that serves these kids, is hosting a fundraiser to help replace the lost equipment, tonight at Cigar Bar. Help out if you can. RSVP here.

Via Ariel at Mission Mission.

LiveSoma rides the E-Embarcadero


Photo by LiveSoma

Over the weekend, Muni began running the much-anticipated E-Embarcadero line that connects Fisherman’s Wharf and the Caltrain Depot at Fourth and King Streets. Service ran on Saturday and Sunday, mostly to ferry people to this weekend’s America’s Cup events on the northern waterfront.

LiveSoma took a ride on the newest Muni streetcar line, and wrote about their experience.

I sat at the very front of the car and found the driver, Angel, to be a friendly and great resource for how the waterfront has changed.  A longtime resident of San Francisco for over 30 years, he was able to share a magnificent history of San Francisco’s waterfront as we passed the different structures and attractions along the embarcadero.  The weather seemed perfect and an ocean breeze drifted into the open windows.  The scenic views from the streetcar were lovely and interesting. You could see ships on the bay and colorful and interesting people buzzing about outside.

Read the rest of this fun adventure at LiveSoma. And if you got a chance to ride the line, tell us about it here!

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