Category: reflection

Muni thefts can happen anywhere, anytime

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Muni Accident At 3rd And Market

Whole Wheat Toast shares this cautionary tale.

Yes, you’ve heard it all the time. Be careful with your fancy electronics such as phones while on the Muni, especially while you’re riding through a sketchy part of town or on a sketchy line. But that caveat is becoming less and less the case.

I was on the 1 heading westbound coming home from Western Railway Museum today (7/16). The bus (5616) stopped at Sproule Street. Then, out of nowhere, a lady screams, “Help! That guy took my phone!”

I turned my head toward the window and saw a man who looked like he was in his 20s, with a hairstyle of Gavin Newsom (without the gel) and looked like Yvan Attai (the taxi driver in Rush Hour 3). Other than that, he was wearing a black sweater turtleneck and black jeans.

After he ran off, the lady ran after him only to stop short of the alley. A couple of people from the bus went to her, and deliberated on what just happened. The rest of the bus, however, was talking about how young he looked.

What about the driver? Oh, he didn’t do anything except he answered a passenger’s question of what happened. No call to Central Control. Nothing.

After a minute, we pulled off, and as I looked into the alley, I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I run after him?” The answer was not common sense, but it was because I felt an anger, an unexplainable, intolerable anger.

So, a word of caution: NEVER EVER EVER USE YOUR PHONE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT. NOT EVEN ON COMMUNITY SERVICE ROUTES. The lowlifes who roam Muni all day looking for someone to prey on make me sick. And I’m sure they make you sick too. That is, unless you’re one of those lowlifes.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

Learning West Portal the Hard Way

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48 Quintara
Photo by skew-t

Helene, who penned “Beginner’s luck on the Bayshore Express,” has another tale of her early Muni-riding days:

My sister and I had gone into Noe Valley one fine February Sunday. We were checking out bookstores in the area since it was her last day in the city.

After we were finished looking around, I didn’t feel like going back onto the J-Church inbound and transferring to the N-Judah. The 48-Quintara bus stop was just across the street, so I insisted we take that bus line back to Outer Sunset.

We boarded the bus and went up and down the hills. When we got to West Portal, the bus stopped and all the other passengers got off. I was befuddled. Surely the 48-Quintara went out further than West Portal? Why else would it be called the Quintara bus?

My sister and I got off the bus and tried to figure out the situation. Then I decided that maybe the bus in front was going to continue on to the Outer Sunset, so we hopped on. That bus started driving back the same direction we had just came from, so we got off at Portola Drive.

We were somewhat stranded in West Portal, but then we found comfort in another bookstore there. After the Quintara bus shocker, I looked around at the street signs and decided that we could actually find our way out to 19th Avenue by following Wawona or Ulloa. We walked down one of those streets and I felt great relief from seeing the busy traffic go by on 19th Avenue. We boarded the 28 and transferred to the N-Judah to get back home safely.

Later on, I checked Muni’s website and discovered that the 48-Quintara only continued out to Quintara on weekdays. Oops. But luckily, this was just another tale of getting lost on Muni with a happy ending.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

An attempt to ride all Muni lines in one day

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Illustration by Walter Baumann

Today on the Bold Italic, Steven Leckart writes about something we’ve often dreamed of doing — he set out one morning in June determined to ride all Muni bus, light-rail, streetcar, and cable car routes in one day. Not humanly possible, sure, but it’s more about the journey than the destination, right?

At 9 a.m. on an overcast Wednesday in June, I step out my front door in Noe Valley and within a few minutes hop on the 35-Eureka heading south (the opposite direction I usually go), forgetting the bus would soon loop back around past where I got on. Frustrating if I were a normal commuter, but part of my plan to go for distance and boost my time-in-transit. For two minutes I’m the only passenger on the 35.

In some sense, solo-busing quashes the green pride you’re feeling for removing one car from the road, and it confirms Muni’s recent budget woes. On the other hand, a city employee has become your personal chauffeur – in a vehicle longer than a Hummer limo – for $2 or less.

I sit in the back, staring out the window, doing the math I should have done a lot sooner: A transfer is valid for 90 minutes. Riding from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., without a monthly pass, I’d need to buy seven tickets at a grand total of $14. Conversely, Muni sells an all-you-can-ride 1-Day Passport for $13. Even with my monthly pass, I’d need to repeat this experiment four more times to make back the $60 I spent. Bastards.

Read the rest of Steven’s amazing account at the Bold Italic.

Category: diaries, reflection

Wendy MacNaughton is drawing you on Muni

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We found artist Wendy MacNaughton on 7×7.com earlier this week. Wendy draws people on Muni, BART, and other public transportation on their way to and from work five days a week, twice a day, imagining their thoughts and dreams. We caught up with her to ask her more about her amazing drawings on Muni. She also sent us some more of her drawings done on the bus. In her own words:

I went to an incredible art school for my undergrad (Art Center College of Design), but life took some turns and I stopped drawing for almost a decade. Years later, I found myself commuting from Oakland to San Francisco and back again on BART, with 20 minutes of free time each way and I started drawing the people I saw around me. It was like having professional figure drawing models, except with more interesting features, life histories in their eyes and ties, and they weren’t naked. I still have the first drawing I did — and I’ve drawn every transit ride since.

I draw on the bus and paint at home, using micron pens and watercolor, mostly, with some ink thrown around every once and a while. I don’t sketch. Everything I draw is permanent, for better or worse.

When I draw on the bus, generally people don’t notice. People are immersed in their thoughts or lists or regrets. Or their books. Or iPods, or games, or sleeping.  If they do notice me drawing them, they usually smile. They might be a little embarrassed or flattered, or maybe pretend they didn’t see me, but the smile seeps out. A couple of people have been upset — either refused or got a little physical, But no permanent damage has been done.

You can find Wendy on the 10, the J, the 12, or southbound BART. And here’s more of Wendy’s drawings — I love them all so much! Get this artist a commission! Enjoy.

Category: diaries, reflection

One Big Pride Party on Muni

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Lesbians on the Subway
Photo by Flickr user SFBart

I never thought I’d say that I love riding Muni during Pride weekend, but I kind of do! OK, not really, but there was some silver lining Sunday in the form of random merriment on the bus.

My Sunday afternoon started with a total Muni fail — waiting for the 47 for half an hour and inching along Van Ness at the speed of walking. But most people seemed to be in a pretty good mood. When I finally got off of the 47 and hopped on the 14L, a girl with a little cross tattooed below her eye ran for the bus and sat next to me, catching her breath. She complimented me on my dress and then started fishing around in her purse. “You want one of these?”

It was this free “Pride Parade Survival Pack” that had little packs of antiacid, Advil, mints, a moist towelette, and sone Band-Aids in it. Totally sweet.

Later in the afternoon, I hopped on a crowded 38-Geary. Two young guys jumped on the bus, one wearing a name tag that said, “Bottom,” and the other guy wearing a button that says…yeah, obviously. I took out my Blackberry to check the time (neurotic habit), and Bottom excitedly says, “Hey, can I scan your barcode? Do you BBM?” I had no idea what he was talking about. “Blackberry Messenger, duh!” The two passengers next to me spent the next five minutes talking about Blackberry Messenger and whether it can scan a barcode tattoo.

If only every day could be this convivial — without the slow-as-molasses traffic.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags: , ,

What are you listening to on Muni today?

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Tuesday, Late Morning
Photo by sflovestory

Some of you will read this before or during your afternoon/evening commute. We’re curious: If you’ve got the earbuds in, for whatever reason, what are you listening to?

We’d like to put together another Muni Playlist, like the one we did last November:

On the 33, Tenaya is listening to The Mystic Krew of Clear Light, a heavy metal band out of New Orleans. In front of him, Jesus is listening to Hoobastank’s “The Reason.” Jesus’s friend, Julio, was listening to a psycho punk band called skz1 (I think).

So tell us: What are you listening to on Muni?

Category: diaries, reflection
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