My Muni Sanctuary

Thrive
Photo by chainsmokingbluemonkey

Sean at Noisebeard is newish to San Francisco and not at all fazed by the schizophrenic relationship we riders have with the beast we call Muni. Instead, Sean has chosen to embrace the crazy.

Most people I know who also have to ride the bus around often complain about it. It’s crowded, slow, and pretty unreliable sometimes, especially on weekends. I don’t need to defend any of those claims because they’re 100% true. But I think what people overlook is the social complexity that Muni offers.

People of all sorts ride the bus for whatever reason. At any time of the day, the buses are pretty crowded. Living in a city with around 900,000 people in the “proper” area, there’s never a dull moment.

I love riding the bus. I like the weird people that join me in the ride. I see something new every day. I see the same drivers on my routes looking totally complacent and care-free. I see the old Asian men and women carting home their bundles of Chinatown goodies. I see the mid 20s hipster chicks with their denim-painted tights and iPod/iPhone headphones dangling around their scarf. I see the Tenderloin crack heads holding onto mortality and falling at every lurch in the bus’s path. I see it all. Every social paradigm someone could conjure up ends up on Muni eventually. It’s the ultimate people watching venue.

Continue reading Sean’s post at Noisebeard to find out how this newcomer avoids Muni frustration.

Loretta: Muni bus driver, guardian angel

America
Photo by Thomas Hawk

100 Muni StoriesLast night I fell asleep riding the 49 inbound up Van Ness around 9 p.m. Fell asleep BAD. Like I’m surprised no one checked my pulse to see if I was still alive (well, maybe they did and I just slept through it). When I woke up, I realized I had missed my stop at Jackson by several blocks and raced out the door. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that my phone, which I had been holding when I fell asleep, was no longer with me. I panicked, but there was no way to catch up to the bus.

I got to my friend’s house, and used his phone to call mine. Nobody picked up, and I expected the worst. It was a hat-trick in the worst way: the Giants get shut out by the A’s, I miss the season finale of LOST, and my cell phone is now being kicked around an empty bus. But awhile later we got a call from Loretta, the Nicest Bus Driver on the Planet. She had found my phone, and rather than sending it to lost and found—where she insisted it would have been gone forever—took it with her.

Today I met her on her route and she returned it to me. I tried to give her some cash as a thank you, but she wouldn’t accept it. Anyways, Loretta, you saved the day! Thank you!

Caitlyn

Muni Missed Connections: Cupcake Edition

Strawberry Macaroon Cupcakes
Photo by Flickr user Aaron Landry

We begin this latest round of Muni Missed Connections with a tale of cupcake kindness on the 19, of all routes:

u gave me a cupcake b4 u got off at 24th or 25th, thought that was really sweetie, would b nice if every1 on the 19 was sweetie like u, prob wont c u again since I’m not on the 19everyday(thank the lord) so its a good thing CL has this section4u2find me, very sweet

Next, this 30-something might have found his cougar siren, reading The Leopard, no less, on the mysterious 39L:

You’re probably a good 20 years older than me (and likely far too classy for the likes of a tattooed ne’er do well like myself), but every time I see you waiting at our bus stop, my heart starts racing…we almost always sit across from each other, if not very close, and every time I can’t keep my eyes off of you. You’re elegant, sexy, and I imagine what it’s like to be with you every time I see you… Thanks for making me feel alive! (and if you’re ever feeling daring…well, you get the idea)

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Tell us: How are the service cuts affecting you? (with update)

Broken 47
Photo by Flickr user Rubin 110

Update:

Perhaps as evidence of service cuts hurting everyone’s commute, rider JimmyD sent in pictures from his commute this evening and asks why a single car train is running at rush hour. Here’s the crowd at Embarcadero Station around 5:10 p.m. today:


Photo by JimmyD

How has your commute been this week?

Original post:

It’s now been five days since Muni enacted its latest service cuts, a whopping, decimating 10 percent reduction on just about every route in town. In less serious times, we’d be forced to joke about how service couldn’t possibly be reduced further, right? Wrong.

We see people’s toils and troubles on Twitter. We experience them ourselves in our commutes and our attempts to simply connect with our friends and colleagues. The cuts are real, and we feel them.

But now, we want to know how they’re affecting you. Share your stories in the comments, please.

(In related news, Streetsblog SF reports that the Board of Supervisors was set to discuss the SFMTA budget and the recent Muni audit at today’s 1:30 p.m. meeting.)

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