Category: diaries

What if a cute bunny gave NextBus predicitions?

One comment

That must be what Ciaran asked himself. He says, “I finally found a use for this French wifi connected rabbit I bought.”

Inaccurate predictions sound a little better from the robot rabbit, eh?

Update for the geek inside all (ok, some) of us:

Ciaran sent over more notes about how he programmed the robot rabbit called Karotz, which he details on his blog.

An excerpt: First you write javascript programs that interact with an API to control the various Karotz functions like the ears, text to speech etc. Find the developer’s forum on Google Groups (use Google’s automatic translation feature because it’s mostly in French).

Then spend a few evenings writing the Muni times app, using available bus arrival data through xml feeds. You’ll need to use tinyxmldom.js. Upload the code to the rabbit through the website — good luck trying to debug it, though. There is a Linux vm for developing but it’s only a javascript vm, not a simulator.

Wow. Or, you can always just watch the video above like we did.

Thanks, Ciaran!

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs

Wanted: Muni advice for an out-of-towner

20 comments

DOUBLE DECKER MUNI BUS
Photo by Lulu Vision*

British dude James sent us the most charming email the other day asking about standard procedures and etiquette on Muni. Oh, how we wish some of our fellow riders would be as considerate about etiquette as James. Here are some of James’s questions:

  • Do we pay when we get on? Or do we need to have pre-paid passes or something?
  • When we’re at a bus stop, do we need to put our hand out to catch it or does it always stop at every stop?
  • Is there a bell you ring to get off the bus?
  • What do I say to the driver when I get on? What’s the little phrase that people use? (for example, here in the UK, it’s usually “one to town, please” or something like that).
  • Do I get given a ticket? Do I need to keep hold of it?

A few things have changed since we did a “newbie orientation” last year. The SFMTA has a new customer guide, which addresses some of these questions in more detail but doesn’t really go into my favorite question from James: what you say to the driver when you get on?

We thought it more fitting to turn his inquiry over to you, the Muni-riding community. So whadaya say? Help a guy out.

* Pictured is one of the short-lived Muni double-decker buses, which, you know, is so … British.

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags:

Hot right now: Muni Simulator Game!

9 comments

Reader and photographer Bhautik Joshi alerted us on Twitter to a German simulation game where you can be a Muni driver! The promotional clip above from the game maker comes with a grandiose soundtrack that seems more fitting for I Am Legend than driving Muni. At any rate, it sounds totally epic. While watching the promotional clip, I fully expected a herd of zombies to come out and attack the bus and the driver to save us all (always double-tap).

The game lets you simulate driving a bus (or streetcar or cable car) on spotless San Francisco streets. Sitting in the driver’s seat, you can operate your own bus, make your own schedule, “finish exciting missions and find hidden money.” You can also repair buses, make a pit stop for coffee, refuel the bus, and take the bus to a carwash.

The game is available for PC only right now. Our friends at Market Street Railway say that the game even features mysterious catacombs and a storage facility with a Milan tram.

Who knew that people found driving the bus in San Francisco so exciting? Think the game makers will be up for incorporating some of the stories on Muni Diaries into the game? I have a couple of choice stories that come to mind…

Category: diaries Tags:
1 … 107 108 109 110 111 … 261