Photo Diary: Poetic 5-Fulton
A detached 5-Fulton heading outbound on Market this morning, with an advertisement acting as caption.
Category: diaries
Bus stop graffiti diary: ‘Those Funky Lords’
Muni rider Charles on the image above, which he captured:
I think it was a Bebe ad, but I can’t find an image of the original. What I find interesting is not so much the artwork but the fact that the poster was removed, modified, and returned to the shelter. (It’s also possible it was taken from elsewhere and then installed here. I didn’t notice it until after it had been painted on.) It’s on the north side of the shelter (i.e., not visible to traffic on that side of the street) and is less obviously graffiti than the tags often applied to the empty building next to the shelter, which may help to explain why the poster has not been replaced. Street artist Kaws did similar — and, in my opinion, much more interesting — work beginning in the 1990s.
The shelter is at Van Ness at Clay.
Seen interesting things on or around Muni? ‘Tis always the season to share on Muni Diaries!
Muni Frequent Rider Miles?
Photo by Michael Risenhoover
“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?
Photo Diary: ‘Tis the Season
The past meets the future, by Brandon Doran.
Caption This Muni Cartoon
What’s happening in this Muni cartoon?
Michael Capozzola, who draws “Surveillance Caricatures” in the San Francisco Chronicle’s 96 Hours section, contributed two cartoons for gallery-goers to caption at the I Live Here: SF exhibit at SOMArts last month. Lots of you joined in on the fun and posted your own caption. Like this one, from someone who called himself “BOSS”:
“WAIT!!! My wife will kill me if I forget the baby on the bus again!!!”
Or, from an anonymous gallery goer:
“Hey wait! The next bus isn’t coming for 78 minutes!”
If you missed the chance to caption this carton in person last month, here’s your chance. Caption this Muni cartoon in the comments section: what’s happening on the 24-Divisadero here?
How the Muni Shelter Goes Up
Photo by The Tender
Humin over at The Tender caught the Muni shelter change-a-roo in progress at Hallidie Plaza. SFMTA has been replacing the old model with the new, wavy-lided bus shelter that doesn’t shield you from the rain. As you can see, a couple of people were also mesmierized by the process. Contrary to what Humin describes with his dry humor, I think this does sound kind of magical. Read more about it and decide for yourself at The Tender.