Weekend Photos: City Bus

City Bus
All photos by Flickr user jjutt

Well, despite today’s accident involving the M-Ocean View and a car, it was a way better week for Muni. Right?

Don’t forget to make your voice heard concerning the upcoming MTA budget. Town hall meetings are being held tomorrow and Tuesday. Meetings will be held at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 2nd Floor Atrium at 10 a.m. Saturday, and 6 p.m. Tuesday.

In other Muni-related news this week:

  • Driver helps nab alleged pickpocket. (Examiner)
  • Fare spat highlights growing tensions (Examiner)
  • Automatic raise for Muni drivers creates new twist (SFGate)
  • SF Supervisor Elsbernd Pulls Muni Operator Ballot Amendment (Streetsblog SF)

Closer to the site, we’re thrilled to have an amazing new contributor to our Muni Photos Flickr pool: Meet jjutt, whose photos adorn this week’s Weekend Photos. Have a nice one. See you Monday!

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Ladies Waiting for Muni, Be Warned: Pickup Artist Bootcamp this Saturday

Jim Herd from San Francisco Citizen sent us this warning that “day time dating expert” Jeremy Soul is holding a one-day Pickup Artist Bootcamp this Saturday, when they will go out on the streets and find some hot ladies in the Union Square area. Specifically, the advertisement suggests that the smooth talkers find themselves a hot date on Muni.

Yeah. You read that right. More from Jim:

All right, here’s the elevator pitch for Saturday’s workshop. And, oh yes, “tram” is English English for MUNI.

“Find a HOT Date next time you’re on the Tram! Find out how.

Modern men lead such fast paced urban lifestyles they don’t have time to go out after work and meet women. Through a combination of classroom and in-field training, men can learn the latest skills and techniques to meet, attract and date beautiful women in any setting during the day – all in about 8 hours!

“Meeting women in daytime environments, aka Day Game, is scary to most men. But Jeremy Soul and his elite team of Day Game coaches have spent years learning this skill and can teach it to you.”

(Read more about this on SFCitizen, including a link to Jeremy Soul’s promo video. At your own risk, ok?)

Oh “Pickup Artists.” That is so…2005. According to SF Citizen, the classes are $1500 per person. The classes look like they are only for hetero males (yes, ladies, lucky us). When a reporter joined Jeremy Soul for one of his day time bootcamps, Mr. Soul reportedly charmed a woman on the street by commenting on her “smooth skin.” Creepy!

I wonder what Mr. Soul would say about this pickup line:

“Is your shirt expensive? Because you look so hot in it, I would totally rip it off of you right now, and I would totally replace it, if it’s not too expensive.”

True story. Someone actually used this pickup line on me and I nearly peed my pants in delight thinking about retelling it to my girlfriends. And this Saturday, ladies, you’ll have the same opportunity. If you spot any of the Pickup Artists Bootcampers, be sure to tell us about it. I can hardly wait.

Fare Inspector Holds Passport and Frisks (update with SFMTA comments)

New Passport
Photo by Flickr user Cold Cream Coffee

While things are looking apocalyptic for Muni, Muni rider Bill sent us a disturbing account of a fare inspection. Here’s what Bill wrote:

At about 6 p.m. tonight (2/1), I listened to a fare inspector on the 8x (bus #6238) ask a rider for his pass. Then the inspector asked him for ID. Once the man produced an Irish passport, the inspector then wanted to know where the man lived in San Francisco and how long he had been in this country. And then, while still holding on to his passport, she headed for the door with instructions that he follow. As the bus pulled away, she had started to pat the guy down.

Can a fare inspector request ID and hold onto it while they question and pat you down? The whole thing just didn’t seem kosher.

This sounds horrible. Positively Draconian. Did anyone else reading this see this go down? Surely a complaint can be lodged, with route, bus number, time of day, description of the POP officer in question. 311. We’ve sent questions to SFMTA for their official word on what fare inspectors can and cannot do, so stay tuned as we update this post.

We got in touch with SFMTA’s public relation officer Kristen Holland, who said that a fare inspector can ask to see your ID “for the purpose of writing a citation.” However, “The transit fare inspectors are not authorized to search Muni customers or their personal belongings.”

Another update from SFMTA: So far they have received no official complaint regarding this incident.

‘Trains are moving, but moving slowly!’

Goddammit, Muni! Please start working again, so we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.*

Muni rider Christian reports on the scene this morning at Castro Street Station:

Everyone looks jaded as they experience more ‘inbound delays’ in the Castro.

The announcer says: “Trains are moving, but moving slowly!”

MTA released a statement indicating that, as of 7:55 a.m., N-Judah trains were backed up in the Sunset due to a “non-Muni accident” at Irving and Arguello. And the dominoes, they fall …

No word from MTA on reported backups at West Portal. At least it’s not raining? Yet.

* of course the irony here is that, were Muni to, you know, “work,” we’d lose half our content, especially lately.

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