Category: diaries

(near) death by Muni

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I’m wary of all Muni drivers, and you should be, too. Walking across Geary (yikes) the other day, I preferred to stand in the unguarded median than race an oncoming 38. While drivers of regular vehicles will usually stop for a pedestrian in an unlighted crosswalk (you know, it being the law and everything), Muni is clearly above this standard.

I’m not just bagging on our favorite local transit agency because of a continuing killing streak the buses seem to have been on the last few years. It’s highly cool to hate Muni, of course, but I’m not just jumping on the bandwagon.

I walk a lot. Alone, usually. I obey more traffic signals than most of my fellow pedestrians who, braver than I, will dart in front of a California Street cable car because it takes too long to wait for our light. So, I get really pissed off when Muni buses (to name names, the 10-Townsend when it’s on North Point and the 33-Stanyan when it’s on 18th Street) take the red light like it ain’t no thang. I follow the rules. Are you going to?

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Seat Graffiti Glue

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File under WTF …

Saw the gem above on my first ride on the 31, from middle Richmond to Third and Market. Oh, and Google Maps said the trip would take 38 mins, but it turned out to be more like 50. It goes through the Tenderloin, after all.

Anyway, yes, there was glue-graffiti on some of the backseats. My impulse is to shake my head and say, “Kids.” But I was a kid not so long ago. Still, I can’t see what would possess someone to do this. You can read it even less clearly than most tagging.

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: , ,

Give Respect, Get Respect: Practice What You Preach

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The first part of the title of this post comes from a new ad I saw on the back of a bus today:

I literally gasped. Year after year after year, and day after day after day, people are hit and killed by Muni while crossing the street. True — not all deaths and injuries are Muni’s fault. But in general, if you see a bus when you have a ‘Walk’ sign, look in all 360 degrees before walking. Doing so is a sign of self-respect.

I’m just baffled that the agency feels they need to educate the general public on safety issues. Why not run those banner ads inside the bus … say, in the front seat? Next to the driver.

Category: diaries, reflection

The 47: Everything that’s wrong with Muni, all in one route

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By Anonymous

For work, I had to go into the edge of the Tenderloin one afternoon just as schools were letting out. I didn’t get what I needed for work, but I did witness a drug deal, so I suppose I got my afternoon’s entertainment out of the trip. I hopped on a 47 on Van Ness to get back to Market Street.

For starters, it was full of high-school students, who were clotted into the back of the bus and screaming at one another. As far as I can tell, they weren’t screaming anything intelligible, they were JUST SCREAMING. After two blocks, the bus came to a stop and the driver said, “We’re having mechanical problems. Everyone has to get off the bus and wait for the next one.”

Sigh.

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1 is the happiest number

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Whoever wrote that song about one being a lonely number had it wrong. One, in fact, is the best number, at least in the Muni universe. My search for a new place to call home has mostly brought me to the Richmond and Sunset areas, putting me on the foreign 38-Geary and, today, the 1-California.

There isn’t enough time or space to explain everything that’s wrong with the 38. But what I have to say about the 1 is (hopefully) shortish and sweet.

This has to be the best bus route in SF. A friend said this is among the highest-rated lines for on-time performance and, incidentally, is the one Mayor Gavin Newsom uses. Seeing as how Muni funds are being slashed left and right, I can’t say the latter is that compelling a fact. But anyway…

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Category: diaries, reflection Tags: ,
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