Best Transit Map Alternative on Apple’s iOS6

With the removal of transit maps from Apple’s iOS6, what are you using to navigate Muni/BART/Caltrain? An app? Ask a stranger? A compass and sextant? What’s your solution to navigating around town?

We asked on Facebook and Twitter, and so far our commenters equally recommend Nextbus, Routesy, and paper maps (remember those)? The tally, in order of popularity:

  • Nextbus
  • Routesy
  • Paper maps
  • Maps.google.com
  • Map on the bus shelter
  • Lumatic City Maps
  • Hop Stop
  • The Transit App

What will you use on your iPhone to get around?

HT: Ed Casey of @BARTDiaries. Follow him on Twitter for all the BART hilarity you can get.

Pro Level Muni Makeup Station


Photo by @LeJazzHOT

This is, hands down, the most impressive makeup application on Muni that I have ever seen. I mean, you see a girl putting on eyeliner on the bus and you think, how dangerous and skillful! But check out what @LeJazzHOT busted out on the bus.

LeJazzHOt: Muni make up station. I’ve gotten far too good at this.

Can you make me over too? I’ve always wanted to learn how to do a smokey eye.

HT: @BunnyPistol.

Bus Advertising That Stinks

Talk about a captive audience. Dunkin’ Donuts has launched a unique olfactory ad campaign on buses in South Korea, spritzing morning commuters with smell of coffee. The campaign uses air freshener-like devices that squirt the coffee aroma when activated by a jingle in Dunkin’ Donuts radio ads that play on the buses. The ads are timed to air right before you roll up to a bus stop with Dunkin’ Donut ads and a Dunkin’ Donut shop located conveniently across the street.

The company says it has seen a 16 percent increase in visits to its stores. I guess the smell of coffee beats lots of other possible smells on the bus. What do you think of the ad campaign? Too creepy or kind of cool?

via Huffington Post

Muni Trivia: Name This Mystery Gauge Thing


Photo by @Shanna

Shanna asks on Twitter: “Any idea what this is measuring? Found it under the seat on Muni.”

We had no idea either, until we asked our Muni driver friend, who has an answer for us. “This is a measure for how much sand is left in the bags on the Light Rail Vehicles. The LRVs use a lot of sand on rainy days or for hard braking.”

The LRVs carry sand under the seats and drops sand onto the tracks for traction on rainy days or for hard braking in other situations.

One mystery solved.

I Witnessed a Violent Phone Robbery on Muni


Photo by Bill Swingle

Late last night we saw a disturbing tweet from reader Steve S.: “On Muni. Four thugs just pistol whipped the shit out of some poor girl, stole her phone, and bolted.” We asked him what happened. Here is his story.

I was riding Muni home late tonight from downtown from 4th and Market, I think on the 6 outbound. At the very back row of the bus was a young woman, probably somewhere between age 16 and 20, sitting by herself. There were 15 to 20 people on the bus.

Around 5th or 6th street, a group of three or four men dressed in hoodies got on and were standing close to one another at the entrance of the rear door. I assume they were whispering or talking quietly to each other, but I had headphones on and couldn’t hear. They were fiddling with something in their hoodies’ pockets.

Nothing unusual was going on, and shady people on Muni is nothing new, so I looked out the window for a few moments. Around 8:30 p.m., at the 8th Street island, suddenly there was yelling and shouting coming from the front and back of the bus. I see at least two of the men rush from the back out the doors, and one man fighting with the girl, who was screaming at him to leave her. I saw something that looked like a gun in his right hand as he was grabbing her hand holding her phone with his left. I saw him punch her in the face twice and then run out the rear door with her phone. This all happened in the span of about 10 seconds.

The bus driver stopped the bus and someone nearer to her called 911. The girl was holding her face which was red but didn’t appear to be bleeding. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. On the seat next to me was a clip from the gun, presumably dropped during the flight, which someone else noticed and picked up. They speculated that it was a clip to a fake gun or a bebe gun, but I don’t know if it was or not. SFPD showed up in minutes.

The SFMTA told us that their video unit is pulling video of the incident. Be careful out there, everyone.

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