LATFH+Muni=Hilarity close to home
Daily source of hilariousness Look at This Fucking Hipster posted this photo today, along with the caption:
Look at this fucking headphones connection.
Like we said, hilarity.
Category: Funny: Muni LOLs
Tutorial: How to speed up boarding on Muni
Photo by Flickr user Nick.Fisher
Doug over at Ice Tubes blog got tired of trying to stuff crumpled dollar bills into Muni boxes and posted some tips for the days when you don’t have your Fast Pass/Translink/dollar coins/pocket full of change. Now you have something to do while you wait for the bus. — Eugenia
With the recent fare hike back in July, the cost of riding a bus/light rail in San Francisco has gone up to $2. Now you either a) use a pre-paid bus pass, b) have eight quarters ready, c) contain a fist full of dimes, nickels and quarters adding up to $2, or d) have two $1 bills.
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Photo diary: A virtual world aboard Muni?
From Muni rider Anthony:
If Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 was a kid, this kid would be him.
*Scratches head*
Who?
A little internet search showed that Cloud is a young man with what I previously thought was an impossible-in-real-life hairdo, which this cool young man has replicated to perfection.
Thanks, Anthony!
No Green Buses Today
Photo by Telstar Logistics
But we’ve seen a few noteworthy St. Paddy’s Day-related tweets cross the wires, including:
I’ve already been pinched twice by total strangers. Is everyone on my commute Irish or just jerks?! by @Hilary_Laurie
priest on the muni isn’t wearing green. hmm. by @rachelpartdeux
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, folks. Party people, do me a favor, do not get on a muni metro between 11pm and 12am please. Just let me get home. by @rnaglejr
I’m guessing the drunken, stumbly man in a green t-shirt on Muni at 4:30 pm is related to St. Patrick’s day festivities. by @pui_ling
What about you? What did you see/who did you pinch today on Muni?
Muni Metaphors
Photo by Flickr user anitakhart
Within a span of 12 hours, I’ve seen two people on Twitter compare shittiness in some other system to Muni.
(via @troy) i think AT&T & Muni have the same biz model: over promise and under deliver. raise prices, lower SLAs. i hate them both equally.
(via @whole_tost) Damn you firefox, you used to take five minutes to load, now it takes 20! Starting to become the next Muni…
I’m not going to pretend to scratch my head over this phenomenon. Instead, I’m wondering how many other metaphors we can come up with. I’m thinking:
Dude, this elevator is taking as long per storey as Muni does per mile. Ouch.
Or:
The sidewalks on Valencia are all Muni’d these days.
Or something. Got any other Muni metaphors? Let us know in comments please.
From a Muni operator: ‘The facts’
Ed. note: While the discussion continues on the post we got from a Muni operator’s wife, we received a first-hand account from Will, a Muni operator, who lays forth his ideas about MTA and describes what it’s like to drive for Muni:
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about Muni Drivers. First, operators are not unwilling to make sacrifices when it is appropriate to do so. However, the MTA’s proposal to freeze scheduled wage increases for an additional 12 months (we are currently under an 18-month wage freeze that expires in July of this year) came at a time when city officials were publicly questioning whether the MTA is misappropriating money budgeted for Muni service. We would like to know why the MTA gives $67 million of the Muni operating budget to other City Departments.
As for the Charter pay survey that determines our wage increases: Muni operators are worth every penny! We are the most uniquely trained and highly qualified transit operators anywhere in the world. Where else can you find antique cable cars, high speed light rail vehicles, articulated electric and diesel coaches as well as antique street cars all being operated by the same group of people?
Also, try to imagine the frenzy of activity (700,000 riders per day, 21,000,000 per month) in and around transit vehicles every day. Operators successfully manage interactions of all kinds with riders while navigating the chaos on city streets, (like patting your head and rubbing your stomach and walking on a tight rope 100 feet up). This is not a complaint but an attempt to describe the experience.
As for work rules: Operators are disciplined and fired for excessive abscences… disciplined and fired for too many passenger complaints… disciplined and fired for unsafe driving. Contrary to popular belief the MTA is very tough on drivers (many would say excessivly so). Because of the current economic conditions many San Francisco residents are unemployed and angry. This is understandable. However, it is no reason to blindly bash Muni operators for trying to hold the line against the anti-union opportunists trying to take advantage of the situation.