Drama over the BART intercom

BART operator Kelly Beardsley lets us in on one little secret about driving BART: passengers love pressing the intercom button to chat with him about annoyances big and small, or even to just shoot the shit with him for no reason at all. Our live storytelling show, Muni Diaries Live, is where you can hear stories that are at once both true and unbelievable. Here’s Kelly recounting the shenanigans over the intercom on one eventful BART ride.

I love intercom calls, they always crack me up. You know on BART at the end there’s that little box that says, In Case of Emergency, Call the Operator?” Sometimes people just push it and just chat me up. Like, “Hey, I noticed you just made another transfer announcement at Lake Merritt Station. I don’t usually hear transfer announcements at Lake Merritt Station for the Dublin-Pleasanton bound passengers. Are you going to make a transfer announcement at Bay Fair?” And i’m just like, “Oh I like to mix it up! I like to make sure people get to where they need to go!” And the guy’s like, “Oh that’s really cool, man, so what other places do you make transfer announcements?”

We get stupid calls, we get fun calls, and we get complaint calls like, “Hey! Hey! There’s this girl and she’s got a bike and she’s eating a burrito and she’s in the handicapped seat!”

If you want to hear stories like this and other true and hilarious tales, come to the next Muni Diaries Live show on Nov. 5!

Muni Diaries Live
Tickets
Saturday, Nov 5, 2016
Doors: 6 p.m., show: 7 p.m.
Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St. stations

Photo by Kevin Wong/Right Angle Images

Who’s ‘Energized’ for the week? (Hint, not this commuter)

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It keeps going and going and going…”

And by “it,” we mean the heaping dose of visual irony pictured here, courtesy of csuhpat1, who also points out the rush-hour manspreading action.

A friendly reminder that it’s only cool to man- or lady-spread in sparsely populated Muni vehicles.

Hear our best Muni stories live on stage! Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 5 at the Elbo Room. Tickets on sale now!

Subway riders pit Donald Trump against techno music

These subway riders are demanding for less Donald Trump, which is completely reasonable. You may not totally love what they want to replace him with, but at this point, we’ll take it over He Who Rides BART Better Than You.

Thank you to Muni rider Michelle Bird for bringing this excellent video to our attention.

Hear our best Muni stories live on stage! Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 5 at the Elbo Room. Tickets on sale now!

This is either the best or worst thing you’ve ever smelled on Muni

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Depending on your preference, this is either the best or worst thing you’ve ever smelled on Muni. Those of you who have been or live in the tropics: am I right? Spotted by @chuinonthis on Instagram, these two durian fruits are just chillin’ free on the seat. They’re not even wrapped in layers of newspaper and garbage bags like how my aunt used to smuggle them on the plane.

If you’ve been to southeast Asia, you know that durian is famous for its potent smell. Anthony Bourdain famously said that the scent is “indescribable, something you will either love or despise…Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.” It’s so bad that Malaysian public transit banned it from its trains.

But here on good ol’ Muni, you can let your freak flag fly, durians included! I’m told that the actual fruit tastes like a lovely sweet custard.

Hear our best Muni stories live on stage! Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 5 at the Elbo Room. Tickets on sale now!

Muni Diaries Live Nov. 5: Who’s in?

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Twice a year, we, the hamsters behind the MD machine, bring you Muni Diaries Live: our chance to come together IRL for laughter, tears, and to commiserate over the “Oh, SF” that is our public-transit system.

Wouldn’t you know it, our next show — our 16th one in a lucky seven years — is coming up Nov. 5 at Elbo Room. Get to know our stellar storytellers, who can’t wait to share the best and worst of their journeys from Point A to Point B in the 7×7.

Are you down? Let us know on Facebook and buy your tickets on Eventbrite today!

Pic by Right Angle Images

BART sign hacker reserves priority seating for new types of riders

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Someone with crafty tiny scissors and some stickers amended this BART priority seating sign for a new batch of under-served groups. Eagle-eye BART rider Deirdre O. spotted this gem and points out, “the guy with the cane has a top hat, and the pregnant person has an alien bursting from her belly. You can’t see it well in the photo, but the alien has dozens of tiny sharp teeth.”

We approve of this leap of imagination!

Other signs in our hacker hall of fame:

Muni roof “emerge” sign
Move to the back, or to this best neighborhood in town
Station agent’s new posture
Fun is not allowed on BART!

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