First, they came for our paper Fast Passes, and we did nothing. Well, we did things*
Now, they’re coming for our paper Muni transfers! We will not stand for this! (But, of course, we will stand for this). SFBay has the story:
The current fareboxes, which date back to 1991, will be replaced with machines that can print real-time passes as soon as Muni riders pay their fare. As reported by SFBay, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has been shopping through proposals from potential contractors since last year.
San Franciscans have been making things out of the transfers for years. And the more crafty among us have been splicing and dicing transfers to squeeze a little more time out of the suckers.
Good times, they end. [sad face]
Read the full story on SFBay and cry in your soup with us.
Well, well. Lookee there, wouldya? Muni rider Reece floated this one over to us via muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. Here’s Reece:
I was waiting for the N with my pup when a woman suddenly zooms into the Muni tunnel. ~10 minutes later, we see her trying to back out (she was stuck), with an inbound N hot on her heels. It took a good 5 minutes (and lots of yelling from the Muni workers) before she freed herself.
The rivalry between Muni and automobiles continues …
Mission hangers-about are familiar with those hard-to-miss red bus lanes on Mission Street. Some of those people, including local business owners and Supervisor David Campos, say they’re annoying and are looking to walk back their implementation.
The lanes were part of the Mission Street Improvement Project, which established bus-only lanes on Mission Street from 14th Street to 30th Street.
Small business owners and Supervisor Campos claim that the bus-only lanes are hurting the bottom line, but can anyone really accurately estimate how much businesses were hurt by transit options? As Streetsblog points out:
Studies show that businesses tend to get it wrong about how many customers arrive by car. Regardless, figuring how it impacts bottom lines on Mission would be difficult. A sampling of businesses would have to offer their books for an audit. And then if sales receipts really went down from this time last year, it would have to be compared to businesses a few blocks away, to make sure it’s not a reflection of the regional economy.
Business owners interviewed by Streetsblog, however, point to the bus lanes as the reason for decline. In terms of estimating how much business comes from car-drivers versus Muni riders, SFMTA says that Mission street carries over 65,000 Muni riders each day, and about 8,000 cars travel along Mission street. In addition to looking like our very own Muni red carpet — “14! 14, what are you wearing!?” — an SFMTA press release says the bus-only lanes have, thus far, improved travel-time reliability and reduced collisions.
But as Campos said in the release, “I want to make sure that the project works for everyone and takes into account the unique aspects of the Mission.”
To be fair, governing by 100-percent consensus is San Francisco’s favorite tune, and you will not take that away from those elected to govern, by god!
In a surprisingly quirky move, the SFMTA released a transit safety coloring book for young people (or just adult hipsters in need of some Zen). The coloring book also has other games, like a word finder, fun facts, and safety tips for kids.
From the SFMTA:
This is an activity book for young people created by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, also called the SFMTA. The SFMTA oversees the City’s entire land-based transportation system including walking, bicycling, Muni buses, Muni Metro light rail, cable cars, historic streetcars, Paratransit cabs and vans, taxis, parking and traffic. This activity book will show you how to be safe when you are moving through San Francisco’s lively urban landscape. Safety starts with all of us: Slow down, be alert and share the road.
It’d be pretty meta to do this while riding the bus, no? You can download the SFMTA coloring book here.
In the spirit of “there’s an app for that,” we’ve seen a lot of Muni alternatives come and go with varying degrees of obnoxiousness. Remember the doomed shuttle called Leap that tried to sell you cold brew but only if you don’t need wheelchair-accessible seats? That was pretty bad, but we just heard about a new move that might win the douche award.
Muni rider Erin L. told us that private shuttle service Chariot has been sending “brand ambassadors” to Muni stops to chat up riders to get them to quit public transit. She ran into these Chariot reps twice at the 38BX stop just last week on Sansome and Pine. The rep asked Erin whether she knew about Chariot and has heard about the app.
Ick, right? This feels more aggressive than the Lyft ads we’ve seen on Muni shelters (at least some of those make reference to the “last mile” problem). We reached out to Chariot last week but the company hasn’t returned our inquiry. However, on Chariot’s website, it looks like Chariot is ramping up their efforts of on-the-street advertising. The company is hiring more “energetic, outgoing” brand ambassadors to “spread the word about Chariot,” mostly in SoMa and downtown. Read more
The horror of the Orlando mass shooting reminded us of the many men and women who have told their love stories at Muni Diaries Live, unafraid of being judged. I am hopeful that this means we live in a place where a love story doesn’t need to be qualified as a straight or gay. Here’s one of our favorite stories from Elyse Bova, who met her love Mahsa, the one-woman band, on Muni.
Originally posted in 2012, this story was told live at Muni Diaries Live that year.
From Elyse:
As a recent transplant to San Francisco, I was naturally intrigued when the SF Weekly’s “Best Of” issue hit the stands. While flipping through it one Friday morning, the picture alongside an article about the city’s Best One Man Band caught my attention, because she was a ridiculously good looking and hot lady, who also looked like a mime. She caught my eye for a few moments before I moved on in my reading.
Late that night, while on my way out to the Mission on the 33 bus line from Twin Peaks, with my housemate and a friend from out of town, the one-woman band of my dreams from SF Weekly boards the bus, Beat-Feet and all. Joking, my friends and I discuss which one of us was going to write the Missed Connection on
Craigslist later that night.
I make eyes her way and depart the bus shortly thereafter to go to the bar. Upon arriving at the bar I find that I have lost my wallet, and cannot even go into the bar with my friends. Going back to the bus route I check all the buses coming back and spend the rest of the night worrying about my lost belongings.
Three weeks later, all cards cancelled and renewed, I am spending a quiet evening going through Facebook random requests and see one from a name I do not know, but who does reside in San Francisco. It says she was in a clown college but the profile picture didn’t let me see her face. I decided to friend this person and just check it out, and upon realizing who the girl was I simultaneously realized that she must have found my wallet to have known my name and find me. I then found a message sent roughly three weeks prior with the friend request with her number. Quickly I called and left a voicemail, but didn’t hear back from her for the rest of the day.
Later that night, another housemate of mine, who obviously knew the entire story of just who found my wallet, runs into the cutely dressed mime, busking on a street corner, and she gets on a bus with him and decides to come to my house to explain what has since happened to my wallet.
I at the time am getting ready to go out in the Mission, and have been drinking for roughly two hours, with a friend from college. My roommate texts me and tells me not to leave until he gets home, thinking he is sick or something I obviously stay.
When he gets to the house with my surprise, my friends realize it is the Mime musician from the bus and from the magazine. She had come to my front door to explain that she had taken the twenty dollars and BART card in my wallet, and given the wallet itself to a friend, and also had cut up my cards. My addresses on all my cards were, at that time, San Diego and she hadn’t thought I really lived in San Francisco. She offered to play me a song with her Beat-Feet, and as I graciously accept she plays “Kiss” by Prince and my heart melts. And slowly but surely after months of easing into this magical experience we are deeply in love and laugh and play every day on the streets of San Francisco together.
