Muni Diaries

What’s grosser than gross on Muni?

January 23, 2015 jeff 7 comments

Muni: The gift that keeps giving. Just when you think you’ve seen, heard, and smelled it all, along comes …

Man on #Muni weaving yarn presumably from an untidy wad of pet hair, but I could be wrong.
It smells of fish and Chanel No. 5 on this bus. #sfmuni
old man’s beard completely white except for the part around his mouth. He must eat a lot of mustard. #SFMuni
When you realize you have a banana in yr pocket and are squeezed on #SFMuni. Squishy banana the breakfast of champions
Ok, which one of you shit your pants? This train smells awful. #SFMuni #SFMTA

This week’s Things on Muni is brought to you by fellow Muni riders @AkraticBehavior, @Tarano40, @patrykwolff, @DaneYoshida, and @Heather__Ilene. Don’t keep the disgust to yourself: Vent at @munidiaries!

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: Things on Muni

Please mind the gap (and dude asleep on the floor) as you enter BART

January 23, 2015 jeff One comment

Just a regular ol' morning on the way to work on the #bart train today.

A video posted by Mike Bianco (@mikebiancoart) on Jan 23, 2015 at 8:24am PST

Who says you need a seat to catch some Zs on public transit? Definitely not this hero!

h/t BART rider Mike

Category: BART

Muni Arts and Crafts Class: Origami

January 23, 2015 jeff Leave a comment

Some like to tune the world out. Others actively people-watch. And there are those who capitalize on their commute time by practicing origami.

The art of fine paper-folding is by no means the only art/craft that Muni riders engage in. To whit, we told you years ago about a few people who knit on the bus. And this finished origami bird found a home on Muni.

What do you do to pass the time on your commute?

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni

The Onion, Muni Edition

January 22, 2015 Tara Leave a comment

Oh, The Onion is drawing inspiration from life in San Francisco again with, “Man with Serious Mental Illness Committed to Bus.” Sure, this could prompt a revisit to the piss-pillow incident of 2014 or rightful hand-wringing over the state of mental-health services. But let’s focus on these things instead:

Every now and then, a driver will totally look out for all involved when a visibly “disturbed” man is caressing his tool (not what you think) on the bus.
I don’t care who you are, an apparently harmless person yelling “My enemy is my enema!” is strangely poetic and kind of a thinker. And it makes for a pretty memorable bus ride, if you ask me.
Finally, a tweet from @sdquali that kind of sums it all up: “Bruised, in suits and hoodies, wasted, homeless, coding the side project, making out in the backseat. 38 is how S.F. goes home.”

Image above via The Onion

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Transit News: Free Muni expanded, cyclists on public transit, Bay Area’s transit plan

January 22, 2015 jeff Leave a comment

news5
Photo by Lynn Friedman

Dear SF Supervisors: Stop Trying to Score Cheap Political Points and Stay Focused on Fixing Muni Now (Andy Bosselman on Medium)
Free Muni To Be Offered To Disabled, Low- To Moderate-Income Seniors (SF Appeal)
SFMTA approves Muni service increase (SF Bay)
How Your City’s Public Transit Stacks Up (Five Thirty Eight)
Cyclists bridge gaps with greater acceptance on public transit (SFGate)
What is the Bay Area’s Plan for 21st Century Transportation? (KQED)

Category: News

Can’t touch this: A germaphobe’s take on buying BART tickets

January 21, 2015 yarbs Leave a comment

BART_lab
Photo of BART lab via NextCity.org

BART’s old cloth seats may have been generally regarded as revolting, but its ticket machines aren’t so bad, at least according to one self-proclaimed germaphobe.

In an article for the website Next City, author Aaron Reiss pits New York Subway ticket machines against BART’s, declaring the Bay Area transit agency the winner from an anti-microbial standpoint for how few times you have to touch or otherwise interact with the machines to add money or buy a new card. While adding $3 to a BART card took three steps, for example, doing the same on a New York MTA machine took 11 steps and required navigating a series of touch screens.

The article is an interesting read, even for those not adverse to touching things in public. It features photos from inside the BART lab where turnstiles and other equipment is tested, and other BART background. The inspiration for BART’s machines? An ATM. Who knew?

Read the full post on Next City here.