Castro senior takes Muni to poetic heights

castro

Poetry is not easy, but Muni provides enough angst and fodder that one man at the Castro Senior Center wrote a poem all about our favorite love-hate mode of transportation. “Why can’t they be on time; If they were I wouldn’t have to whine.” Ain’t that the truth.

Straight from the Muni Diaries submission box to you, by rider Tom Barton.

Here’s a poem that I wrote for the Castro Senior Center where I go.

 

10 Muni Buses all in a Row
By Tom Barton

 

10 Muni buses all in a row
everyone’s wondering why it’s so slow
The driver wonders why all the fuss
of course it’s because there has been no bus

 

Now there is an app for the next bus to come
Yea, but how can I trust it so I don’t have to run
It tells you what to expect
But sometimes it’s a guess

 

Muni Metro ever so slow
when it will come nobody knows

Muni metro screwed up again
When will it ever end
Another breakdown, another delay
Maybe I should find another way

 

Muni Metro comes in a bunch
There’s been a breakdown I have a hunch

 

When I’m in a hurry I have to wait
Why are they many times so late
So Why can’t they be on time
If they were I wouldn’t have to whine

 

The Muni’s not perfect we know that’s true
So why are we always turning blue
If only we knew what to expect
We wouldn’t always get so upset.

 

A fare increase, 25 (cents), what the heck
Another quarter in your pocket, please check

 

With Muni we can always hope for the best
And with hopes that it won’t be another mess

Poetry seems to stem from transit riders, even resulting in a haiku battle between LA Metro and our own BART. Next time a rhyming urge strikes you, tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open!

Completely adorable animal menagerie on Muni

muni parrot puppy by peepholier

Love it when the whole family rides the bus. Tiny dog looks a little scared but the parrots are giving zero fucks. Thanks @peepholier on Instagram for this pick-me-upper.

We have more cute animal photos on Muni to help you get over hump day.

Got other important news for your fellow riders? Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open!

SF seeking largest damage claim from Duboce tunnel driver

muni-car-duboce-tunnel-by-mikevladimer

Remember the driver who accidentally drove into the Duboce tunnel and caused hours of delay? Muni says that it will cost at least $55,000 to repair the tracks and other damages, and the agency is bringing a claim against the driver’s auto insurance company to pay for it, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

The photo above is from a Muni Diaries reader on the night when a car full of N-Judah riders saw some very unexpected headlights in the tunnel.

More from the Examiner:

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose said the $55,000 claim “covers the cost of additional shuttles used on three different days, repairs to the switch and its surrounding infrastructure, the cost of overtime, the cost of ambassadors, and the cost to adjust service.”

 

 

The City netted $50,000 for a car entering and damaging the Duboce Muni tunnel in 2012, but that was after the insurance company disputed the claim and it was fought in litigation, said John Cote, a spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office.

This driver was by far not the first person to drive into the tunnel. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of these incidents happen at night to drivers who had a few too many, says the Examiner. Although we’d never put it past anyone to do dumb things even in broad daylight, like this driver racing into the tunnel here.

Even two years ago, Streets Blog wrote a story on how Muni can prevent drivers from going into the tunnel meant for Muni trains. The signage already looks obvious enough to me, so some online commenters suggested spikes or a gate. Any other ideas?

Got other important news for your fellow riders? Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open!

Muni fare inspectors catch far more evaders near the SFMTA HQ

hoodline muni citation map

Muni’s fare cops issue way more citations near the SFMTA headquarters on South Van Ness than anywhere else in the city, according to Hoodline. The data nerds (and I mean that in the most complimentary way) at Hoodline overlayed the distance between the SFMTA office and the location where a fare citation was issued.

When Hoodline asked SFMTA’s chief security officer, Christopher Grabarkiewctz, why this might be, he didn’t have a super clear explanation:

We certainly have a performance standard that supervisors are supposed to maintain, but a lot of these people have been doing it for a very long time,” said Grabarkiewctz. “I’m not making excuses, it’s certainly something that we try to exercise and there’s constant reminders about this kind of thing.”

Anecdotally, I’ve seen fare inspectors on the 38 as far out as Masonic, but the method of distributing fare inspectors as described in the Hoodline story seemed imprecise at best.

For now, a reminder that everyone must pay fare on Muni (yes, even you), and preferably in the right denomination.

Rad fnnch art spotted at Powell Station

fnnch

By now, you might’ve seen cute, colorful honeybears painted all around San Francisco. Some are your run-of-the-mill bears; others have hats and costumes, including one wearing headphones and another holding a lightsaber.

Turns out the artist behind these works is known as fnnch, and I spotted the art above at Powell Street Station earlier today. Here’s a message that fnnch sent out yesterday about it:

In August of 2015 I spoke to the BART Board of Directors and said:

“BART is sitting on one of the greatest collections of canvases in the entire world. As someone who creates street art I’ve come to see spaces a little differently than others might. […] Concrete is canvas. And BART not only has an incredible amount of concrete, it has some that is seen by an incredible number of people. This is a really valuable resource.”

Read more

Muni Diaries Live is back on April 15!

muni diaries live alexa vk

Twice a year we bring the best public transit stories to the stage, and for our ninth trip around the sun (where did the time go?), we’ll be back at the Elbo Room on April 15 with a fresh batch of only-in-SF stories just for you!

The photo above is Alexa von Kickinface, who brought down the house with her Muni-themed burlesque number last year. What else do we have in store for you this time? For this show, we are bringing back our Muni Haiku champion for a new battle! Tickets are on sale now, so grab one while they’re available.

Our storytellers:

Baruch Porras-Hernandez is a writer, performer, host, storyteller, and regular KQED community events host based in San Francisco. He has performed in L.A., Washington D.C., NYC, Canada, and all over California. His writing has been published in numerous anthologies and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry and Lambda Literary Fellow in Playwriting. He regularly organizes poetry shows in the Bay Area, is currently the curator and head organizer for The San Francisco Queer Open Mic, and is program director for Donde Esta Mi Gente. He was born in Toluca, Mexico, and grew up in Albany, California. Read more

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