T-Third to Chinatown Station?
I ran into my dad on Muni. He was driving.
As Andrew says:
It was like Bring Your Son to Work Day, only with a 28-year-old kid. I asked if I could take the wheel, but he slapped my hands. Some things never change.
Also, per Andrew, this fun fact: It requires tons of torque to move the steering wheel on most Muni buses, in case there was any doubt. That’s why lots of drivers wear gloves.
This post was too good NOT to be considered for our 100 Days, 100 Muni Stories feature. We’re asking you to share your best Muni stories, and the four best will appear in ads on every single bus in town later this year. Send us your stories, or tag your best Muni tweets #100MuniStories!
BART train derails near Concord Station (update)
Update (10:34 a.m.): The Examiner has a quote from BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
Original post: Eileen sends us the news. According to 511.org:
Major BART Delay
On Sunday, March 13th, at 9:45am, there is a major delay on the Pittsburg/Bay Point Line in the Pittsburg / Bay Point and SFO directions due to a train derailment. Currently, there is no service past Pleasant Hill as BART organizes a bus bridge to make service available.
And from BCN via SF Appeal:
A BART train in Concord headed for San Francisco this morning has derailed, causing major delays on the Bay Point line in both directions, according to BART officials.
No injuries have been reported as a result of the derailment, officials said.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately available.
We’ll keep scanning the wires for more information.
Free drinks with Clipper Card?
Photo by Jamison Wieser
Not quite. But that didn’t stop a gaggle of tweeters yesterday evening from fantasizing.
It started with a casual tweet from @murphstahoe:
Bars should be able to get a Clipper reader, and give $2 off your first drink if you rode Muni in the last 20 minutes.
We spawned a hashtag: #clipperbooze, and from there, imagination ran wild. Here are some of the musings:
and free rides over a certain BAC %! the drivers can get those portable breathalyzers 😀 — @cripsahoy
bars should just take Clipper. Would speed adoption! — @jcsnotes
I think the breathalyzers would be better used on the #muni drivers… — @duggi
They’d have to put a breathalyzer on the clipper card, though. #clipperbooze — @geekpondering
Yes! To alleviate IRS on pretax $$$, bars name drinks after lines “I’ll have a K-Ingleside straight up” #clipperbooze — @jcsnotes
Broken Clipper fare readers in bars = free drink! #clipperbooze — @LSH
Ah, San Francisco. This all reminds us of another creative use for Clipper Cards. If you’ve got other creative, alcohol-infused ideas for Clipper, don’t forget to use “#clipperbooze” on Twitter.
Weekend Photos: This Side of the Tracks
Photo by Mark Denton
Hey, we have a Facebook page where you can keep up with all the happenings on Muni Diaries. Won’t you like us on Facebook?
In Muni news this week:
- Muni reroutes due to tsunami warning (our news roundup)
- Muni operators calling for expansion of safety regulation to include buses (SF Examiner)
- Muni operators sue the city, transportation chief (City Insider)
- Supervisor Scott Wiener calls on Muni to get tough on workers (SF Examiner)
- Eleven citizens first to be empowered with oversight of BART Police (BART.gov)
- Church and Duboce Project to Revamp Major Transit and Bike Corridor (Streetsblog SF)
- Construction Schedule Mar. 7 – Mar. 25 (Central Subway Blog)
- BART gets better budget news (SFGate)
- Large Sculpture Approved For New Transbay Transit Center (SFAppeal)
- Muni “M” Pass on Clipper Card ONLY Starting April 1, 2011 (Akit’s Complaint Department)
Enjoy these photos and have a safe weekend!
Photo by beakatude
Photo by hep
Photo by Jennifer_Bakos
Photo by Troy Holden
Muni Reroutes Due To Tsunami Warning
Photo by Troy Holden
Due to the tsunami warning and closure of Great Highway, SFMTA rerouted the 18-46th Avenue and the 23-Monterey off of Great Highway at 8 a.m.. SFAppeal reports that the N-Judah and the L Taraval are also being rerouted at Sunset Blvd. (a shuttle will take you between Ocean Beach and Sunset). BART is running as usual. No word yet on when the 18 and the 23 will be back to their normal routes. Meanwhile, officials say you should stay off the beach because waves can last for hours, reports SFGate. On Twitter, @Emergency_In_SF reminds people to stay away from the beach and that the “best view will be live on TV.”
The SFAppeal has a live cam of Ocean Beach, which so far looks rather uneventful. Fingers crossed.
The tsunami warning came after the 8.9 earthquake that shook Japan yesterday. More coverage of the San Francisco tsunami warning:
- Video: People flock to Ocean Beach San Francisco to watch tsunami (SF Examiner)
- Tsunami warning closes local beaches, Great Highway (SFGate)
- SF Tsunamiwatch: Video From Ocean Beach, BART Still Running, Muni Rerouted Away From Coast (SFAppeal)
- Hour-by-hour watch on SFist on local tsunami warning (SFist)
- Tsunami Warning in San Francisco; Beaches Closed (SF Weekly, which also updates that Santa Cruz has damaged boats)
- California nuclear plants shut down as tsunami precaution (Reuters, which also updates that precautions are routine)