Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Photo by Glass&Tubes
Yep, you read that right. “Mike” left a Craigslist missed connection for a Muni operator.
So nice to bump into you again last night. I don’t know whether it’s your aura, your spirit, or just pheromones, but every time I get to see your smile, it makes my night.
And with this missed connection, my definition of awesome is rewritten yet again.
Thx: @verbalcupcake
Photo by peephole
Peephole‘s caption on Flickr reads:
Just walk and maybe pretend you have a bus or streetcar to get you there. Chinese New Year Parade, San Francisco.
“Everyone who has ridden the subway has sat next to a pile of abandoned newspapers, been hit in the foot by an empty bottle, or accidentally walked into the “stinky car” with a homeless person at one end. These are the things that we need to overlook everyday in order to survive riding the most convenient form of public transportation in the Big Apple. But every so often something so horrendously disgusting happens that it shatters our ability to descend into the hot, steaming underground several times a day. A few weeks ago while waiting for a 6 train from Grand Central Station, I saw a pile of puke next to a garbage can. Sadly, that’s not too uncommon, but what made it grosser than gross was there was a rat eating the puke. Ew, ew, ew, ew!
We know you have some nasty stories to share about MTA-related gross outs. You might even be able to top my puke-eating vermin tale. Please, take to the comments section and let us know your worst. The one that turns our stomach the most wins a $10 Metrocard and the admiration of all our readers for surviving the worst underground atrocity. Good luck, and happy riding.”
The stories in the comment section of this Gawker post are pretty gnarly, but hey, New York isn’t the center of the universe! Here in San Francisco, Muni’s got loogies, fish guts, scary unexplained red puddles…
Dubious honor, for sure. I’ve only been on the New York City subway a handful of times and can’t attest to its grossness myself. East Coast transplants, what do you think?
Photo by Flickr user octoferret
We came across this amazing photo by Octoferret on Flickr, who stitched together two Muni roll signs to show the lines and destinations. A little more from Octoferret on how he put this together:
There are 150 readings on the destinations sign and 157 on the lines sign. The destinations sign has the date 2/8/90 printed on it, the lines sign is undated. Both signs came from one of these buses, which were retired from service in 2007.
This image is made from 27 photos of the sign showing the lines and 26 photos of the sign showing the destinations after heavy editing. I had to straighten every single photo, up the contrast, make the colors uniform and then stitch them all together.
Wow. That’s patience.
I spotted some unusual lines on the photo — 18-Geary?
Photo by Troy Holden
A few weeks ago we asked you how the Muni service cuts were affecting you. Daishin had this completely unexpected outcome from the service cuts:
Yesterday I was forced to take the 49 up Van Ness from Market because I didn’t feel well enough to walk the several blocks to my house. The bus was so crowded no one could move. I was standing next to a lovely beautiful young woman with bracelets up and down her arms and wonderful tats on her bare shoulders.
She kept smiling sweetly at me and tried to make eye contact. After a few minutes it dawned on me that she was totally fucked up on something so I asked her if she was wasted. She smiled even more broadly and said, “YES! I’m just glad to see that there are plenty of young people in San Francisco still getting stoned and riding Muni like we used to do in the 1960s, albeit it’s a hell of a lot more uncomfortable these days.”
Photo by Flickr user Brandon Doran
I’ve waited a whole week for this: Jeff is on his man-vacation, so this weekend I hope y’all don’t mind that I change the Muni Diaries background to something frilly that involves cupcakes, unicorns, kittens, and ballons, all in pink.
It’s going to be so awesome.
I know, right?
In real Muni news this week:
– Paul Rose is the new SFMTA spokesperson (SF Chronicle)
– City’s 311 customer service line works, and Muni pays (Bay Citizen)
– Muni to vote on stricter drug-testing guidelines (ABC 7)
– Nat Ford “disappointed and perplexed” By Muni Drivers’ Rejection Of Concessions Intended To Restore Service (SF Appeal)
– Muni service cuts appear to be staying put (SF Examiner)
– Report: SFPD’s New Approach to Crime on Muni “Promising” (Streetsblog)
– Blame, Calls for Revote and Contract Details in Wake of Muni Drivers Vote (Streetsblog)
– Muni Shell Game Perps Still at It; SFPD, SFMTA Slow/No Response (ABC 7, Muni Diaries)
– Police crack down on Muni crime (SF Examiner)
– Push to Organize SF Transit Riders Proving Difficult (SF Weekly)
– Muni boss says operators getting bad info (SF Examiner)
– Clipper Card Transition for Bay Area Transit is Now Official (Streetsblog)
– SFMTA gets a new spokesman (City Insider/SFGate)
Enjoy the photos and your weekend. And keep the stories, sketches, videos, photos, and tweets coming!
Photo by Flickr user KayVeeInc
Photo by Flickr user Vivian Chen
Photo by Flickr user captin_nod