Truck, M-Ocean View collide head-on at Randolph and Arch (update)

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Update (3:53 p.m.): Chris tells us full service has resumed in this area.

Original post: Yet another “it just hasn’t been Muni’s day” post.

Rider Christopher Rogers tells us of an afternoon head-on collision between an M-Ocean View light-rail and a truck. According to Chris, there were no injuries. But the vehicles seem to have been damaged up real bad.

Chris adds: “They’re running shuttle buses on the outbound M route as of right now. LRVs are running inbound, though.”

Thanks, Chris!

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On the air at 5 p.m. today: Muni serendipity

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morning's time to get to work.
Photo by Julie Michelle of i live here:SF. Julie’s part of an photo opening tonight at Secession Gallery.

I’m doing something really fun today at 5 p.m., but before I tell you what it is, I’ve got to thank Muni for hooking me up:

Two Fridays ago, I was on the 27 with a friend when a man got on the bus with an arm load of dry cleaning he just picked up. With one hand holding his cell phone to his ear and the other holding his dry cleaning, the man casually hung his clothes on the metal hand rail and sat in front of us, the whole time talking on his cell. My friend and I thought it was a really cute and funny thing to do, and this made us and another passenger chuckle. This passenger took out his cell phone to take a few pictures of the laundry hanging in front of us, so of course I told him all about Muni Diaries and asked him to send me the photos, which we posted here.

The passenger, Mike, turned out to be a writer who was on his way to Pirate Cat Radio to talk about his work. Later that evening, I found that Mike had told Pirate Cat Radio’s Pam Benjamin about Muni Diaries, and Pam was kind enough to email me to introduce herself.

And today at 5 p.m., I’ll be at Pirate Cat Cafe talking to Pam and Diamond Dave on their program, Common Threads, about Muni Diaries! How meta is that? Please listen if you get the chance.

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Busted N-Judah Tunnel the Result of Copper Wire Theft? (w/updates)

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N Judah
Photo by Flickr user Ce nest pas un JB.

Update (4:16 p.m.): KCBS has confirmed that the troubles this morning in the Sunset Tunnel were, in fact, caused by the theft overnight of copper wires.

Update (11:44 a.m.): MTA says rail service has resumed, but they’re keeping shuttles in place “until service is restored.” We’ll let you figure out WTF that means.

Also, rider Nic sends us this report and photo:

I knew it was bad the moment I got on the nearly empty train this morning. The driver says “For those of you who just got on, I have some bad news.” The news was that I was going to be late. The Sunset Tunnel was out of service. Good times.

Got a picture of the first of two transfers at Hillway.

Update (11:27 a.m.): Brian Brooks has photos from this morning’s scene:

N-Judah Meltdown

N-Judah Meltdown

Read more

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I Dream of Muni: Fantasy Fare Inspector

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OMG, shoes
Photo by Flickr user WarzauWynn

Muni worked its way into the subconscious mind of Andrea of Hula Sunset. Also starring in this episode are Hubby, fare inspector, and Mom. Why does Mom always show up at the most inopportune places in dreams?

Hubby and I were going to catch the F-Market from our house to go to work. We got to the platform and I realized that my Fast Pass wasn’t in the little pocket of my purse where I usually keep it. It was in the jacket pocket, and of course I had left that jacket at home. Being that we’re way too poor to pay a fine should a POP officer request to see our POP, we decided to not take the train to work, but rather take the train home.

While we’re on the train two things happen. 1) my mom is on the train 2 seats ahead of us, notices us and gets all mad that we didn’t ride the train with her in the first place, and 2) we realize how stupid we are riding the train because we don’t have POP and it doesn’t matter that we’re going home to get my Fast Pass instead of going to work.

Sure enough, the fare inspectors get on the train. When they get to Hubby and me I explain to the nice POP lady what happened, and thank her for not being my least favorite fare inspector who I’m sure is out to get me, and I ask her where my favorite fare inspector is, y’know, the really large friendly lesbian with a crew cut — tough but friendly and fair. She smiles and walks away.

No ticket for me. Thanks dream-inspector.

Hubby and I get off the train and I don’t remember anything else except for a weird stairway, some kids playing lemonade checkers, and my mom giving me crap again for not riding the bus with her.

Yup, we dig Muni dreams. I’m still waiting to dream the one where Lou from Hot Tub Time Machine and I ride the 38 to save the world, whacking zombies with golf clubs along the way. Come on, REM sleep, you can do it!

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Three guesses on this ‘Day in the Life’

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Three guesses on how the above picture represents a “day in the life on Muni.”

Ok, go!

A closeup of the sweater on the passenger next to you?

Nope.

A piece of fuzz found hanging from the fare box?

Still no.

Nothing?

Head over to Burrito Justice to find out how the fantastic Eric Fischer created these maps from NextBus data. This makes the frequent long waits for Muni almost … poetic, no?

Category: diaries, Photos

Muni Book Club Chapter 1, N-Judah

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Riders James, Katie, and their friends started a really cool site called Between the Lines to document who’s reading what on public transit in our literary city. Here’s what they spotted this weekend on the N-Judah. Maybe you’ll see James and Katie soon on your line so you can share your discerning book choices.

After judging a book by its very intriguing cover from a few seats over on the N-Judah, Between the Lines had the pleasure of briefly chatting with Grace Foster about her chosen Muni tome, The Second Happiest Day. When she warned us that it was a rather obscure book, we were hooked.

How’d you find this book?

Grace said that she had first heard of the book through a review in either the San Francisco Chronicle or the New Yorker, and that she borrowed the book from the Oakland Public Library. She also told us that the author, John Phillips, was actually writing under a nom de plume. His real name was John Phillips Marquand, Jr., (a previous reader of this particular book thought it was important to pencil in). He was the son of the famous John Phillips Marquand (whom your author had never heard of).

Should we read this on our commute, too?

Grace said that she generally liked the novel, which was written at some point in the 1950s and involved the lives of upper-class characters. She said it was “typical of a forgotten genre,” and was a rather obscure work.

Turns out Grace was right. According to this Washington Post report, it is out of print and “long ago disappeared into the remotest shelves of the secondhand bookstores.” Good find, Grace, and thanks for chatting!

Does it seem like everyone is reading the same thing on your bus? Have a better idea of what they should be reading? Share it with your fellow riders.

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