Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
Maybe you’ve been on BART a thousand times, but did you ever notice this sneaky little light show on the platform? Filmed by @amandamiyoshi, the reflection on the metal walls as the train rolls into the station is surprising and delightful.
Got your own Muni or BART moment (like doge riding the train in little tiny boots or a random life-size ice cream sandwich waiting on the platform)? Tag us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to submit your own diary!
Image courtesy Carla Romero for The Examiner
Being a Muni operator is no picnic in the park sometimes. Because, FSM knows, even as you’re piloting a Muni vehicle by picnics in the park, any number of surprises and vitriol could launch themselves into your lane.
That’s why it was especially disheartening to see and hear of violence against Muni operators. This past weekend, Muni operator Carla Romero, pictured above, claimed she was attacked by an irate car driver as she reattached the trolley wires outside a 30-Stockton bus. The driver, in turn, claimed Romero attacked him. See the full report on SFExaminer.com.
Romero told The Examiner that she loves working for Muni, but she wants the public to be more aware of the violence operators are subject to out there.
To many of us Muni riders, a great operator can make your day. Cases in point: an operator, Tammy, throwing a party for her passengers on the 33-Stanyan; Driver Doug, who somehow still associates the word “Zen” with Muni after driving it for 17 years; and this Metro operator, who has absolutely no time to wait for shit blocking his path.
Stay safe, everybody, and keep your hands to yourselves whenever possible.
This sign on Muni is pretty much the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for the punctuation-inclined (otherwise known as civilized people). Via @julesforrest on Twitter, who said: “Type crimes of Muni, quotation marks edition.”
It’s hard to know where to start with this “warning” sign: the existence of quotation marks, the not-so-smart quote, or the underline? Well, don’t worry, it’s just a “warning.”
The right quotation marks (or comma, in this case) make the world go ’round. Got your own Muni pet peeve? Send it our way @munidiaries on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Hat tip: @mwichary
Is strange cargo on Muni really so strange?
The gem above was brought to us by Muni rider Mike: “Always good to have an extra seat on the bus.”
Another reminder from the universe: Bring your own chair on Muni or you may never get a seat.
In what’s become rather regular news every other year or so, you’re gonna have to shell out $3 more for your monthly A or M Fast Passes starting next month. So why must we squirrel away more change for the bus?
Since 2009, Muni fares have been set by Muni’s Automatic Fare Indexing Policy, which means that prices are determined by a formula based on monetary inflation and operations costs. The nitty gritty formula is in the fare indexing policy page here.
Here’s a handy chart for the different types of passes:
Source: SFMTA
If you have automatic upload, you’ll see the prices reflected automagically on your statement in mid August for next month’s Fast Pass.
In the meantime, let’s take a little walk down Muni memory lane. When Fast Passes, at relatively bargain-basement prices, showed up more reliably than our buses in fabulous color combinations. Thankfully, many of them live on as art and keepsakes of the hella SF variety.
Local artist Elissa Patel had the brilliant idea to dress up 15 people as Bart Simpson and unleash them all on BART on Tuesday, to the delight of lots of riders. In the photo above by @MonkonJay, the riders looked like it was just another day on BART, but soon enough, everyone was taking photos and videos of the fun, which you can see on SFGate and UpOut.
Here are the Bart Simpsons waiting for their train to arrive. (Photo by @elissapatel).
Related conflations:
Needlepoint honors BART, Bart
What if your train was literally Bart?
A t-shirt you might like if you like to see Bart on BART