What can your Muni fare buy you?
The good folks at Caffeinated Comics have some ideas. Coincidentally, a bus happened to drive by as I was taking a snapshot of the sign.
Veteran on Caltrain
Photo by Flickr user roland
Many people have told us that Muni isn’t the only Bay Area transit with colorful tales. In November, with the help of trusty commuter and Muni Diaries reader Laura, we launched the Caltrain Diaries Twitter feed. If you’re not already following, we’ll pause while you go and do that.
Now then, do you think Caltrain commuters have the same voracious appetite for transit stories and photos as their Muni counterparts? We certainly hope so. Laura’s seen an endless supply of entertaining, informative, and thoughtful tweets so far, and we thought it’d be nice to give stories from other Bay Area public transit systems a space on our site. Check out the Other Bay Area Transit page (over there! On the top, next to the Home link).
If you have stories from Caltrain, email them to caltraindiaries@gmail.com. Laura received our first Caltrain diary from rider Jason, who saw a seemingly confused man board the train and learns that the man has just been released from the VA hospital. Read about what happened next.
BART escorts for West Oakland?
Photo by Thomas Hawk
KCBS reports of a partnership between BART police and Oakland Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association to provide escorts at the West Oakland Station tonight and tomorrow. The volunteers will be available to walk people to their cars or give them rides to a nearby parking lot.
We can see the necessity for this, but really? It’s come to this?
Bike Theft on Muni
Photo by Flickr user juicyrai
Muni rider Sara sent us the following tale of jackassery on the 21-Hayes:
The rider caught my eye from the second we boarded the 21 at Market and Montgomery on Monday night. I noticed as the cute 20-something with amazing curly hair slipped his bike on the front rack before jumping aboard, sitting in the very first seat across from the driver. I noticed as he chatted nicely with the driver about the new line changes, and how he groaned with the rest of us about the obscenely loud speaker (seriously, that’s another entry – since the Muni updates on Saturday, some of the speakers have been blaring out of control). And then I also noticed how he dashed off the bus lighting fast on Hayes and Buchanan as the driver yelled something muffled. All I made out was “Your bike!” But that’s all that mattered. Even from the watchful eye of the first seat, the 20-something’s bike was snatched off the rack before he could stop it.
I was floored, but as word traveled around the bus, people came forward with other stories about bikes being jacked off the front of the bus (“They took one from a group of tourists!”). Is this a common occurence? It struck me as really sad. And slightly annoying, because the driver wouldn’t leave until the police came, so we all had to wait for the next bus to arrive. It was a bonding moment on the 21 last night, no doubt, but I’m guessing the poor guy never got his bike back.
It’s ridiculous enough to get your phone snatched out of your hands on the bus, and now your bike might be next?
Did your bike get stolen on Muni or did you witness what Sara saw? Let Muni Diaries know.
What street did you say we’re on?
CBS5 talks about the new voices on Muni announcements, and how they pronounce some street names differently. They even talk to the female voice talent to get the scoop. Thanks to Brittney for the tip on this video.
Ok people: Gough. Rhymes with cough. All right?
The San Francisco that might’ve been
Image from Eric Fischer‘s Flickr account
I honestly can’t recall how I came across this. Twitter? RSS? Email?
In any case, the image above, published to Flickr by Eric Fischer, is a map of proposed subway and elevated train routes through our fair city. I often imagine what could be transit-wise, failing to remember that some of that stuff is more “what might’ve been.” Or, in some cases, it’s “what used to be.” The freeways-all-over-the-damn-place stuff I can do without. These subway lines, on the other hand, are the shiznit.
(This post ran on Muni Diaries yesterday. Share your BART stories today)