Smoking Bus Driver Caught on Video

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[Regrettably, the video originally embedded in this post has been removed from Flickr.]

Last week, we posted a photo by crow_soup that purported to show a Muni bus operator smoking inside his bus. This blogger believed the evidence shown there, but some commenters questioned what was actually being shown.

So crow_soup went and shot himself some video. Video showing irrefutably that the driver in question is indeed tokin’ it, right there in the comfort of his comfortable bus driver’s seat.

Anyone care to argue now? Oh, and hey, crow_soup, I’m also with Rachel: Are you going to report this outrageous behavior?

Thx: @crow_soup

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: ,

Is That Guy Doing Crack? A Muni Villanelle

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38 Geary
Photo by Flickr user mojito

What with all the heavy Muni news of late, we decided to end the day with some light-hearted fare. Beth, the newly minted Muni Diaries poet laureate (who happens to have a daughter named Laurel, aka cutest baby in the world), has penned this villanelle* for us all:

The Muni bus is lurching side to side.
The driver barks at riders to move back.
I clutch the germ-infested post and ride.

A pee-soaked man and teenager collide
While a third dude hits them with his backpack.
The Muni bus is lurching side to side.

A skeevy guy is humping my backside.
Two kids are eating transfers as a snack.
I clutch the germ-infested post and ride.

Someone’s cologne is strong; it hurts my eyes.
A woman boards, live chicken in a sack.
The Muni bus is lurching side to side.

An N-Judah nearly hits us, broadside.
Taggers scrawl their names in ink of black.
I clutch the germ-infested post and ride.

A dropped hamburger dinner starts to slide
Towards my shoes. Is that guy doing crack?
The Muni bus is lurching side to side.
I clutch the germ-infested post and ride.

“What’s a villanelle,” you ask? Well, clicky that linky up there to find out more about the somewhat-obscure poetic form.

Here’s another Muni-inspired poem by Beth, posted at New Verse News.

Category: diaries, reflection

Where does the jurisdiction end for fare inspectors?

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Catch Me If You Can
Photo by Flickr user Troy Holden

Muni rider Andrea sent this tidbit to our inbox just now:

This morning about 8am at Embarcadero Station I saw a Fare Checking Officer check someone’s proof of payment OUTSIDE the POP area.

The man did exit EMB station, and as there was only one Fare Checker checking fares, she didn’t see everyone’s pass. I doubt she saw my pass as it was pretty crowded. I did what most of us did which was take out the pass and hold it out for the Fare Checker to see. Whether she saw me or not is anyone’s guess. The man walked over to Peet’s to get coffee. As he was waiting for his morning latte, the Fare Checker left the POP area and asked the man for his POP. He produced his fast pass without incident.

My question is this, did this man need to show his payment status? He was outside the POP area. If he didn’t have his fastpass on him would his ticket for a violation been valid? Did the Fare Checker have the authority to check someone’s fare outside of the proof of payment area?

So, yeah, what’s the protocol here, eh? Should inspectors have the right to chase people down outside the POP area? Doesn’t that in turn prevent their checking for POP inside the ordained POP section? Our heads are spinning a little over here. Help us out in comments, please.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

F Line Muni Streetcars, Vehicle Crash on Market — Updates with SFMTA statement

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F-car-crash-2
Photo: @hankish

Update (1:21 p.m. Tuesday):

MTA Chief Operating Officer Ken McDonald resigns. Streetsblog SF has more.

Update (7:59 a.m. Tuesday):

SF Appeal has more details, including quotes from Nat Ford and Bevan Dufty, the area’s rep at City Hall. Here’s what Dufty had to say:

“This accident was avoidable, Muni procedures require a minimum of one block spacing between street cars. I can’t imagine any excuse.”

Update (midnight-ish):

MTA chief Nat Ford issued a statement and MTA’s press release identifies the drivers of the F cars, StreetsBlog reports:

The two Muni Operators were identified as Lonny Butler, who was operating the moving streetcar (Car No. 1893), and Leonard Peralta, who was operating the stationary streetcar (Car No. 1007). Butler began as a Muni Operator in 2002 (he joined the rail division in 2007) and Peralta was hired in 1995 (he joined the rail division in 1999). Per normal procedure, both Operators will be tested for drugs and alcohol and have been placed on non-driving status pending the results of the investigation.

(See more about the statements and photos – there’s a couple of pics with Supervisor Dufty and the clean up after the crash.)

Read more

Category: News

WTF happened on this M, Muni?

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M Ocean View - Outbound
Photo by Flickr user balebengong

Muni rider Anna Rozhko retells a seemingly lame occurrence on the M-Balboa Park today:

So here’s the story, I was on the M line on my way back to downtown SF a little after 4 p.m. today (August 2, 2009) and I’m just minding my own business when I can feel the driver braking really hard and the next thing I know I hear us crash into whatever is in front of us. Mind you I was facing towards the back of the bus so I didn’t see who was at fault and how it happened. So, after we stop, almost everyone gets off the bus and I go over to the van full of people to make sure everyone was ok, and one of the women who was in the van asked me to call 911 because her phone wasn’t working, so I phoned them and they said they were sending police to our location. After I made sure everyone was ok, I got back on Muni and got home safely (Thank Buddha) …

There were no injuries, and [911] dispatch asked me so as well, which brings me to believe that they didn’t send any ambulance. I hopped on the next M line behind the one I was initially on until it was cleared, but I never saw any cops come to the scene. I know that the supervisor of the Muni driver did show up and take pictures and make chalk lines of where the accident occurred …

This happened at 19th and Junipero Serra.

If you know more about what happened Sunday on this M, let us know in comments.

Category: News Tags:

Weekend Photo Diary

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Here Nor There
Photo by Troy Holden

What a week! We’re still riding the high of being voted Best Local Blog by readers in the Bay Guardian‘s Best of the Bay 2009. We’re honored and humbled, and truly, seriously, honestly couldn’t make this site what it is without our readers and contributors. The stories on the site come from you and your friends. That’s the idea, anyway. And we say: Keep ’em comin’!

What else? Well, as Greg at N-Judah Chronicles was wise to alert us all to, tonight is Critical Obnoxiousness Mass, that monthly hullabaloo that snarls traffic both public and private, and really seems to have lost its political message. Before you get all self-righteous on me, I ride my bike almost every day, so I know what I’m talking about here. Expect a particularly fucked-up Muni commute this evening.

Tomorrow’s August 1, and you know what that means: The month with no holidays officially begins! Yay! It looks like our late-to-arrive, typical July weather will extend into the weekend, with dreary mornings and some sun, if we’re lucky.

Also, Sex Pigeon will be selling nifty Muni tees tomorrow from 12:30 to 4, roughly, at Dolores Park. They’re only $15, and they’ll prompt you to decide what Muni lines, if any, you have an emotional attachment to. Tough one … love/hate, anyone?

Go forth on your merry way and enjoy yourselves! See you Monday!

xoxo

Muni Diaries

Category: diaries, Photos
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