Service dog rides Muni like a boss
You’re not allowed to disagree, either.
Muni rider Erin shared this morsel of cute over on the Muni Diaries Facebook page: “Service dog on the 43 Masonic sitting nicer than most humans”
How Super Bowl construction will affect your life on Muni
Construction for the Super Bowl pregame activities start next weekend, so here’s a closer look at how Sports Bowl will impact your transit life in the next few weeks.
The short story is: Don’t drive downtown. If you’re reading this on Muni Diaries, you already got the memo. Even though the game will be played in Santa Clara at Levi’s Stadium, a “fan village” called Super Bowl City (free to the public) is being built at the foot of Market Street, and a “pro football interactive theme park” will be at Moscone Center.
The pregame events open on Jan. 30, with hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on our city in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, which is on Feb. 7. Officials expect to spend about a week after the event tearing everything down, according to SFGate, so the whole shebang might last from Jan. 22 to Feb 12.
You can see the construction area in the map above. Details from the SFMTA:
- All Muni lines will operate downtown except the E-line.
- Muni Metro will continue to run in the subway.
- Some bus lines that run downtown will be re-routed to nearby streets and may have a stop a block or two away from their original location.
- The F Line will be truncated with streetcars continuing to run from the Ferry Building to Fisherman’s wharf. Buses will replace streetcars for service from the Embarcadero to the Castro.
San Francisco will spend about $4 million in taxpayer money to host Super Bowl, including $1.7 million for the SFMTA for increased services, according to the Examiner. The Examiner also says that the city hopes to make the money back through tax revenue during the event, according a memo by the mayor’s office.
A chance encounter on the ‘old 55-Sacramento’
This is one to tell your grandkids. Muni rider Davy sent us the following:
So, as I‘m getting on the bus today and attempting to scan my Clipper card on the bus’s meter by the back stairwell, the bus driver decides to gun it up the hill, and I suddenly find myself holding onto the metal grab rail for life, completely sideways, my whole upper half now almost completely in the lap of a white-haired 80ish lady in a leopard-print overcoat who’s sitting in the seat facing me. Her lipstick is very red. Somehow I am able to maintain my equilibrium and rectify the situation with some major coaxing and deft calibration of my person, and soon am sitting quite comfortably in the seat next to the elderly lady. In a strange, low voice she says (I’m not sure at first to whom it’s directed), “San Francisco used to have a county fair.”
I look at her. “…um…what?”
Her teeth are stained with lipstick and her white hair is slicked straight back. “San Francisco used to have a county fair.”
“Oh.”
“This bus line was called the 55-Sacramento back then. And they used to have an event called ‘Surfing The 55.’ You would’ve been a star.”
“Thanks.”
I haven’t felt this good about myself in a long, long while.
San Francisco history, old, retired Muni lines, strangers sharing stories with each other … more of this, please. Thanks for sharing, Davy!
Photo by Marc Tarlock
Do you love Muni and coloring books?
Muni LRVs dukin’ it out with insect cars in the mean, mean “streets of San Francisco”? And I can take my crayons to this war scene? What did I do to deserve this?
Awesome illustrator and friend of Muni Diaries Josh Ellingson (he of Municipal Railway Co. toilet seat cover) dropped this sick coloring sheet on Patreon the other day. Here’s what he has to say about his masterpiece:
“It’s time to get your crayons out again! Here’s a coloring sheet version of my 2005 piece, “MUNI vs. Taxi”. The eternal battle continues on, even today. Who will win? YOU WIN, because this is a freebie! If you like my coloring sheets, please consider pledging any amount to my Patreon campaign and I’ll keep making more.”
Now I’m having visions of a coloring party … 2016, you’re not so bad after all.
h/t Josh Ellingson
Check out the bad ‘ol days from this 1940s Muni Map
The good people at Curbed have combed through lots of old San Francisco maps, including this 1940s Muni map (courtesy of our favorite map nerd, Eric Fischer). You’ll see that the F used to go through the Stockton tunnel, and there was no M line at the time. Click here to see a bigger version of the map. Oh, and here are some more Muni maps from 1920s and 1930s.
The Curbed story has lots more old fascinating maps of our city. Go on and check ’em out!
h/t our friends at Tiny Rides. thanks, guys!
Were you at the Muni bus stop rave?
@sfmta_muni pic.twitter.com/dbxDWflQhC
— amy loberg (@amyloberg) January 4, 2016
We didn’t even get a flyer or a page about this one. Luckily, Muni rider Amy dropped this dope shot.
Maybe you were there and had such a good time, you forget? Or maybe you’re just tight-lipped about the whole affair …
Enlarge the video for an even more Muni Rave-tastic time!