F: Rude but Hilarious

This is something I’ve never experienced before, a funny operator on an F that’s also obnoxious and rude at the same time (well, maybe there were several occasions before, but this is a first for me).

So I was riding the F, heading downtown from Fisherman’s Wharf, jam-packed as usual, but I’ve never ridden the F during the rush hour.

As we approached Pier 39, the operator said:

Clear the back door, I’m letting them both in. Well, obviously we can’t fit everyone on, so if you’re claustrophobic, don’t bother getting on, there are two more cars coming behind me, feel free to catch those cars too.

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(F)otos

The F-Market/Wharves line is actually really fun during the day. There is still your requisite group of tourists frantically wondering whether they missed the stop for Alcatraz or Pier 39, but it’s much less hurried or crowded around 11 a.m.

That’s not to say it doesn’t come with its share of odd visuals.

First up, we have the back hair that waved at me throughout the entire (thankfully short) journey from Pier 39 to the Ferry Building. I found it pretty remarkable how contained, yet not, this not-so-fashionable statement was. That reminds me, I don’t think I cleaned the lint trap out after my last dryer load (extreme close-up after the jump) …

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A fitting tribute

The Gus Van Sant movie Milk premiered here last night. It chronicles the life and times of slain S.F. Supervisor Harvey Milk, who tirelessly advocated for gay rights and other community issues, including public transit. He was thanked for all that hard work with scores of adoring fans across the country, broken barriers to equality, and five bullets in his body, courtesy of then-Supervisor Dan White.

In a tribute to Milk, the San Francisco Municipal Railway has dedicated one of its cars as a moving tribute to the supervisor, who was killed almost exactly 30 years ago. You can read the SFGate story here.

Here’s my favorite quote, which is most relevant to this site:

“He was pushing for a better Muni at a time when no one else really was in City Hall.”
-Rick Laubscher, president of the nonprofit Market Street Railway.

I complain to no end about the F, as a commuter, because it was a good idea that was/is poorly executed. But as I’ve noted before, they are charming little pieces of San Francisco history. If more and more people, including tourists, ride this memorial car and get a hint of what Milk did for our city 30 years ago, then I’d say the investment was a good one. Thanks, Muni.

Tara Ramroop can’t wait to see Milk when it comes out for all us regular people. She also hopes that the district elections bring more inspired, tireless public servants to the SF Board of Supervisors.

morning hazards

In one of the more unpleasant wake-up calls I’ve had in a while, I took a pointy high heel (with weight behind it) to the second toe this morning on the F.

There was probably a missed run or an accident up the line this morning, because I had to cram into an already moderately full F. The 30-deep crowd on the island at Market and Main Street all crammed in both sets of doors, which led to the accidental jab to my sandaled foot.

The F has consistently pissed me off, but this is the first time it actually bit back.

Tara Ramroop may never wear open-toed shoes on the F again. Got any Neosporin?

‘Love’ on the F Train

It was a majestic morning in Diamond Heights and my sweetheart was going to ride Muni to downtown with me. We walked holding hands to Castro and Market and decided to take the F because it was, well, more romantic. It would be ten times slower than hoping on underground, but this way we could stay together a little longer on those charming, rickety old wooden seats. We’d able to see the sun and watch the world go by. Obviously we had forgotten all about Civic Center and what riding Muni really means.

Therefore, innocently and blissfully we got on at the start of the F line and headed to the very back of the train. Little did we know that our lovebird strategy placed us in the best seats in the house to witness a spectacle of alcoholic love so deeply poetic and profound it changed the way we thought about love forever.

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S.F. streetcars too popular for their own good

One wonders whether the Chron’s C.W. Nevius has been reading Tara’s posts on Muni Diaries:

The streetcars, sometimes called “museums in motion,” have committed the cardinal sin of public transportation: They have become too popular.

For example, Monday afternoon at Fisherman’s Wharf, around 2:30, I climbed on car No. 1053, a green and silver model that ran in Philadelphia in the 1940s. It was pretty full when I got on, but at the next stop – right at Pier 39 – hordes of tourists clambered aboard. After several calls to get people to move to the back of the bus, the driver announced that we were now aboard “an express to the Ferry Building.” Sure enough, we shot past passengers waiting at subsequent stops as if they were invisible.

The link also includes another link to an article about a F-line streetcar collision Monday that injured 14 people. Ouch!

— Beth W.

Beth is an author and journalist who is not at all ready to break up with the F-Market line, but only because she rides it less than once a week. She already has messy relationships with the 22, 38 and 5.

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