Muni Tales

The SF Muni has become my key arch nemesis, and the most thrillingly
unpredictable part of the day. BART runs like clockwork, so it's the
whimsy of the Muni schedule which keeps me on my toes. Will it take
me 30 minutes to get to work? Or 90 minutes? Oh, Muni, you clever
minx.

I've noticed over the past couple weeks that interspersed with the ads
there are posters with drawings of specific Muni drivers and stories
that they've told. This is part of some art project, and since I
generally end up standing wedged between two Prada-wearing girls
unable to move let alone read my magazine, I stand and read them.
One story is about a passenger who is complaining to the driver that
she's late for a job interview. The bus driver says that he said back
to her "There's nothing I can do." The story ends with him finding
out that she made it on time after all. Another one is about a bus
driver who noticed a passenger behaving erratically, ringing the stop
request at every stop and screaming every time the doors open. The
passenger ends up charging the driver and putting his foot down on the
gas pedal, causing the bus to run several red lights before other
passengers can pull him away. The bus driver ends the story by
saying, "Thank goodness it was early in the morning," no doubt because
there was no traffic so running those red lights was a bit less
dangerous.

I ask you, what kind of public transportation system thinks these
anecdotes are good things to display to its passengers? Hail, Muni,
hail.