What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? The best piece of advice I’ve ever received was to do nothing and stay in Hawaii. As a twenty-nine year resident of San Francisco I thought it would be a good idea to go move back there now that COVID is over—to find my heart—and be …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Daly City 702
One of the tools always at the disposal of an operator is the 702. This is the three digit 700 code of numbers that describes certain incidents over the radio to Central Control. And the code number 702 means the operator is taking a twenty minute break as a comfort stop to use the rest …
Witching Hour
When is this? Perhaps in five minutes after 5 p.m. when all the elevators fill with office workers ready to go home. Perhaps it is senior citizens looking out their window and seeing the rain has stopped and the sun is out. Perhaps it is the classroom bell ringing at Marina Middle School, signaling the …
The Zen Zone
The best time to work Muni is when the bus has an empty aisle and half the seats are open. This occurs in the morning on most major holidays and on Sunday mornings. The aisle is empty and half the seats are empty. The pulse and rhythm, the ebb and flow of passengers is steady …
RDO
Regular Day Off. If a workweek goes by and I have kept my sanity, I can test my body and mind and see if I can work on my day off, my RDO. If I haven’t turned crazy by working my run during the week, I can see if I can “get away” with making …
Wheel Blocks
“Unbelievable, just unbelievable.” This is the statement of a resident nearby the La Playa bus terminal by the Ocean Beach Safeway. It was recorded for the Jon Stewart Show. This was a comedy show, and the occasion for the recording was based on the fact that this man’s garage was hit by motor coaches more …
Shoes
“Baby needs a new pair of shoes.” That’s what I say when I am hitting hard, or I see sparks at night off of my collectors. Shoes are the carbon blocks sitting inside the brasserie or metal brackets that form a slot at the end of our trolley poles. This is the point at which …
Hot Lunch
As I walk to my corner coffee shop at zero dark thirty in the morning, I see another splayed design of “ejecta” on the sidewalk from someone’s drinking spree last night. At least this “hot lunch” occurred outside of the aisle and stairwell of a Muni bus. When someone pukes on the bus, we can …
Calling Central
One of the common comments I get from operators, even those with time and with lots of experience, is the refrain, “I never call central.” Or “Those guys are clueless.” And I have found operators on the extra board fall in to this category more than the average operator working a regular run on the …
The Cloak of Invisibility
If you would like to see a magic trick or illusion played out day after day, look no further than a ride on 14 Mission. The secret of becoming invisible is to sit in a wheelchair, particularly in a large group. The more, the merrier. It matters not where you sit on the sidewalk in …
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 