You think you have some unbalanced Muni narration ? You should hear the report from the Muni drivers themselves . “ Every twenty-four hours I see all kinds of shit , ” Muni driver Travis expressed . “ It ’s like live comedy , but it ’s barren . ” These folks spend long days and nights have that live show while shuttle around San Francisco ’s day-and-night parade of commuter , loony , eccentric person , and baffled tourer . We talked to Muni driver to get their barbaric , strangest , and most surreal encounters behind the bicycle .
Drivers have to wrangle live chickens – and more
“ One summertime , a guy play a unrecorded chicken on the bus and he start throwing the wimp at other passengers , ” said Tito , a veteran Muni driver of nearly 20 year . “ So I called Central [ Control Center ] and said there ’s this guy with a chicken on the bus , what am I supposed to do ? And they just get going laugh . ”
When Tito say ‘ Central , ’ he is referring to the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency ( SFMTA ) Central Control Center , an office that monitors the entire fleet of buses and wangle exigency or other divine service - bear upon incident . Central did post someone to take away the wimp - tossing scofflaw . But by that clip , the fellow had been draw out by passengers , crybaby in deal .
Many drivers we spoke to had report of rider bringing parrot , iguanas , and snakes on board a Muni bus . “ One guy had a rat , ” JC said . “ I told him ‘ You ca n’t get on . ’ He claim it was a service crumb . ”
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Drivers have to deal with an occasional sex offender
You ’ve probably comment that San Francisco mellow schools do n’t have bus service and the tiddler just ride Muni . This create some superfluous responsibilities for gadget driver that you would n’t wait .
“ I ’m drive the 33 , I ’ve gravel a busful of kids holler and shouting , ” driver JC state . “ I look over and this guy sit there with his [ genitals ] hanging out . He ’s playing with himself . I say ‘ Get off this bus topology ! , ' ” and he chased the offender off the vehicle .
“ A woman thank me when she was getting off the jalopy , ” JC continued . “ She said , ‘ Those kids were carrying on so much they did n’t even see it . ”
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Muni drivers find fascinating items left behind
Some of us will unexpectedly leave a backpack or purse on the bus . Some of us will leave other matter behind .
“ I line up a scale and couple ounce of high - grade marijuana , ” Muni number one wood Tito recalled . “ So I called Central and say , ‘ What am I supposed to do with this ? ’ They said call the police . So I call in the law and they said throw it by . ”
Tito did not discover to this newsman whether he really throw the Cannabis sativa away . “ You find a lot of crazy clobber leave behind on the bus , ” he said . “ This metropolis has a lot of tweakers . ”
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Muni drivers practice indifference
Oftentimes there is absolute bedlam taking place on a Muni coach or tram , and you ’re peeve that the driver is n’t doing anything about it . There is actually an excellent understanding for this . They ’re busydriving .
“ It ’s not our occupation to kick people off , ” Muni hustler Grace said . The stock operating function in the SFMTA driver world is to call for fill-in in the case of an boisterous passenger . driver are advised to “ call Central ” and allow someone else come in and handle disruptive rider , while maintain their primary focal point on the road and the dealings conditions around them .
Drivers often don’t care about fare evaders
likewise , you might find it odd that Muni drivers often do n’t seem terribly bother by passengers who just hop-skip on without paying menu . This really cause fiscal sentience .
“ Fare is only 10 pct of the money we make , ” Grace forecast . That may be a little low , as theSFMTA 2016 Operating Budgetestimates that transit fares will account for $ 204.2 million of the fiscal twelvemonth ’s $ 963.2 million in projected revenue ( about 21 % ) . Nonetheless , her point stay inviolate – Muni gets the vast majority of its taxation not from fare , but from Cary Grant and political science funding .
Muni operators have it tough
Next sentence you ’re miffed at a Muni number one wood , endeavor to remind yourself that this person has one of the toughest job in San Francisco . The popular blogMuni diary , an collector of passenger - submitted Muni stories and hosts of the storytelling showMuni Diaries Live , received aheartbreaking letter from the wife of a driverexplaining just how tough drive a Muni bus can be .
“ My husband has been working for the retiring 30 year with Muni , ” she write in her letter . “ He was beat out up by 16 young strong-armer because he beeped the horn when he saw that they were dealing drug in the eye of the street . He has been peril by crazies – once someone threatened him with a pinkish fluid in a shock , saying that it was acid and will burn him . He has been threatened by people who do n’t want to pay , which is an everyday occurrence . Some of these mass sample to kick him or even spit on him because he does not give them free ride . ”
“ He [ has also ] been a hero on some occasions , ” she continued . “ Chasing purse snatchers , or those who snatched a atomic number 79 necklace , protect passengers from violent stranger , return many wallets with hard cash and quotation card fully intact in them and the passengers have been grateful . ”
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