For the Love of Muni

There are many things that make San Francisco … well, San Francisco. The hills, the cool summers, the architecture. And you can add to that list, our public transit system. From buses to light rail lines to our iconic cable cars, residents and visitors alike love the San Francisco Municipal Railway, also known as Muni.

This episode explores the depth of that love for Muni. We talk with riders about what they love about it. We learn a little history from SFMTA Transportation Planner and Project Manager Paul Bignardi. And we discuss the state of the system today with Acting Transit Director Brent Jones and Muni merchandise with Marketing Manager Jeanne Brophy. Plus, we chat about playing the online game that celebrates Muni.

Transcript

MELISSA CULROSS, HOST: There is little to no doubt that our public transit system, Muni, is more than just a means to get from point A to point B in San Francisco.

SARAH KATZ-HYMAN: Muni is a cultural phenomenon.

MELISSA: Welcome to Taken with Transportation, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s official podcast. I’m your host, Melissa Culross, and in this episode, we’re talking about the city’s love for Muni. (MUNI SOUND HERE) If I may speak personally for a moment, which I don’t generally do here, I have been a Muni rider for almost three decades. But I didn’t realize just how much people love the system until I began working at the SFMTA and hosting this podcast. That love is everywhere, including among younger people, such as Da’Von Griffin, Mason Ngo, Kaitlin Leong and Jacky Loc, who are current and former members of our Youth Transportation Advisory Board.
 
 DA’VON GRIFFIN, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: My favorite thing about Muni is that it has the most routes. 
 
 MASON NGO, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: There are so many places that I’ve been able to go. It’s kind of impressive the amount of stuff that it can connect you to. 
 
 KAITLIN LEONG, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: I know as a teenager I don’t have the privilege to drive a car yet. And I think that having Muni allowed me to explore the city on my own. 
 
 JACKY LOC, FORMER SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: I think a lot of people are shocked, like, in college right now when I tell them that I don’t have my permit or my driver’s license because the public transit is so good here in San Francisco.

MELISSA: Of course it’s not just teens who love Muni. We had a chance to meet rider Jessica Godin recently. She moved to the Bay Area from Canada about five years ago and appreciates how easy it is … much like in her hometown of Toronto … to get around San Francisco on public transit.

JESSICA GODIN, MUNI RIDER: I don’t like to drive, especially don’t like to drive downtown. Like, I never have. And I just, I feel, like, really empowered when I’m able to take the subway, take the bus anywhere that I need to go. And it makes me feel, like, free, and… We actually moved to our place in Outer Sunset when the L was still, like, as a bus and kind of saw the transition of that happening. And now that the L is back to being a subway, it’s, like, amazing. It’s like night and day. It’s practically door-to-door for me to get from my house to my work downtown, and, yeah, it’s amazing.

MELISSA: And Godin occasionally has a Muni buddy with her when she rides.

JESSICA: My dog Olive, like, she actually will ask me to get on the bus or the subway when we’re walking somewhere is she sees one passing by. She’ll sit down and wait for it and, like, look at me and ask to get on.

MELISSA: To really understand how Muni became such a beloved part of the city, it might help us to revisit a bit of the system’s history. For that we have caught up with SFMTA Transportation Planner and Project Manager Paul Bignardi. Bignardi wrote a book … A Fleet History of the San Francisco Municipal Railway … that was published in 2019, and he and I are chatting at the West Portal Muni Metro Station. He begins, well, at the beginning of municipal public transit here.

PAUL BIGNARDI, SFMTA TRASNIT PLANNER AND PROJECT MANAGER: San Francisco had many different private transit operators, as all cities did across the U.S., in, uh, the late 19th century, early 20th century. The main one in San Francisco after 1902 was United Railroads, which later became Market Street Railway. There was a very difficult strike, I believe, in 1907. And out of that, at the same time as there was the progressive political movement across the whole country, a lot of people in San Francisco said, “You know, we should probably have a city-run system.” And that became, uh, it was a bond measure passed in 1909 that lead to the city buying the first rail line, which actually was a former cable car line on Geary. And that became Muni in 1912, and then from there, it just continued to grow.

MELISSA: A few years later … in February of 1918 …the Twin Peaks Tunnel opened. The tunnel runs from the Castro neighborhood to the west side of the city, and when it comes to transportation in San Francisco, it basically changed everything.

PAUL: Before the tunnel was built, West Portal had nobody living out here. It was farms kind of. And when the tunnel was built, you could get from Castro to West Portal in seven minutes. Before that, Market Street Railway had connections and routes that came out here. But you had to go out via Mission Street and across Ocean Avenue, and that took roughly an hour. So, you can see the difference in competitive time. And this is before automobiles had become the, you know, the dominant form of transportation, which was about a decade or two later. So, suddenly, you had this area that was undeveloped, and Muni could get you there very quickly. And it wasn’t just the, uh, Twin Peaks Tunnel that Muni did that on. They also did the Stockton Street Tunnel, the Duboce Tunnel, uh, I call it the Serpentine that goes over Dolores Park. They went into all these different areas of the city that the private competition wasn’t serving quite so well. And suddenly, they had basically put together the network, or the core of the network, that we’re still using today.

MELISSA: So, the Twin Peaks Tunnel is just over a hundred, and we completed some upgrade and repair work on it last year. This kind of maintenance helps keep it going strong as it continues to move people across San Francisco.

PAUL: This construction and this tunnel that was built, you know, is still noted around the world and certainly among local people as, like, the largest, biggest project that Muni probably built. I mean, when you look at dollar numbers, many projects have, of course, exceeded it. ‘Cause I think it cost, like, three million dollars back then. But when you look at the impact it had in transforming the whole western side of San Francisco, nothing has come close to that, I would say. You could argue that, debate that, but really nothing has. And when it opened, it was the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at the time. Later on, there were plans almost from the time it was opened to hook it into, uh, a, uh, underground rail network under Market Street. That finally happened in the late 70s, 1980. BART had been built, but it took several years after BART opened to have Muni put its streetcars in the second level of the tunnel. But once that opened, now you had, uh, basically a rail spine that was completely grade-separated. So, it was not impacted by traffic from Embarcadero all the way out here to West Portal. And it’s like looking at the backbone, you know, of the city in a lot of ways.

MELISSA: All these years later, hundreds of thousands of people ride Muni every day. And riders celebrate the system in many ways. After our conversation with Bignardi, we head from West Portal to the Golden Gate Heights home of artist and transit enthusiast Kurt Schwartzmann …. where his drawings of Muni operators hang on the living room wall.

KURT SCHWARTZMANN, ARTIST: So that series is titled “Yellow Line,” which refers to the line we all must stand behind in the bus. It keeps us safe from harm. I produced that series back in 2015 in honor of all Muni operators because they work very hard, and they’re under appreciated. I’d sit catacorner from the driver and draw in real time. And draw the driver, the steering wheel, the windshield and just sit there and draw the driver.

MELISSA: Schwartzmann tells us how he came up with the idea.

KURT-3: That series was inspired by a bus driver that let me board the bus when I was homeless. I had no money, and I was at the 52 Night Owl stop over in the Excelsior. And the bus rolled up, and the doors opened, and the driver said, “Come on aboard!” I’m like, “I have no money.” She goes, “Come on aboard anyways. You can keep me company.” And that compassion totally changed my life. She saw me. She didn’t look through me. She saw me as a person.

MELISSA: That was back 2007, and Schwartzmann was unhoused for about six months. That hardship is behind him, but he continues to love Muni and the experience of riding.

KURT: Just hopping on a bus and just being part of the community: Listening to conversations, feeling the vibrations, watching the city go by. I try to always wear colorful, happy attire such as my Muni shirt, my fun shiny shoes, my colorful jackets and my Muni pins. 

MELISSA: It’s almost like taking transit is a celebration for Schwartzmann … and that leads us to another type of celebration. For SF Beer Week this year, we partnered with Standard Deviant Brewery and the San Francisco City Football Club to create a Muni-themed beer crawl and a limited-edition Standard Deviant IPA … both called “Hop on Muni.” We meet Janelle … who is sitting with another woman at a Beer Week kick-off event at Standard Deviant.

JANELLE: I am not a beer drinker. So, I am using this as an excuse to drink beer. Might as well do that with people who enjoy taking Muni and enjoy community. So, yeah, I’m really excited. Hopefully, we can attempt to do all of our stops today. 
 
 MELISSA: Did you come here just for this, or did you happen to stumble upon it.
 
 JANNELLE: I found it on the internet, as all the young people do these days. I found it on the internet, and I’m a San Francisco lover. And I just decided to come solo. So, I just met her, and, um, I’ve become friends with her. So, we are kind of looking through our route to find out which route to take is best and then, hopefully, see where the night takes us.

MELISSA: People are also wearing their love for San Francisco transit on their backs these days. Quite literally. Last year we released our first Muni holiday sweater. SFMTA Marketing Manager Jeanne Brophy.

JEANNE BROPHY, SFMTA MARKETING MANAGER: We came out with the sweater on a pre-sale in late June, and it was wildly popular. I think, in the end, we’ve sold over, I think about 2500 sweaters, which for a first time out, we’re quite pleased at. And, you know, it was kind of fun. During the holiday period, everybody’s been wearing them out there in the public, so it’s kind of fun to see it out there. And I think there’s more demand.

MELISSA: There is more demand, indeed, and not long after the holiday sweater came the Muni Store, a one-stop online shop for Muni merchandise including hats, sweatshirts, mugs and stickers.

JEANNE: We have three different classifications of products. We have Classic, and that would be just, like, that black sweatshirt with the logo on it. And then we have our Retro Vintage Collection, which people love the classic 1970s vibe that we have with our color scheme of our livery. And the other collection is the City Collection, which we hope to build on.

MELISSA: The Muni Store has been a hit, with some items selling out repeatedly.

JEANNE: A lot of people both inside the organization and people I meet out when I’m wearing an item are, like, “I didn’t expect this to be this popular.” And what I’ve been hearing from a lot of people is there’s a lot of city boosterism. And while it’s hard for me to believe that not everyone’s a Giants fan or a Warriors fan, a lot of people of don’t like wearing sports paraphernalia because sports is just not their thing. So, what I’ve heard, and I’ve gotten emails, people telling me on the street, “I love that I can order something that says ‘San Francisco’ in a cool way, so I can support the city. Because this city is the best place to live.” 

MELISSA: If art, merch and beer aren’t enough, now there’s an online game about Muni. In Muni Routle, which is similar to Wordle, players have to identify Muni lines and routes based solely on how they appear on a map. The rub is that the map isn’t visible at first … instead, just a blue line against a blank background illustrates the route. The game features one Muni line per day, and players get five tries to guess it.

SARAH KATZ-HYMAN, MUNI DIARIES EDITOR AND PRODUCER: I think within the first 24 hours of Routle being around, you know, it was in no less than five group chats amongst me and my, uh, transit loving friends. And, of course, you know, the first couple days, I was crushing it. I was getting it in one go. People were like, you know, depending on the group chat, we were all sending back and forth our scores. And then I can’t remember which line it was, but there was some line that, you know, tricked me. And I remember I got it in, like, I think I got it on the last guess, and I was like, “Oh, my god!” Like, I was like, “Embarrassing!” Like, “That can’t be me.”

MELISSA: That’s Sarah Katz-Hyman, editor and producer of Muni Diaries … a storytelling series featuring people who affectionately talk about their experiences on Muni. Katz-Hyman says playing Routle is part strategy, part learning and part joy.

SARAH: It has restored my understanding of San Francisco in many ways. It’s like, oh, you know what? Like, if you know street names because our buses are named after, you know, oftentimes their longest, you know, street that they go on. I’m like, if I know street names, and I know, like, that’s an east and west street. And that’s north and south street. And, you know, that one’s pretty long. And that one doesn’t go on Market, so I shouldn’t be choosing any routes that go on Market. Um, so just kind of like when Wordle hit off back in the pandemic days, it’s really ignited a lot of love.

MELISSA: Muni Routle was created by River Honer, who studied planning and urban studies at San Francisco State and now lives in London. Honer was inspired by her own love of Muni and wanted to celebrate the system. So, she built the game in a day. Kurt Schwartzmann, the artist we spoke with earlier in this episode, also has become a Routle fan.

KURT SCHWARTZMAN: The first time I played, I go, “Oh, I know what that is. It’s the 6 Parnassus, easy-peasy. And the next day, “Uh, oh. I have no idea what that line is.” So, it’s kind of fun to figure it out.”

MELISSA: The love people have for Muni is felt throughout our agency. Brent Jones is the SFMTA’s acting director of Transit, and we’re talking to him just outside our offices on South Van Ness Avenue. Jones has been with the agency for just over a quarter century and has worked his way up to his current role. He tells us that San Franciscans’ enthusiasm for Muni has been very evident throughout the years.

BRENT JONES, SFMTA ACTING DIRECTOR OF TRANSIT: One of the biggest things that I see is a lot of passion, uh, from our customers, both good and sometimes not so good. I think that, um, for many people, uh, Muni is part of their culture, their day-to-day. It’s how they start their day, and it’s also how they end their day. So, we get a lot of great feedback when we do something well. But we also get a lot of constructive feedback when things don’t go so well. 

MELISSA: Jones encourages riders to continue talking to us and giving us feedback.

BRENT: If we’re riding 500,000 people a day, we basically have a million eyes. So, that’s better than ten eyes. So, the more information that we get, the better that we can become. 

MELISSA: It is no secret that the SFMTA facing a significant budget deficit over the next couple of years, and that includes Muni. So, it’s important that people who love Muni … and WE love Muni, too … know that we never want to cut service. We don’t like cutting service and would not do so unless it is absolutely necessary.

BRENT: A great transportation service helps everybody get to do what they need to do on a daily basis. When you look at transportation, it’s almost like the arteries and veins of a city, right? It keeps all the nutrients, all the people moving. And it’s important that regardless, whether we’re in good financial times or, or, or challenging financial times, that we be creative. So, I think being able to embrace that we are, we are trending towards “customer first” and really own that is the best way that we can serve. And I think that everybody’s realizing that tightening our belt and being creative is the way that we can continue to provide great service while we’re being challenged financially.

MELISSA: At the end of the day, San Francisco loves Muni. Young people are able to ride the system for free if they’re 18 or under. So, they embrace that and use it. Marc Chang, Wendy Yu and Chanel Marie Green are three more members of our Youth Transportation Advisory Board.
 
 MARC CHANG, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: Muni allows you to visit your friends and socialize so much easier than you otherwise might think. And it takes your mind off of the transportation.
 
 WENDY YU, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: I love Muni because you get to meet people from all different parts of their lives and from different diverse backgrounds that you probably wouldn’t meet if you took, like, private transportation or you drove in a car with just your family.
 
 CHANEL MARIE GREEN, SFMTA YOUTH TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: It’s very amazing to have something free for the youth, especially transit, because many of my classmates, they live in the Mission District, and they have to get groceries for their family because they’re basically, like, the head of the family. They have to go out and get it. And it’s really nice to have it free because you don’t have to carry financial burdens with you for, like, transit.

MELISSA: And some people love Muni so much, they’re willing to stand up in front of an audience and tell everyone. Muni Diaries Editor and Producer Sarah Katz-Hyman.

SARAH HYMAN-KATZ: I would say San Francisco is one of the few cities that we have this much lore and love for our transit system that we can have now almost, you know, going on 17 years of storytelling about it. Even if you don’t ride transit, transit is important to you. Imagine all the people who are on buses being in cars. Then, like, our city would literally be in a standstill a hundred percent of the time. So, riding transit and a good, functioning transit system is important for everyone. And I think, like, you know, having deep love and respect for it goes beyond the bus door.

MELISSA: Thank you for joining us on Taken with Transportation. We’re a production of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and you can find the latest episodes at SFMTA.com-slash-Podcast, as well as Apple, Spotify, our YouTube channel or wherever you listen. I’m Melissa Culross. Be well and travel well.