Muni Diaries

Muni is San Francisco’s deep end: immediate and immersive exposure to strangers, testing our tolerance for other people’s music, aromas, food, volume, attitude, or public habits. Sometimes all of them at the same time. This concept is what brought Muni Diaries to life. It’s also what makes Muni interesting and representative of the city it cuts through. We can still […]

Storyteller Adrianna Tan is an enthusiastic bus rider who has ridden buses in more than 30 countries worldwide. But when she finally moves to San Francisco five years ago, she quickly finds out that, in many ways, our very own Muni is not like all the rest. Listen to her story: Here at Muni Diaries we’ve taken an occasional peek at transit […]

In 2019, storyteller Kurt Schwartzmann told what is still one of my favorite Muni Diaries Live stories about being unhoused and reliant on the kindness of strangers, namely Muni drivers, for temporary warm shelter. In the thick of the pandemic, when we needed it most, he repaid the city with love. That is, he collaborated with artist Deirdre Weinberg on […]

By school bus, we obviously mean Muni. We’ve gotten our share of “teens on the bus” stories, but it is a special treat hearing from young folks themselves—thoughtful, civic-minded people who are inspired by public transit to participate and create. Tanea Lunsford Lynx is Chair of the Spoken Arts Department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and one of […]

IYKYK: San Francisco doesn’t leave us that easily, even when we leave it. Katie Havercamp and LeBron James the cat (yep) learned it bigtime firsthand, and I’d bet that many people you know have strong feelings on the topic. Sheila McElroy has spent her professional life studying, writing about, and talking about place: how our sense of it grounds us […]

What would make you take off your headphones on the bus to talk to a stranger? In this episode, storyteller Alex Randall shares how he started talking to his fellow riders.

Have you ever ask yourself, "What would you do if this happened to you on Muni?" Storyteller Keli Dailey explores that very difficult question on stage at Muni Diaries Live.

One Halloween evening when ilyse found herself evangelizing the value of public transit, the Muni gods had other plans.

As a Muni operator, Mister Boston, AKA Mike Delia, has seen it all. He's piloted many of the crosstown lines we know and love, and he even had someone try to steal his streetcar once.

That time when a wacky idea to incorporate a Muni shelter into our art show with photographer Julie Michelle turned into a battle for the heart and soul of San Francisco.