Muni Diaries

Chris Arvin is a familiar face at Muni Diaries Live after years of selling their whimsical Transit Supply wares, giving witty presentations on Muni’s history and its famous boat tram, and hosting interactive transit trivia. But how does a kid from a New Hampshire suburb become a San Francisco transit microcelebrity? At our 2025 Wayfinding Show, Chris took the stage […] The post How Chr...

Muni is the backdrop for so much of our lives, but few of us have documented its familiar presence over years of personal change as vividly as photojournalist Jessica Christian. Trains and buses doubled as transportation and a training ground for Jessica as she developed her eye for “photography that makes you feel something”—first as a student, then a budding […] The post Muni t...

Like so many Muni riders, comedienne Julia Jackson has perfected the art of sizing up her fellow bus passengers in a glance, and she takes more than a little satisfaction in how often her assessments turn out to be right. But she worries about the distance her snap judgments can create between her and other riders, and she knows firsthand […] The post Julia Jackson wants to be wrong about yo...

One day in 2013, Luisa Isbell—newly minted San Franciscan and tech worker—found herself on the wrong side of a stranger’s crisis on the 19 Polk, and went from enthusiastic bus rider to bus avoider. Trading freedom for safety seemed logical after such a scary encounter, but several years of gloomy commutes and thousands of dollars in parking fines later, something […] The post Luisa Isb...

We all know the feeling of sitting down on the J Church or the 38 Geary after an especially hard day and wishing we could just disappear into that red seat, alone with our misery, not smushed between 30 strangers. Other times, public transit surrounds us with our fellow riders when we need them the most. At our Wayfinding Show […] The post Roman Rimer and the bus that got him there appeared...

Dewayne Deams was born and raised in San Francisco and caught the transit bug early. You might say it’s in his blood: his great-grandfather Curtis E. Green was the General Manager of Muni—the first Black GM of a major U.S. transit agency—and both of his parents worked for Muni, too. But despite his own deep knowledge and love of Muni, […] The post Dewayne Deams: A Life in Transit appea...

Today we’re bringing you the final installment from our pop-up story booth at the San Francisco Public Libary’s 2024 Night of Ideas! In this episode, we share a selection of bite-sized stories from everyday Muni riders of all ages about whimsical transit rides they’ve taken in our beloved San Francisco.  You can listen to it here: Check out Part 1—Everyday […] The post Nigh...

Meaghan Mitchell returned to the Muni Diaries stage at our “Thank You, Driver” show with a loving tribute to her dad, 35-year Muni veteran Ronald Mitchell. She shares what it was like being raised by a Muni driver in ’90s San Francisco, and what makes Muni more than a transit agency—and then invites Ronald to join her on stage. Meaghan […] The post Meaghan and Ronald Mitche...

Getting stuck on a dark, stalled Muni train is every rider’s worst nightmare. But what’s it like being one of the mechanics with the daunting task of getting that train and its frustrated riders moving again?  Rory O’Neill understands both sides of that coin. He spent many years working as a mechanic on the mobile response unit and the emergency […] The post Rory O’Ne...

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.