Your Commute: Onwards and Upwards to Phase II
Today is an exciting day in the world of San Francisco transit as we move from Phase I of the Metro Overhead Line Replacement Project (MOLRP) and start Phase II. Woo hoo! We hear there was a celebration in honor of the start of Phase II which largely consisted of Nathaniel Ford breaking a champagne bottle on the first delayed run of the J Church.
The First Rule of NextBus: There is no NextBus
Get ready to throw a cow-sized steak on the OMG WTF barbecue, because we've got Muni news that'll make your socks go up and down. You know NextBus? That thing that lets you know when the next bus is coming, so you don't have to memorize arrival times and count on Muni drivers adhering to schedule? And you know how NextBus only works right now for a couple of lines, like the 33 and 22 and the subways? Well, get this: it would take an engineer all of TWO MINUTES to make the NextBus website display arrival times for every single electric line.
When The Lights Go Down In The City
Perusing the club listings for December, we're seeing an awful lot of blank calendars. We reckon that means many of SFist's great music venues are being rented out for holiday parties. Perhaps even parties to which we were not invited. Party throwers, don't be afraid to invite SFist. We promise not to do anything untoward that might tarnish our sterling reputation. Not like we did last year.
SFist Blotter
Fool them once, shame on you; fool them twice -- well, the second time Alameda resident Marc Marmor's house caught on fire, the suspicious fire department finally figured out he'd accidentally started both blazes by smoking in bed. The first fire, two days before Christmas, severely damaged the home and neighboring properties and Marmor was told the house was uninhabitable. Nevertheless, about six weeks later, Marmor snuck back into the damaged house and again accidentally fell asleep with a lit cigarette on a twin mattress on the floor of the basement. The house is now completely destroyed.
A few days ago, an SF Airporter shuttle with five people on it hit someone in an accident on 280 North, by the Mariposa exit. The driver originally claimed a homeless woman had wandered in front of the van. Then, when people started noticing that one of his passengers was missing, he revised his story that maybe someone had fallen out of the van when he swerved to avoid a car. Then, when other passengers started giving statements to the police and it became apparent that no one had seen a car in the other lane, people are now concluding maybe the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Today's news: the driver, Melvin Simpson, is O.J. Simpson's older brother. Whaa? Who even knew O.J. Simpson still had relatives in the Bay Area?
And the South Bay cops are looking for a white man in his late 20s who's robbed 12 Subways, Quiznos, or Baskin Robbinses between the hours of 7:30 and 9 p.m. in San Jose, Los Gatos, Mountain View, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale. He always buys something an hour before robbing the place, and is always wearing a black or gray hoodie, gray beanie cap, and black pants. We hope it's a pair of those really big before- pants, like Jared's.
MUNI-ficence
One of the best things about living in San Francisco is that you don't really need a car for everyday life. Certainly, MUNI or BART aren't perfect, and the Caltrain is still a little too far away to be useable on a whim, but most of us have the option of getting to work or going out for the evening on buses, little light trains, or subways. How great is that? Plus, MUNI buses in particular are a good way to see the city in all its glory too (SFist is partial to the 22 Fillmore for scenery- and people-watching).

