Anyways, we had dinner with friends at the Fillmore Grill (yummy food, by the way-- we highly recommend the Zinfandel Braised Lamb Shank) Wednesday night and went out to wait for the good ole 22 Fillmore to take us home. Ah, 22 Fillmore, what would do without you? It was after 10, though, and we were a bit concerned about waiting for the bus because as we all know, waiting for MUNI late at night is always a crap shoot. Sometimes it comes, somtimes it doesn't. Sometimes it does but late and either way, it’s a Freak Scene. After a few minutes of waiting, a bus pulled up. It was the 3. So we waited for a few more minutes and just about at the point we started thinking about hailing a cab, we saw a bus lumber down the hill towards our stop. But it wasn't the 22, it was the Divisadero bus, on it's way back to the MUNI garage in Portero, all empty and unused.
The bus pulled up at the stop we were at, however, and the bus driver sheepishly looked out at us and another person waiting and asked us where we were going. We told him where and he told us to get on in. Even better, he waved us off when we offered to pay.
The driver then proceeded to do the entire Fillmore run, picking everyone up at stops and letting people off when requested. He even told most people they didn't have to pay. All this despite the fact it wasn't his run and despite the fact his shift was sort of over.
We have no idea how long we would have had to wait if he didn't pick us up. It could have been just a few minutes or it could have been a long wait. But we didn't have to wait. So to whomever the bus driver is, we salute you and thanks. And we also hope we didn't just get you busted for letting everyone know what you did.