From San Francisco: "One Tech Worker’s Open Letter to a Muni Driver." (Muni Diaries)

“Tech shuttle” is such a loaded term in San Francisco these days. There are strong feelings all around, and at times, things have gotten out of control.

But one tech shuttle rider sent us a thank-you letter after a surprising encounter with a Muni driver.

(Read more here.)

From Carlisle, Pennsylvania: "Bus-riding Carlisle mayor shuns driving; wants more bus routes," by Eric Veronikis for The Patriot-News

The mayor of Carlisle stood there among dozens of others, waiting for the bus to take him home as snow squalls whipped around downtown Harrisburg. (Read more here.)

From Albuquerque! "For the First Time Ever, ABQ RIDE’s Most Senior Driver is a Woman." (City of Albuquerque > Transit > News)

Patty Sandoval

Perhaps it’s a vestige of the days when mostly men drove buses; the fact that throughout its history, ABQ RIDE’s driver seniority lists were always topped by men. It remained that way until late last year. That’s when for the first time in history, a female driver, Patty Sandoval, claimed the top spot on the seniority list. (Read more here.)

From Chanhassen, Minnesota: "In suburban isolation, ‘cookie lady’ built community at the school bus stop," by Bob Collins for Minnesota Public Radio

On the day Anne Tabat was born, her grandmother gave her a cookie recipe book. She’s been “the cookie lady” ever since.

“Cookies are destiny,” she says.

Every Friday, she’s met the school bus in her Chanhassen subdivision, with the notion of thanking the bus driver for his efforts. She came bearing cookies because, she notes, you can’t just give a bus driver a cookie and ignore the kids. She’s been at the bus stop every Friday ever since — 15 school years.

Tomorrow will be the first day without cookies.

(Read more here.)

Busboy's Annual Pass: Was It Worth It? Spreadsheet for January.

And we were out of town for a week, too.

You can find out what this is all about here.

From Portland, Oregon: "Here’s My Card" [a Top Ten Bus Stories nominee], by Bill Reagan (posted on Trimet Diaries)

I wear glasses . . . except I don’t actually wear my glasses. They fine tune my vision, but things within 10 feet are mostly clear without them, so I don’t wear them. What this means on the bus is that if I’m scanning to see if anyone I know is aboard, I have to focus for a second or two on each face, and that means I make a lot of eye contact. Being a friendly sort, this is fine with me, and usually, people I don’t know just glance back then we both look away.

When I hopped onto the #75 to get home last week, one woman who I didn’t recognize didn’t look away. (Read more here.)

Paul Kirchner's The Bus

Paul Kirchner.  Downloaded from Wikipedia.

I found a reference to this series on Muni Dairies. With the help of Google, I discovered Paul Kirchner is a writer and illustrator who originally published this series in the monthly magazine Heavy Metal, from 1978-1985. Wonderfully surreal.