There are lots of ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Traditional: candies, wine and a fancy dinner; and non-traditional: volunteer at a homeless shelter (love is love, right?) or promote a new “tradition,” Anna Howard Shaw Day. Since this is SF, where “non-traditional” anything is a competitive sport, we’re taking a particularly SF look at the annual day of love. We came across a story a few weeks ago that shows that love on transit can be about more than Missed Connections, it can create a home and a community.
Stacie Blanke, a 26-year-old New York transplant, is a Muni customer with a unique distinction. Having been in SF just a year and a half, she claims to have developed an entire network of friends through one source: Muni.
Her relaxed, girl-nextdoor charm certainly makes it easy to like her, but she insists that Muni has been the main driver (sorry) of her friendships since she came to the West Coast.
Blanke’s friendship with Stefanie, a marketing professional, came as she was heading to her home in the Sunset. “I was running after a bus and when it didn’t stop, this girl laughed. ‘You must be new here, she said.’” After that, the two sat together on the NX for the afternoon commute home, where they discovered that they lived just two blocks from each other. Since then Blanke has expanded her social network exponentially through her association with Stefanie.
Blanke met the second of her two San Francisco friends, Alix, while stuck in an evening traffic jam on the 6 Parnassus. Realizing it might be a longer than normal commute, she took a seat next to a woman who, over the course of what would be a lengthy conversation, opened up to her in an emotional way, a way that resonated with her.
“Though there were a number of people around us, it felt like it was a sacred place right then and there. It was just her and I talking and getting to know each other.”
In the eight months Stacie has known Alix, she has come to think of her new friend as “her rock.” “I’m so far from family in New Jersey and New York that she’s been like a second mother to me; she’s met my entire family. My mom is so thankful for having her here. She’s like my angel.” Stacie calls her two new friends her “foundation.”
“I’ve met tons and tons of people through these two connections,” she says effusively. “Use Muni as a community to find out more about the people that live around you—after all you’re riding the bus with people who live on your route.”
While many of us are happiest sticking to our knitting (literally and figuratively) during our outings on transit, the community of Muni riders is, generally, a loving and supportive group.
New in town? New to Muni? If you want to feel the love yourself, but aren’t as brave as Stacie, we suggest connecting with your fellow riders at a Muni Diaries Live event or by joining the Transit Riders Union. You’ll see there’s lots of Muni love to go around.
Commisisoned artwork by Sophia Simpliciano
Editor’s note: Mark DeAnda contributed to this story.