Late night on Muni

I'm riding home late on the 31-Balboa after class the other night. The 31-Balboa goes through the Tenderloin and the Western Addition and then up Turk to the University of San Francisco to pick up all the kids there before coming down the hill and onto Balboa into the Richmond into my neighborhood. It starts out rough -- really rough -- from downtown through these neighborhoods and then clears up after Fillmore after Divisadero. It takes about 20 minutes, a half hour, to get home. It's either that bus route, or the 38-Geary line, and that one is just as wacky at night. It's a crap shoot either way. I usually try to sit up front, read a book, and don't pay attention to what's going on in the back of the bus. The bus driver don't seem to care, either. ...

I'm on the 31-Balboa, and a few blocks after Market into this dark point of the Tenderloin, these three guys get on, this one guy a lot larger than the rest. He goes toward the rear. He gets progressively louder and louder, starts to demand that this lady give up her purse. ("Bitch, give me your purse!" "Don't make me get angry." "Move your big, fat ass and give me your purse!") People start staring at this mess. I don't know if these people know each other or what, I don't WANT to know, my heart starts beating. I could ring the bell and get off, but then I'd be in the middle of this neighborhood, and it's not a very -- how you say? -- nice neighborhood. The bus driver is just ignoring the commotion to rear. She starts screaming. We drive a few more blocks, closer to Van Ness, a thoroughfare, and I ring the bell. I think others have the same idea (or maybe because it's a main transfer point?). I go up to the bus driver, and say, "You know, maybe you should call a police officer?" and hop off. I don't know what's going on in the back of the bus -- but I don't want to know.

I walk about five blocks up to Geary, and catch the next 38-Geary at Post. It took me about 45 minutes to go home that night.