MUNI – 6 Haight-Parnassus

The 6-​Parnassus is now the 6-​Haight-​Parnassus. As with most Muni-​line name changes, this one is horrible.
The ostensible reason for the addition of «Haight» to the name is that a bus line’s name should reflect the street (s) it spends a majority or plurality of its time on. Fair enough. But most people who don’t already understand Muni have no idea about this naming logic, so it’s not as if they’re going to see «Haight» on the marquee and think, «I should take this bus to Haight & Cole instead waiting for the 7-​Haight.» And even if they did think that, they would be wrong, because the 6 turns left on Masonic and never returns to Haight Street, so by making these names less confusing for Muni newbies, Muni has actually made things more confusing for everyone, especially the Muni newbies.
Stupid new name aside, the 6 is still a great bus line. It’s still generally cleaner and less dodgy than the 7, and for some reason, it really seems to run more often now even though I know in my heart of hearts and mind of minds that it really doesn’t. Really.
I’m just waiting for the construction to be completed – where is that, exactly? – so that the 6 can return to being a fully electrified bus line. It’s been running diesel and hybrid buses for about six months now.

My rating is based purely on a comparison with other lines I’ve ridden during the past 30+ years I’ve been commuting to the Financial District. Generally, the 6 Parnassus is my preferred means. The N-​Judah Metro these days is too damn crowded with young adults with their backpacks and multi-​baggage AND THEY DON’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND they need to compensate for their luggage as part of their body space – I’m rather sick of getting slammed in the head and face by someone’s backpack/​bag. Not even a «sorry.» And considering I’m now a white-​haired, bent old person who has a little trouble making the high step onto that lower step, and considering I have osteoporosis of the back and hips, NONE OF THOSE YOUNG ADULTS EVER GET UP TO OFFER A SEAT, which I used to do all the time when I was young and now I need that offer. I get off the Metro feeling like I’ve just been battered for 40 mins. At least the Metro has improved their reliability – I stopped riding the Metro because it had become really bad, breaking somewhere along the line (and once one train is broke, no others can get «around» it until the mechanics get there which can take hours). So now whenever I can, I take the 6 Parnassus. It also drops me closer to home so I don’t have to walk alone in the dark quite so far. Which as an oldster makes a big difference to me now. Up until the time they deleted the 7-​Haight buses, the 6-​Parnassus was generally not real crowded, you could almost always find a seat. But with the 7 gone now, anyone needing to get to or from the Haight-​downtown has to use the 6 or 71. Plus it seems more young people are living out in the Sunset these days and commuting not only to downtown but to UCMed and to CalTrain. I generally need to catch one of the first 2 buses going inbound in the morning and I do get a seat since not that many people need to commute at 6am. But coming home can get touchy. Lots of homeless. Once someone took a crap in the middle of the bus – and when that happens they make you de-​bus as soon as the bus driver realizes what has gone on and you have to wait until the next bus comes along, which is now always already crowded. I’ve been on the 6 when fights break out – the fighters jump off the bus as soon as the driver stops to access stuff, and then everyone has to de-​bus because the driver has to wait until someone from dispatch gets there to make a report (which can take over an hour). However, now that the 6 is being detoured down to Mission (inbound), I now have to walk even more blocks every morning to get to work, which means I have to factor in more time each morning. It’s not taking me over 1.5 hours to get from home to work every morning when I take the bus. If I take the Metro, it usually only takes 30 – 35 mins, but then I have to stand for all that time plus the waiting time plus put up with physical abuse from all that luggage. And freeloader. I’d like to know what mental midget thought the honor system was a great idea. I see about 3 our of 5 people riding Muni NOT paying. And the Muni police only work maybe 1 day out of 30. I’d also like to know who thought giving school kids a free ride is a great way of teaching them that life isn’t a free ride. And if you are going to give school kids free rides, considering their parents must make a fortune if they are able to continue to live in San Francisco, why not offer senior citizens who are on a really tight set income a free ride too? I can’t wait until I retire and no longer have to ride Muni much. I know the whole system was not set up for the amount of riders it has – whoever designed the Metro system had to have been high because no one with even one brain cell would design a system where ALL the lines converge onto one track (one for each direction) so if just one train has any kind of trouble, the whole line comes to a halt. Back to the 6-​Parnassus. It’s one of the better lines, even the bus drivers think so, the crazies and violent ones are at a minimum considering. However, and this happens especially after 7pm (when I often am trying desperately to get home), it seems that if one of the drivers takes time off, Muni doesn’t cover his/​her shift in any way, they don’t reschedule the buses so the gap isn’t so bad, they don’t put a temp driver on. They just leave the gap so sometimes I’ve waited 40 – 90 mins for a damn bus. I don’t want to take the Metro because it is a 4 block walk in the dark on some deserted streeets to get home from where I get off. And I can’t afford a cab. And my office won’t change my schedule. So, if I get killed one night, someone please sue the crap out of Muni for me. And I try not to think what would happen if the Muni people, oh, say they all got «sick» someday. Hahaha, and I thought monopolies were against the law – obviously not in San Francisco (just look at Recology).

On certain days just as filled as any other bus, but with less crazies, mostly tourists and young college age kids.
Love that it leaves from and takes me directly to Bart from the Haight. The stop could have a seat, but I suppose with the area it’s not unexpected.
4 Stars.

The 6 Parnassus is a route giving you a decent bus ride. I have ridden this route several times and the bus is mostly quiet, not very crowded like other bus routes here in the city. There are plenty of seats when you get on the bus. I remember the one time when I was on this route with my middle school classmate and high school classmates. With just the four of us on the bus, this proves just how easy it is to get a seat on the 6 Parnassus.
2÷5÷2014:
This route is by far one of the best MUNI lines I’ve taken. I do like that it is quiet and with seats available, it is always a good thing. It’s not super crowded compared to the busier routes. I do like that it takes straight to downtown from the Sunset District and UCSF Parnassus Campus.

Call me wierd, but often my daily ride on the 6 Parnassus is the highlight of my day.
There is something both soothing and uplifting about paying my fare, making my way to the back of this fairly empty bus, pulling out my IPhone playlist and then losing myself.
Some of my most profound thoughts occur on this bus route.
Some of my most peaceful moments of the week are spent on this bus route.
As it slowly makes it’s way downtown — there is a sense of calmness about all of the passengers. Unlike the 71, and the N, 6 passengers are OK with the «scenic» route. They’re OK with being at work a little later. They’re OK with life.
The 71 and the N each weekday morning are consistently packed, aggro, and lame. There’s a grueling look of tension on people’s faces as they awkwardly press themselves against each other — holding their breath — until they’re finally at their destination. Not the 6. Chugging along — under the radar — it’s roomy. Fresh smelling even. And people are just nicer. Surprisingly enough it’s often the most frequent and reliable of routes, downtown and back, in comparison with the 71 and N.
Yeah, I’ve had some lame experiences with the 6. Like the crazy wild driver on the weekend nights– who purposely swings around the corner in a frenzy, and doesn’t stop to pick up me and countless others, leaving us shivering in the cold. Yeah I have a wealth of built up resentment against the painfully slow driver in the morning who cruises along — as if time doesn’t exist.
But I’ve had too many zen moments on this route to give it anything less than 4 stars. I’ve been stuck in the N tunnel one too many times — to know how good I have it with the 6. And late at night — right before the N Owl starts running and I think all hope is lost — that heavenly vision of the 6 pulling to a stop in front of me — is just too precious.
6 Parnassus. That’s what’s up.
Trust.

Oh the 6 Parnassus, I call you the Karma bus because you only show up when a person is in a positive mood and are not fussy or bitchy and are all like «Where’s the fucking bus?» If you are like that then 6 will never show up for you. One should never wait for the 6 bus either, if it shows up great but if you wait, or the more you anticipate, the longer the 6 will take, sort of like a weird quantum physics thing.
One night I was out drinking downtown until way after last call with a buddy. It was rainy and cold and my buddy left me on my own to get home because he lives in the East Bay and was not about to Rin Tin Tin my ass home. No taxis are around. I pull my coat collar up to cover myself better from the rain. I stroll up 2^nd St towards market. A cab goes by I wave… he simply continues.
Semi drunk, cold and tired I resign myself to the fact that getting home to the Inner Sunset is going to be a bitch. I surrender to the Gods to grant me my method home even if it entails walking.
As I am about to round the corner to Market street I think to myself «God I wish a 6 bus would come by right now» because the 6 will drop me off a half a block from my house but then I think how unlikely that would be.
I look down Market Street and see off in the murky distance the lumbering, jerky movement of an electric bus. I focus my eyes, my heart leaps it’s a 6 Parnassus.
I move into a full sprint to the bus stop, it’s is going to be a close call. A night of drinking and a current alcohol induced haze does not help this effort but I make it in time. Door opens, I show my Fast Pass, jump on in, door shuts and we are off.
The bus was warm and I was the only passenger and I’m home free albeit my drop off will be near the end of the line. Periodically the bus driver looks back probably wondering when the hell I am going to get off his bus but I am not fazed by this weird energy, you Mr Bus Driver are going to take my ass home. It slugs up Haight St then Masonic, then to Parnassus from Parnassus it turns left on 9^th Ave…(oh we are close now), Bus saunters up to Pacheco… I ring the bell, door opens, I say «thank you, have a good night» I get no reply back., (strange since I was his only customer for the entire route).
While I walk a half block to my house I think how the Krama gods sent me that 6 bus for me and only me to grant my safe, easy and cheap passage home. It really felt as if the bus materialized from the rainy, misty, foggy air. I get to my house, it is warm inside and then my head hits the bed.

I was harassed and threatened by a muni bus driver this evening on my way home from work. 6 Parnassus heading toward the Sunset. Badge #3154. He watched me tear my paper token out of the booklet and deposit it into the machine and then accused me of not paying properly and made me pay twice. He also threatened to make me get off the bus and didn’t back off until I told him I was an attorney and took down his badge number. I have never been offended like that. I’m sick and tired of muni, particularly the lines that pass through the haight. In the past year, I’ve seen drivers completely ignore (1) a pregnant woman having a seizure on the bus, (2) a disabled man push and shove another disabled man, and (3) loud, rowdy, drunk passengers yelling and harassing other riders. I am so over SF’s public transportation system and the self-​entitled attitude of its employees. From now on, I’m taking cabs or driving to work until I move to another neighborhood.

depending on the time of day and day of the week, it changes. When busy its packed and barely fits everyone. But one thing I’ve noticed, everyone gets on/​off at the masonic stop. If your in the inner sunset there will be NO ONE riding, just you and the bus driver, then bam you hit masonic, its full and all seats are occupied and every holding rail, breathing on someones neck. Leaving market its packed to the max, and once you hit masonic everyone gets off, and its just you and the driver again, as if no one takes the 6 that lives in the sunset. Inbound the 6 is always on time, every 15mins or less. Outbound however is bad, during rushhour, the longest I’ve ever waited was like an hour, and two-6’s showed, what happened???

The 6 Parnassus is one of the most Ghetto buses (sorry PC-​ers) in the fleet, always janky and with lots of graffiti…
However this is also one of the buses that created the N Judah Chronicles… as one day on a hot summer day I was taking the 6 instead of the N home…
And on this bus we had a young woman who was blabbing on the cell loudly and furiously about sex lives, baby daddies and the like. All admoishments to just pipe down (not shut up, just pipe down) were met with language that would make a World War II sailor blush.
Finally a Hipster Knowitall spoke up by sitting next to her, and calling his roomie on the cell and repeating everything Miss Bitch said. When she cussed him he simply said «you told the whole F*cking 6 Parnassus, I figured it was so important I better call my roomie!»
The sheer amount of laughter and DEFEAT this woman felt was so bad she ran off the bus. And when Hipster Smartass got off the bus we were unified despite race, class, sexual orientaition, money, whatever… this guy was OUR HERO.
The N Judah Chronicles continues the story… stop by and say hi!

I just can’t give the 6 more than two stars. There are some good things about the 6: It tends to be on time in the morning. The
predictions for it are usually spot on. Inbound, it’s way less crowded than the 71, which I refuse to take.
However, I’ve just had too many bad experiences with surly drivers, drunks, and noisy people to rate it any more highly. Today, for the second time in as many weeks, two dweebs on opposite sides of me felt the need to have a loud conversation as if I weren’t even there (I’m sure they could see me — I am pretty tall and I don’t have a cloaking device). It was, literally, impossible to turn my iPod up loud enough to drown them out. Twenty minutes of chalk-​on-​a-​blackboard idiotic conversation is enough to make anyone grouchy.
It went kinda like this: «Dude — I’m a designer with one year of job experience and two years of school. I *hope* they lay me off. This company is sinking like the Titanic. At least if they let me go they’ll give me some money. Are you going to that party? No me either — no fuckin way dude. I don’t wanna hang out with those people. Dude where do you live? Shut up! I also live at Haight and Ashbury. Well, technically Central and Oak.»
Twenty minutes of that. Seriously. Spare me.

Why is the 6-​Parnassus always the one that gets dumped on with the junk bus? I hate to ride it because it feels very unsafe, plus it’s almost always some 20 year old bus that’s breaking apart at the welds.
If you enjoy crackhead fights, it’s a good line to ride. Otherwise, wait for the slightly more comfortable 7 or 71 to the Haight.

i wish i could rate negative stars.
the drivers have NO idea how to drive a bus filled with people who might be standing. their lack of ability to use the brakes properly are quite annoying when trying to stand on a packed bus. their attitudes are through the roof.
i hate riding this bus, but it’s either this one or the 71 line. it’s pretty much a toss up between which line sucks more.
i recently heard that there was some sort of random drug testing that they did on all SF bus drivers and something like %60+ came up positive, and %50 of those were positive for crack. these drivers must be some of that %50.

PartyBot, the love of my life and handsomest man ever, calls this line the 6 Molasses and that is a fine assessment. I have seen little evidence that this bus even runs on any regular schedule and the evidence I have seen is not convincing. This bus indeed moves slower than sticky goo and you’d be hard-​pressed to get me on one of the dilapidated old deathtraps they reserve special for this line and the 47 line. If you live up on the hill around 14^th/​Quintara, however, this is your knight in rusted armor, as this line truly goes where no other does. You could walk it faster, but man, those hills are steep and it’s windy up there! Bonus 1: on the outbound bus, you’ll be the only passenger past UCSF. Bonus 2: Inbound, this line is psycho-​crazy free til they all pile on in the Haight.

After the Unilocal Holiday Party, me and Sarah O decided to go back home and take the 6 Parnassus (a mighty fine bus line). Though we only travelled one stop, it was quite an adventure.
So two crackheads flag the bus down on Market but they don’t have any cash for the fare. The driver tells them to get off but one of the crackheads starts getting belligerent and tells him that he doesn’t need to pay and that he only needs to go one block. His fellow crackhead tried to get him off the bus but he wouldn’t have any of it…
You could see it in the bus driver’s eyes that he was tired, pissed off, and about to shank someone. He keeps telling the angry crackhead to get off the bus. So what does the crackhead do?
HE SPITS IN THE BUS DRIVER’S FACE!!!
(yes, SPIT… composed mostly of crack, nasty god knows what, and Red Bull)
Of course, the bus driver goes HULK on the crackhead and they start throwing fists in front of the bus. Everyone’s staring and wondering «Uh, when’s this going to stop so that I can go home?» but the driver came back on and told everyone to get off because the bus was no longer in service.
Some people were pissed because the bus driver went all crazy on the guy and they couldn’t get home but I think he was totally in the right to go ape-​shit on the crackhead.
Five stars for the MUNI bus driver who wouldn’t take shit from a crackhead.

an abridged list of scary stuff on bus 6:
«when you die i’m gonna eat your insides out» (said in my ear by man sitting next to me)
«the human race should burn– especially these people standing behind me!» (said very seriously)
«this is no longer bus 6!» (said by bus driver, freaking out, who then abandons bus.. . although he does return a few minutes later, probably because everyone was yelling).“
bus 6 has mini car crash (slamming on breaks)– a bunch of old people fall and are moaning as the bus goes again, without a word from the driver.
but 6 is pretty reliable and you can get seats about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ at rush times, but man, it’s the looney-​tube. it needs an escape hatch. or some kind of restraint device for emergency psychos.