MUNI – 31AX Balboa ‘A’ Express

A great express bus line between the Outer Richmond and downtown. I take it most often from work outbound, and love how it zips all the way to Park Presidio with only one stop.
One of the most well-​behaved, well-​mannered bus lines I’ve been on. People are happy to sit in peace and let you do the same. I don’t think I’ve ever been subject to some girl give an overly loud play-​by-​play account of the previous night with her BF on her hot pink iPhone on this line (for this, try the 41 Union).

Not only is this line inconsistent, usually late, or just skips scheduled busses, lately the bus drivers don’t even know where their stops are in the morning. No thanks to Muni’s non-​helpline too. What a waste of time.
Yes, its a great service, but when Muni consistently delivers a crappy product you get knocked to the zero star class. Everyone is better off taking the 38ax instead of this bus. My Balboa peeps are you wit me???

My alternative bus if the 38AX fails me. Too bad it ends so early (c’mon before 6pm really?). Although it doesn’t get me home as fast as the 38AX, I still find it a good ride as it isn’t crowded. I can deal with the extra stops from Park Presidio to 25^th Ave, it only adds like 10 minutes to the travel time.

OK… so I am a bus fan…
and maybe because I’m really just more of a fan of other people driving. (yes, I dislike driving… don’t give me crap about that).
I also hate finding parking and paying for parking.
Riding the bus is cheaper, and less stressful.
Now…when it comes to get to and from work… the express bus situation is the way to go! Especially if you live in the Richmond.
As we all know — the Outer Richmond is a long commute pretty much every way you look at it. HOWEVER…
if you’re a smarty… you’ll take advantage of the express buses when you can. It’s one of those things that if I were shoppin’ on a weekday down in Union Square… I’d walk a bit out of my way to catch the 31AX.
This bus will take you to the Mid-​Richmond — right at Park Presidio — in 25 minutes form the FiDi. 25 minutes! No stops until the Mid-​Richmond for the WIN!
I’m super hyped I found this commute. In the mornings I’ll take the 38BX so that I can get a seat… and then in the evenings I take the 31AX from the first stop… I always get a seat and I’m home in just under 45 minutes — Door to Door. Best commute bus EVER.

1 block from my house + 20 minute commute (3 stops from Richmond, and I’m in FiDi!) + 1 block from my work = why I love this bus.
There are 2 downsides…
1. Can get SUPER packed during the morning rush hours, causing buses to skip your stop, and/​or you will be squash in the step well with 4 other people.
2. Limited schedule… well this makes sense. these express buses are suppose to accommodate rush hours… but I REALLY would like to roll out of bed late… or stay a little later at that happy hour and and STILL catch the 31ax…

I’ve ridden mostly normal buses up till now, save for one time I accidentally got on an express bus and got confused when it zipped past a million stops and dropped me off in the FiDi. But anyway, here’s getting to the point:
The 31AX is to the 31 (or 38, or 38L since they all pretty much run in similar areas), as a Japanese bullet-​train is to an Oregon Trail covered wagon.
It’s still a bus, and it still lumbers along sometimes, but in this City of fat and slow buses with stinky people and ladies who beat you up, it’s the best thing you can get.
A couple initial observations from riding the 31AX for the last week:
+ The people are civilized and follow the rules. Instead of jumping on the back and boarding wherever they can, people actually LINE UP. I think anywhere else in the country, that would be construed as normal behavior, but I’ve gotten so used to seeing pushing and general rudeness, that whenever I see lines in THIS city, it’s weird to me now! But hey, I like it!
+ There are no seniors on this bus! Which means, the seats in the front are up for grabs!
+ People don’t smell on this bus! Makes for a much more pleasant ride.
+ There’s no weird behavior, like people talking to themselves or trying to talk to you. No sketchy people. Yes you heard that right! What? You can ride the bus without anyone bothering you? SCORE!
On the flip side, I guess this bus’s pros can also be considered its cons. Everyone looks the same. Men with laptop bags, wearing plaid button downs and a fleece vest. Women in their business casual. The FiDi crowd.
But hey, this bus cut my door-​to-​door commute time down by over 10 minutes, which is AWESOME. It’s fast, more predictable than normal buses, and gets me to where I need to get without the inconvenience of stopping every single block (or twice a block sometimes, GRR!).
31AX, I like you!
Note: Because I’ve only been taking the 31AX for the last week, I don’t feel entirely qualified to give it a full-​out 5 stars. I figure 4 stars is a good starting point. We’ll write an update after more adventures or, more likely, non-​adventures on said bus.

I had no idea what all this «AX» and «BX» Muni bus stuff was about until I moved to the Richmond. It turns out that these special buses are the closest thing to a BART train that the Richmond District («RiDi») has.
If you work downtown and live in the RiDi, you better get to know these buses, or you’ll just be the chump on the regular 31 Balboa/​38 Geary that gets the hour-​long, reasonably stinky and ghetto tour of the city on the way to work.
The 31 AX ain’t great (I rarely get a seat in the morning, and some broads refuse to move to the back of the bus when it gets crowded), but it sure beats the regular 31 Balboa. FYI, the 31AX starts at the beach near the Safeway and the «Last local stop» is Balboa and Park Presidio. The next stop after *that* is Sansome & Montgomery. Not bad, right?
Here’s the weird thing though: I’m on the morning (and often evening) 31AX buses, with the same people, almost every day. All of us are going to our jobs in the FiDi or home to our bitchin’ flats in the RiDi.
I know half of their names since they all wear their hoity-​toity company badges. Okay, you work for yahoo/​stubhub/​charles schwab! you’re-so-fucking-cool-and-employed. We get it!
But none of us ever talk to each other, even though we often see each other twice a day. It’s a little awkward, like the elephant in the living room, or however that saying goes…

I swear the bus is always unpredictable. I need to be in the office for a 830am call and my bus arrival times are all jacked up. 820 to 835… i mean really a 15 min delta? Yeah no. i’m not very happy with this.

I looove the 31Express buses! A 45 minute ride to FiDi w/​o the stinky people & pickpockets that proliferate the regular lines. The buses are also somewhat cleaner than the other lines.
What a relaxing ride to FiDi. Much better than the metro line (how stressful!).