MUNI – 43 Masonic

Horrible! Born and raised here. And I hate muni! Drive right pass you, they don’t care, kids beating old ladies, they don’t care! They don’t care, they just keep raising the fare prices

It’s very bad to wait 43. They always come in two buses at the same time. Especially afternoon. Why they make schedule so inconvenient. It make people late to work.

This route is a godsend if you’re heading to the marina district from the western addition/​panhandle district. Nice quick scenic drive through the presido to lombard street. I wish all muni service was like this.

The 43 line is 5 houses away from my house. Whether you live at Narnia, on Ralph St., or nearby South Hill Blvd, this line is a life saver for the elderly or persons who hates walking up hills.
PROS:
–Again, nearby my house.
–Takes approximately 6 – 7 minutes to get to Geneva & Mission from Munich & Geneva.
–Goes all the way to Marina Middle school as well as a 10 minute walk to Fort Mason after hopping off from Chestnut.
–Runs in every 10 – 15 minutes on business days.
–not as crowded as usual (except during rush hours rarely)
CONS:
–Inaccurate predictions (I.e. 5 minutes, then 4, then 5, then 4…) since the operators are always late whenever they warm up their coaches from Munich and Geneva… So if you’re coming from NARNIA, I highly suggest you walk down to Geneva to take the 8x or 54 if you’re heading to CCSF or the BART station.
–Some 43 drivers don’t even bother to stop for you regardless whether or not they see you racing to the bus stop. Sometimes whenever I’m approaching 10 steps to the bus stop (Naples & Seville) on foot, the bus ran off and I end up running all the way to Naples & Athens.
–Not reliable to the Marina district because this line takes about 70 – 80 minutes (or more like 10 000 years) from Munich & Geneva. I would suggest driving or taking the 28.

Ah, the 43! The closest muni line to my home in DC.
This line takes me from my house straight to balboa park, ucsf, haight street, the JCC, and everywhere else in between. It comes often and I am fortunate to catch the bus at the beginning of the line when it’s empty.
Minus a few stars because sometimes it drives oh so slowly. Its supposed to take 40 mins for me to get from home to UCSF (according to 511) But it usually takes 50 to 55 mins, which is quite the difference when you’re trying to make it to an appointment.
And I wish it came a bit more often on Sundays and weekends.

My one star cannot possibly convey the utter disdain I have for the 43. I have been taking it every day for the past 2 years (only because it’s essentially my only option).
It is late, every. Single. Day. Today it took me over an hour to go from Parnassus to Chestut at 6:30pm. And it wasn’t a packed bus. And traffic wasn’t horrible, at least not worse than usual. To make it worse, we were actually passed by 2 other 43s that, per the MUNI app, were at least 10 minutes behind us.
AND THEN THE DRIVER GOT HUNGRY… apparently.
He stopped at Taco Bell. He drove up on the curb. Left us on the bus. Came back 5 minutes later. Went back in and came out another 5 minutes later with dinner, a friend and a soda refill. But thanked us for waiting. So I am late coming home from work because he wanted to stop on his route for personal reasons? I don’t understand.
I’ve written to the SFMTA. This is a major line through the city. Not a day goes by that I leave feeling like it was a reasonable commute. They need to raise the expectations that the drivers are working with the public, and should conduct themselves with professionalism.
I do not ever say anything good about the 43 to anyone. I recommend avoiding it if you can. Even if it means UBER.

I’m not sure if I’m even qualified to write a review about this bus. My daily ride is shorter than that time Brittany got married in Vegas.
The 43 is pretty reliable up in twin peaks. The stop I get on at is right outside my house and it’s always within a minute or two of the MUNI app.
Late night, its stops are more sporadic; only coming about every 45 minutes. If you’re waiting for 43 at the Forest Hill Station past 9 p.m. bring a book and a parka because it’ll just be you, the cast from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and fog that someone shipped in from London for a while.
I also take the 43 down to the Marina sometimes. That is a ride like Mr. Toads and your olfactory senses will hate you till next week. Tip: do not attempt this hung-​over.

Haven’t took this bus for so long. Usually i take this bus whenever i need to go to the Balboa bart station if i didnt have a car at home. Took the 43 bus around 11 am near the cordova st first. Around this time, the bus wasn’t busy yet so was able to go to the bart station within 10 minutes without being in a full busy bus. And of course there’s a good among of people using this bus. So it was a pleasant ride in the bus today to get to the place i need to go.

The 43 Masonic is a real lifesaver particularly for City College students. I typically like how the 43 takes me directly to Conlan Hall, Multi-​Use Building, Science Hall and Arts Extension. I’m practically a regular on the 43 when I went to school at City College.
I don’t always bother looking at MUNI’s Next Bus GPS prediction system because I depend on what I see instead. If I see a bus from a distance, then there is a bus that is on the way to the bus stop I am at.
*The correct zip code in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood is 94 112*
*94 131 is a zip code in the Glen Park and Diamond Heights neighborhoods*

Oh dear lord, where did it all go wrong? I experienced more civility and comfort on chicken buses in Latin America, which are old American school buses. Sure they got crazy with the food vendors and excitement but it was still far more relaxing than Muni. I rode the 43 Masonic for a year and it was unpleasant. There’s rude and loud people, disparaging comments, no room to breath when the bus gets full and a slew of inappropriate behaviors. I’m not a prude by any means, but Muni made me feel so unclean. The buses are unclean and the drivers are 90% rude, a lot of passengers are grumpy and in a bad mood, which you probably will be too if you ride the Muni bus this long.

Taken this to get back to the Sunset from the Excelsior District. This is OK, when weather conditions are pleasant. When it is raining or when it gets dark, this bus just plain skips hella stops.

If there is one thing in the city that I love, it’s Muni.
Before you go, «OMG! Are you serious?» let me explain. While Muni is the thing you love to hate, it does have some redeeming qualities, one of which is the 43 line.
Many people, especially my fellow Unilocalers, say that they hate this particular line because it’s either late, crowded or the driver drives like a «bat out of hell,» but to me it’s one my favorite lines to ride on because of the views.
The 43 line starts in the Excelsior at the intersection of Munich Street and Geneva Avenue and ends at Webster and Chestnut Streets in the Marina District. The line crosses through many interesting parts of the city including Twin Peaks, Inner Sunset, Cole Valley and the Haight.
One of my favorite views from the route is when you’re on Parnassus Avenue (near UCSF) coming from the Haight going towards City College.
It’s absolutely stunning because the city looks so small.
But perhaps the best view from the route is when you’re going up to Miraloma Drive, while still coming from the Haight towards City College. Miraloma Drive is a slightly windy road situated near Portola Drive, right outside the Twin Peaks District. When you come around the second bend on Miraloma, you can see the city stretching out towards the Pacific Ocean, making San Francisco look like a scale model. It’s pretty awesome.
So if you got some time to kill on a Sunday afternoon, take the 43 and sit back and enjoy the view.

I refuse to give a bus a great rating. But when a bus picks you up at home and drops you off at work it, deserves a review.
That said, the 43 Outbound is a happening bus at 6:30am. Full of young, hardworking, scrub-​wearers, it really makes the commute to UCSF enjoyable. But let’s be real, it’s still a smelly, screechy bus.

Been riding this line every single weekday to and from work for about 4.5yrs now — I’ll admit that the frequency of the 43 right now (as of summer 2011), particularly around the 7am hour, is much better than what it was a couple of years ago. At least now during the 7−8am hour, it comes every 10min. and not once every 20−30min. like it sometimes used to in the past, due to a driver calling in sick and/​or financial problems with MUNI. Now that was a real freakin’ nightmare — those were the worst bus rides I’ve ever been on, as there would obviously be double the amount of folks on the next bus that came around and people were understandably already very irritated because of that inconvenience. Frequent outbursts and arguments amongst passengers really made you look forward to inevitably riding the 43 all over again the next day.. .
Some high school girl and I were on the verge of causing a scene since she appeared to have a problem with moving out of the way on a packed 43. Drama like that even before you went to start your job was just ridiculous. Literally being sandwiched like sardines throughout my 40min. ride became a norm during those days. An available seat was a true rarity it seemed like. And then there was this particular driver who got tired of those that wouldn’t get the hell off of the bottom step of the rear door so she had no problem just completely turning off the engine of the bus and stayed put until everyone starts yelling at the one (s) standing on the step to get the f*** off. Such a lovely way to start off your morning commute.
In a typical year of taking the 43 every weekday during the morning hours, there were at the most, literally only 3 – 4 times when the number of empty seats on the bus surprisingly outnumbered the number of seats occupied. Due to the length of where this particular route takes you (from Crocker Amazon all the way up to the Marina and back), this is easily one of those lines that is infamous for being more crowded than most other lines.
Things are a bit better during those times when school is out. but let’s be real, I will not miss the 43 Masonic at all. Especially those times when it was just so completely crammed in the morning that the driver wouldn’t even bother stopping at your stop and you would be left with waiting another 20−30min. for the next one. That really sucks when you had given yourself more than enough time to get to your destination early and then that happens. Only reason I gave two stars instead of one is because in the end, this form of public transportation happens to be the one that makes the most affordable sense to get to and from work and because as I had stated earlier, the frequency of the 43 during the 7−8am hour is back to every 10min. and SO FAR, there hasn’t been a problem with a driver calling in sick and at the very least when a driver is out, there is now a replacement being sent.

I love the 43 only because it’s seriously right next to my house. Sometimes when I have work in the mornings, I don’t drive so i take this bus and it’s pretty empty when I get inside. Only when we get to Mission when it starts to get pack.
Funny thing is that I looked at the bus times one morning and it told me to take the 8x instead which will take 35 minutes to get to work and the 43 wasn’t coming till 20 minutes later. I just decided to take the 43 and believe it or not, it was there within 5 minutes I checked the time. I even got to work less than 25 minutes instead of 35. I should never look at the bus times again cause sometimes they lie. Loll

the outbound leg from geary takes too long. plus I hate that they seem to put the rookie drivers on this route, possibly because of all the hills, twists and turns, but they need to do a better job, especially on the downhills.
usually there are plenty of seats. my last trip on the 43, we went from geary & masonic to judah to see family and there were plenty of seats, even at 5-​ish.

Thanks for dropping me off to school when my truck let me down. Thanks for being there for me when everyone else is too lazy to take me to work, school, or BART. Thanks for understanding that I AM the only person in the world who has to be somewhere important by specific times. Don’t listen to what anyone else says about not being on time; they just haven’t discovered:

Update: May 19
Dearest Bus Driver,
I left you a present. You can thank Bay to Breakers. It’s for all the fun times you’ve provided on previous rides. You know which ones I’m referring to — where you stuff the bus full of people, keep yelling at them to move on back, and then drive downhill while stepping on your brakes every few seconds.
— — — — — — -
I do have a special place in my heart for this line. It hits up on a lot of major stops around the city. It’s actually a very nice line to take with someone unfamiliar with the city. Maybe get off at Judah, hop on the N and go to the ocean?
I start at the Geneva/​Munich side of the line, so finding a seat is never a problem. Definitely crowds up even before it gets to Mission during the commute hours. If you’re wanting to just get to the Balboa BART station or City College, I’d hop on the 9Xs instead.
After City College, it winds through some beautiful homes to finally take you down to Forest Hill Station. This route is fairly quick because there aren’t a lot of people who get on/​off along the way. This was a great line for when I needed to get to Laguna Honda Hospital for my volunteering days during high school. And when I was volunteering at UCSF, I’d take it just 15 minutes more. It hits up the 9^th/​Irving area, which has some great shops/​restaurants.
Then Cole Valley, Haight/​Ashbury, before reaching Geary/​Masonic. It continues onward towards the Marina, but I usually get off the bus before that. Riding the entire line takes about an hour.
It’s unfortunate that such a great line would be so inconvenient at times. One morning, two of the buses didn’t come around because 1) a driver called in sick, and 2) one of the buses had broken down. Felt kinda bad for the driver who followed. He didn’t even stop for a bathroom break at the end of the line to get his bus going, but he was getting all sorts of nasty looks/​comments from angry passengers.

I’ll give the 43-​Masonic three stars even though it deserves two-​and-​a-​half. I’ve never taken it from start to finish, but then I’ve never needed to get from the Marina to the Crocker-​Amazon, but I’m sure there’s someone who does that every day for work. God bless him. Or her.
Anyway, I’ve waited for the 43 for a long time before. I think it’s supposed to run every thirty minutes, which means you’ll wait longer. It gets really crowded at times, and all the drivers on this line seem to be from the pack-​the-​bus-​until-​someone-​cracks-​a-​rib school, which is better than the I’m-trying-to-catch-up-to-my-schedule school. It’s a weird mix of people, too, especially from Masonic and Hayes to the Presidio. It’s got some nice views in the Presidio. I think this is the only non-​electric line I’ve ridden with some regularity that I’ve never seen a hybrid bus on.
Bottom line: If you’re going across town, it might make sense to investigate options that involve transferring, but if you’re going along part of this bus’s route, check your NextBus, bring a book, and imagine you really are going to Munich or Geneva.

I’m stuck taking 43 for an hour commute twice a day. it’s a typical SF bus ride full of students, people getting to and from work, the folks that talk to be heard (as in LOUDLY) and at least 2 whack jobs… I think whack jobs are a requirement on all SF buses.
the only reason I give 2 instead of 3 stars is that MUNI needs to get off their ass and start adding in more buses to the line. Waiting 30 minutes between buses at 9: am is a f-​cking joke!