MUNI – 45 Union

I was waiting for the 45 on 5^th and Stevenson around 8:55 — 9:00am on Friday September 26^th. The driver makes a right turn on 5^th and stops 30 feet away from the actual bus stop and let’s people out. I dodnt want to run towards the bus because it seemed HOGHLY Unsafe to do so with cars around. When he stops right in front of the bus stop without pulling over, I knock on his door to be let in, but he doesn’t let me in. HE DOESNT EVEN TURN TO ACKNOWLEDGE ME! He just flaped his hand back and forward to signal something I didn’t understand, but it was very disrespectful. I have a picture of what he looks like. The bus number is 5594. Then I caught up with him on 4^th and king (because he made me late for caltrain, and had to wait for the next train, and he just happened to be at the 45 stop) and confronted him about his terrible treatment of commuters. He refused to acknowledge his attitude, raised his voice and was very rude all along, but I wasn’t expecting more of him. He defended himself yelling he did the best he can, but not stopping where you are supposed to stop is unsafe, rude and very unprofessional.

Don’t even bother reading the line schedule, because the drivers apparently don’t look at it either. Frequent delays, and they also come in packs, 2 – 3 buses at the same time.
Don’t even get me started on cleanliness … if I was a health inspector inspecting the bus, I would quit my job after this. Unfinished fast food everywhere, smells like rotten tomatoes, and so crowded that I couldn’t even move without bumping to anyone

Time: 7:22pm
Purpose: I’ve reach a point that my shins are acting up again. You see I use to be a runner until plantar faciais hits me. Today I was kind of late so decided to take the bus. From here on I might need to rent one of those bikeshare programs that the city has implemented.
Cleanliness: Candy wrappers strewn on bus seats along with daily papers. Fastfood containers kick underneath seats.
Expectations: A pretty crowded bus by the time it hits north beach union street. Once it makes that turn the corner of Columbus on to Stockton that first stop in front of BofA better pop some mints or spray a scented deodorizer within your own perimeter. From that stop on to market street its fill with elderly seniors that are on their way to work or go about a their day. It’s what they carry when they shop on Chinatown I mean I like good food too but when a live bird inside a paperbag with holes punh out on side, fish that is fighting for water half alive after being club in head, foul smelling weird food really takes a toll.
Final Thought: As soon as doctor release me from strenuous exercise I will be walking again. I can’t wait til the underground project gets finish this way it will lesson up the already crowded streets and open up roadway for delivery trucks people who actually for the first time don’t have to walk next to park cars in able to avoid crowds.

I like this route because it takes me from downtown near main campus and drops me off literally in front of my home. Its never too crowded like the other routes (except when passing through China Town).
I’m just always surprised how these massive buses can make it up those treacherous hills!

Crowded buses and occasional delays are notable even for the 45. Buses on this route tend to be crowded from Kearny and Geary to Stockton between Jackson and Pacific. It’s very quiet and there are seats available after that.
I like how the buses on route 45 Union /​Stockton come frequently (+2)
Takes me between Caltrain Station and Chinatown so props for that (+2)
Note:
Correct Zip Code for San Francisco Caltrain Station at 700 4^th St between Townsend St & King St is 94 107
94 080 is a zip code for South San Francisco

All MUNI lines are affected by the city cut backs a few years age… The bus system in the city’s bus system has yet to recover … Soo… In my opnion… This is a joke!!!

It comes very frequently.
Good luck during the peak time. It’s jam pack inside.
What mattered was… it gets you from A to B.

First of all, it’s the 45-​Union-​Stockton or Union /​Stockton, not the 45-​Union. The fact that two bus lines that run on Union Street are numbered in the forties is confusing enough; please, Unilocal,be more accurate so as not to make people hate Muni more than they already do.
I took this line to get to Caltrain. Well, technically, to get to the 10-​Townsend, which I knew ran by the Caltrain station. It was a last-​second change of plans, and I got the familiar rush of riding a Muni line for the first time. It’s quite an efficient route, at least the portion I rode (from Union Square to Townsend). And there are so many of them! If you miss one, just wait a little bit. You won’t have to wait long.
The driver was very nice, and that’s impressive considering what he has to go through every day.

in general, i approve of this line. it is reliable (comes at the same time every day), frequent (comes about once every 10 – 12 minutes), and stops right at my work — total bonus.
it can be a bit inconsistent in transit time. when taking a bus at 6:50 am, i’ve gotten from russian hill to Soma in both 15 (yes, 15!) minutes and 40 minutes. I know construction/​stoplights contribute to the time difference, but come on — that’s quite a large gap.
i’m also not a fan of watching halved pig carcasses being hauled from trucks and into shops along Stockton at 7am. rough way to start the work day.
i can get a seat on this bus (stop: Union and Hyde) as long as i’m on before the 7:30 bus. after that, standing room only (bleh).

*Sigh*.
After proudly declaring that I would walk over Russian Hill rather than take MUNI in a previous review, I found myself having to take MUNI.
I had a gig within the Presidio, but was running late on time. I really was going to walk it, since walking for miles on end is not an issue for me. My previous gig involved walking from Embarcadero BART through the Broadway Tunnel. I used Google Maps to see where to take the bus. Normally, I would try to board several stops before a busy intersection. Because I didn’t do my due diligence, I boarded at Sutter and Kearney. I was initially happy because it looked like the Chinatown-​bound folks were going to take a bus that arrived moments before mine. But that bus was full, and my bus looked empty. And lo and behold, they rushed en masse to where I was standing, pushed me aside (where I was originally going to be first in line), and boarded as a huge, ugly mass. I ended up pushing my way through the crowd, not caring for politeness. Instead of having my pick of seats in the back, away from the Pink Bag Mafia, I ended up standing near the front because somehow the people who are standing in the middle of the bus don’t bother moving back when the bus driver yells at them to.
Thankfully, once we got out of Chinatown, there were seats to be had.
If I didn’t have something I had to do that evening, I would have walked my way to Civic Center BART rather than go through this hell again. Instead, I took this bus again. But at least I got a seat (which I purposefully made sure was way in the back), and got to completely bypass the Chinatown crowd that again shoved itself onboard.

This bus is not my fav. It starts out nice and but then as it gets to china town the bus gets more and more crowded. Now usually, this isnt a problem, I mean its just people and its a big city so yah its get crowded. But… once you are in china town, the people are carrying all sorts of produce that doesn’t smell particularly nice and it can be over powering.

The only time I take this bus is in the morning when it shows up right as I get out of Powell BART. I can walk down 4^th Street to my office just about as fast as the bus can get there, but it’s nicer to take the bus because the walk is *more* annoying.
The 45 is otherwise among the worst lines in the city. It shares the Stockton corridor with the 30 and 8X lines, which means that it too gets to be bogged down through Chinatown by the pink plastic bag hordes.
If you take it, expect to take 20 minutes or more just to get from Market to Columbus. You have been warned!

This is one of those 1-​star reviews, that depending on my mood or level of intoxication, could actually be a 5-​star experience.
When buzzed, a live chicken on a bus might be really, really hysterical. When sober, not so much.
When inebriated, a packed bus with skirmishes and blows being thrown is just what the doctor ordered. When lucid, no way.
Some might argue (hell, I even argue at times), that this is the magic of MUNI, but unless chemical substances are being used, I’d rather walk uphill, in the snow, with a gila monster gnawing at my junk while being chased by rabid dogs with lasers on their heads and grenades in their mouths before I’d consider jumping aboard this mess of a bus route ever again. It’s just the worst.

Pros:
1. It physically gets me from my neighborhood to downtown
Cons:
1. It has to stop on every freaking block. Can we limit stops to one every few blocks?
2. This bus can somehow make a 3 mile journey take 45 minutes
3. The cruelty to live chickens show that happens every so often on Stockton
4. The attacks of the pink plastic bags

Feel free to reference my review of MUNI– 31 to understand how my move from Western Addition to Cow Hollow was one of the biggest and most meaningful upgrades in my San Francisco existence.
I used to frequent the MUNI 5, 31, and 21 during the workweek (depending on my gym schedule) and now my bus selection has upgraded to the 45, 41 and 30.
I love that this bus takes me through my two favorite neighborhoods– The Marina and NorthBeach, opposed to my two least– The TL and Western Addition.
My stop is Fillmore and Union. The cross streets of my former bus stop made the papers for a shooting (and killing) of a man this year, whereas my new stop has a cute coffee shop where I can buy a cup of brew and fruit for the road!
Needless to say, my mother already visited and saying she approves of said upgrade is an understatement :)

Wow, so many ungrateful people (well i can understand a bit AND LOL I DIDN’T KNOW THERE WERE REVIEWS FOR MUNI LINES ON Unilocal).
The good things about the 45 Union is that it can take you anywhere from the northside/​northwest of the city to the central and downtown side. for a time i lived on union st. and the 45 would roll by often (i would just need to go to the corner if i wanted to go downtown). additionally the 45 busses are cleaner than most surprisingly since it makes the splendidly diverse and interesting trip through Northbeach, Chinatown, and Union Square. it’s always a head trip when i take this line.
HOWEVER, the downfault is going back north. more than likely you won’t find an available bus during rush hours b/​c the chinese ppl pack it like a can of sardines including other ppl working and going home. i wish there were more 45 buses. my alternative is taking the 30 stockton or the 3 jackson and taking additional buses.

The 45 is great for getting to and from the Marina. But it goes through Chinatown… which is awful. It gets packed with tons of people and pink bags filled with stinky raw fish which makes me want to puke. Also, this bus always seems to be stuffed to the point where people are pushing and shoving just to get on and off.
If only there were a quicker and more efficient way to get to and from the Marina that didn’t cost more than $ 45 a month… *sigh*

Oh, you pretty, pretty drunk girl. Tsk-​tsk for being THAT wasted on a Thursday night … but the sheer entertainment value you provided made me actually not regret hopping this bus instead of hailing a cab from North Beach to Pac Heights. I especially loved the way you repeatedly punched that guy (who refused to react) while slurring, «Tell me why love me again — jusssst so I know.» SO much better than anything my iPod had to offer.

So the only reason I give this track a 3 and not a 2 is because it gets me to and from the Marina.
Getting on, the bus is always packed.
I live in WC and had NEVER before been passed by a bus. Let alone 3 times like I routinely get with the 45 almost every morning I go out there.
Once you get through china town, the bus is practically empty, but during events like Fleet Week, you’re lucky if you can get on and there’s no riot.
For years they’ve been talking about having China Town transportation that can not only fit everyone, but caters to CT specifically. So c’mon people… today is the day!

Minus 1 star for being packed in like a can of sardines in the morning, and no one getting out of the way to let everyone else off.
Minus 1 star for never being able to get on from downtown on a Friday afternoon.
Minus 2 stars for being the most judgemental bus line I have ever been on… seriously, more stink-​eyes on this bus than a church group van full of 75 year old fundamentalists from Alabama passing through Civic Center during Love Parade.
You somehow redeem yourself a bit, 45, by having some of the most interesting conversations to eavesdrop on. 10 years of studying Spanish certainly paid itself off when I got to hear a 6’5″ tranny try to convince her friend to go in a «2 por 1» deal on botox injections with her. Yes siree…