The Backpack Problem

If you're riding the 38R during rush hour with a fully loaded backpack strapped to your spine like a turtle shell, you are effectively two people. The bus isn't at capacity — it just feels like it because half the standing room is occupied by North Face bags stuffed with laptops and Hydro Flasks.

This shouldn't require a PSA, but here we are: take your backpack off. Hold it at your feet. Swing it to your front. Do literally anything other than standing in the aisle like a human roadblock while people can't even move to the center of the bus.

As one SF resident put it, "Backpacks on a full bus are rude af." Another local suggested it should be a posted rule — on BART too. They're not wrong. The fact that Muni hasn't made this official etiquette signage is a minor failure of governance, though admittedly low on the city's long list of minor failures.

The Ghost Bus Problem

Now, for those who've graduated past basic spatial awareness, let's talk about something that can actually save your commute: ghost buses.

A ghost bus is that arrival listing on your real-time transit app showing a bus in three minutes — except it doesn't exist. It's not tracking. It's a phantom scheduled departure that will never materialize, and you'll stand at the stop like a fool waiting for Godot in a fog bank.

Here's the veteran move: only trust buses your app shows as actively tracking. If there's a "bus" arriving in 3 minutes with no live signal and another in 12 minutes that's confirmed real, plan for the 12-minute one. Treat the ghost as a bonus if it shows up.

Also watch for buses "hung up" at the same arrival time for several minutes — that's a sign something went sideways. Start looking for alternate routes immediately rather than hoping it sorts itself out.

The real power move? Use real-time tracking while you're already riding to plan transfers on the fly. If your connecting bus is ghosting, you can bail early and walk, grab a scooter, or reroute entirely.

Muni isn't going to fix itself overnight — the agency's budget priorities and operational challenges are a conversation for another day. But riders can make the experience marginally less miserable with two simple commitments: respect other people's space, and stop trusting buses that aren't real.

Your commute is in your hands. Well, your hands and whatever app you're using to dodge ghost buses.