sf_muni: Muni arrival times, hidden routes

God, I love NextBus.

If you live in San Francisco and, like many folks, rely on SF MUNI to get from place to place, your life gets at least one order of magnitude more liveable when you can consult NextBus's GPS-based arrival predictions for the seven streetcar lines and a handful of popular electric coach (read: "bus") lines.

Of course, NextBus itself is nothing new, but, yes it still completely rules, and yes, I still meet at least one San Franciscan a week who has no idea that NextBus even exists. So, you know. You're welcome.

Anyhow, if you're new to the world of non-roulette-like MUNI transit, here's the current official coverage:

• F-Market & Wharves
• J-Church
• K-Ingleside
• L-Taraval
• M-Ocean View
• N-Judah
• S-Castro Shuttle
• 22-Fillmore
• 24-Divisadero
• 33-Stanyan

Now, what is new (to me at least) is that it looks like MUNI and NextBus are (non-publicly) testing this august service on several more bus and cable-car lines, and that you can currently get predictions on any them from the web or your phone right now. Although apparently not officially supported yet, here's the 16 new additions (hoisted from the LJ post where I learned about this):

• 1-California
• 3-Jackson
• 4-Sutter
• 5-Fulton
• 6-Parnassus
• 7-Haight
• 14-Mission
• 21-Hayes
• 30-Stockton
• 31-Balboa
• 41-Union
• 45-Union/Stockton
• 49-Van Ness/Mission
• 59-Powell-Mason Cable Car
• 60-Powell-Hyde Cable Car
• 61-California Cable Car

My tip for you: if you have web service on your mobile phone, bookmark the 6-10 stops that you use the most -- do it now. Having those predictions handy (and not needing to type with your thumb in the rain while some guy on Sixth Street is yelling at you about his recently-stolen thoughts) will serve you well in the moist upcoming months, I promise. All hail NextBus!

And, as ever, remember that you can always call 511 to get updated info on Bay Area traffic and transit. I've never tried it for public transit predictions, but apparently you can get MUNI and BART arrival times through a short phone-jail menu. Sweet.