How a train enthusiast created the quirky Muni personality quiz
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Images: Courtesy of Noah Finer
A new Muni personality quiz is taking San Francisco by storm.
State of play: "Which Line Are You?" matches users with results like the 22 Fillmore, 49 Van Ness or the T, with prompts asking how you respond to a robotaxi glitch and where you choose to sit on the bus.
Driving the news: The quirky questionnaire, which takes users on a journey home from an unfamiliar city neighborhood, drew more than 33,500 responses in just one week, creator Noah Finer tells Axios.
Behind the scenes: Finer, a Figma developer and self-professed "train enjoyer," came up with the idea in January after a foot injury left him with extra free time.
- The 24-year-old was inspired by the popularity of personality tests like "What vegetable are you?"
- He spent about four months prototyping it before launching on July 7 with a weeklong BART station ad and about 300 stickers hidden around the city.
Fun fact: The guerrilla marketing effort was funded by the anonymous Francisco San fund, which offers grants for projects that make SF more "whimsical." (It also funded the Pursuit scavenger hunt.)
What they're saying: "Public transportation is very important for SF and getting people around to local businesses and different spots around the city," Finer says. "I wanted to spread that awareness ... and bring SF transit into every single group chat."
The intrigue: Though it mirrors the personality test, Myers–Briggs types were not intentionally matched with specific results.
- Instead, Finer took some of his favorite bus lines and "vaguely" assigned them "based on their aura" — in other words, it's "just vibes."
Yes, but: The questions took more time.
- One of his earlier drafts led to all 10 testers getting the same result. "I had to do a lot of refining," he notes.
Our thought bubble: Shawna is a bit skeptical that she is in fact the 22 Fillmore based on the assigned traits. She'll take it though since it's the oldest crosstown transit line in SF!
- Nadia is intrigued by her result — the T — given that she rarely rides it. It's also funny that her husband got the 38R, which the test deemed her frenemy.
- Mining bitcoin? Taking transit for free WiFi? Traveling to the SOUTH BAY?! CalTrain, this result could not be further from the truth since Claire is a 37 Corbett girlie til she dies.