‘No Pants Subway Ride’ in SF on Sunday

In the latest incarnation of the international goof fest No Pants Subway Ride, San Franciscans are invited to ride public transit on Sunday–without wearing anything to cover their lower torsos except underwear.

The annual event usually draws roughly 600 bare-legged participants in the Bay Area. The two requirements for participation include wearing underwear while keeping a straight face.

The international event, hosted by the New York-based group Improv Everywhere, was initiated in 2002 in New York City and featured 7 male participants. One participant entered the train at each of seven consecutive stops. At the eighth stop, a person with a duffle bag selling pants for $1 appeared.

After years of the event occurring in New York, and having grown to 900 participants, the event went global in 2008, with events in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Washington DC, and even Adelaide, Australia. By 2013, the event had grown to 60 cites around the world, as far as Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The San Francisco event offers these instructions: “You do not know any of the other pantless riders, If questioned, tell folks that you ‘forgot to wear pants’ and yes, you are ‘a little cold.’ Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants.”