What Supervisor Scott Wiener learned about Muni
San Francisco Transit Riders Union’s 22-Day Muni Challenge ended earlier this week. We fed you the results yesterday (here). Castro supe Scott Wiener’s whopping 106 rides took the top prize.
But Wiener wasn’t content to summarize his experience only with shoe selfies. He wrote a long, heartfelt, and a little politiciany (appropriately) piece for Medium.com. I checked it out, and here’s the bit that really struck home for me, and, I hope, for you, too:
“I’ve experienced pretty much everything you can experience on Muni other than being assaulted. On many occasions, Muni has gotten me where I’m going on time and in one piece. On other occasions, it’s made me late to work, dinner, and doctors appointments. I’ve been late to dates because of Muni and have met dates on Muni. Muni has even made me late to meetings with senior Muni management and to regional transit meetings where I advocate for Muni funding. I took Muni to both of my swearings-in to the Board of Supervisors (both trips got me there on time). I’ve been caught in more Muni subway meltdowns than I can count, including the nightmarish system implosion in the summer of 1998 when the subway was first switched from manual control to computer control. I’ve smelled many odors on Muni and have seen substances on seats that I wasn’t quite able to identify.”
Wiener went on to list the things he learned about Muni, despite being an 18-year veteran of the system. His observations include:
- Muni has improved.
- There are major disparities among different parts of the City.
- Muni’s bus system is pretty amazing.
- People like seeing their elected officials on transit.
- Transit matters.
Read the full post on Medium.com: “What I Learned During the 22-Day Muni Challenge”
Photo by (duh) Scott Wiener
The weiner can suck it.
He and the rest of the supervisor committee speak of MUNI in ways that let us know that MUNI is beneath them. How can that be good? Our leaders are being very patronizing and we are praising them.
Scott actually rides Muni in real life and also won the challenge by riding over 100x. Some other Supervisors and a Mayor couldn’t even bother to ride more than once or twice. Can’t believe I’m defending Scott Wiener since I agree on almost nothing else but I think he’s good on this. https://twitter.com/sftru/status/613499892007211008
This is great! I wish more officials in other cities would do this. I definitely agree on the Muni bus system. With the exception of one route (47), I find it to be quite reliable.
Angie Sticher
I really do think the supes and other city officials should be required to ride Muni. What better way to be in touch with your constituency?
I had emailed my supe’s office to see if he’d be interested in riding along with me during the challenge but never heard back. I would have been happy to share my commute with him, but I guess it wasn’t in the cards…