Category: News
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
Muni Warrior crowned for 22-day challenge victory
The results are in, folks. Castro-area supervisor Scott Wiener blew away the competition from his fellow boardmembers in SF Transit Riders Union’s 22-Day Muni Challenge. It wasn’t even close.
Besting his nearest competitor by a whopping 41 rides aboard a Muni vehicle, Wiener takes the gold. Supervisor John Avalos, who represents many southwestern neighborhoods, tallied 65 rides. And Mission/Bernal supe David Campos came in third, with 52.
SFTRU challenged all boardmembers and the mayor to honor 1993’s voter-approved Proposition AA, which stated: “City officials and full-time employees [shall] travel to and from work on public transit at least twice a week.” Wiener’s rate of riding was closer to 35 times a week, but who’s counting?
And because we know you wanna read what Scott Wiener had to say (no, really), you can read what Scott Wiener had to say here.
To celebrate the completion of the challenge, SFTRU is hosting a party tonight at Mr. Smith’s. Here are the details:
Closing Celebration for 22-Day Muni Challenge
Let’s celebrate this inaugural campaign! Awards and raffle prizes and rubbing elbows with City Officials. Join us!
6:00 PM : WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 — AT MR. SMITH’S
Facebook Event page
And while we have your attention, if you want to help change Muni for the better, there are no better people to hook up with than SFTRU. Check out their site and get involved. Or just keep bitchin’. Either way.
Supervisors are just like us (Muni Edition)!
Noticed more government types on your daily commute lately? For the last 19 days, some of our city supervisors (and maybe the mayor) have been riding Muni nearly every day as a part of San Francisco Transit Riders Union’s “22 Day Muni Challenge.” Supervisor Scott Weiner is in the lead so far, according to SFTRU’s leaderboard, which is tracking rides of participants who use the official hashtag #onboardsf. The challenge ends Monday, which means the other supes have a few days to really understand what it’s like to be a daily rider. Read more
New photo project profiles life on Muni, one rider at a time
Photographer Kian Lavi was struggling to keep up with his hobby because, like most of us, his day job always seemed to get in the way. But people like you—Muni riders each with a story of your own—inspired him to start a 100-day photo project that has captured the best of what we love about life on the bus. Lavi has been photographing one rider a day on his commute, and he is just a little more than halfway done. Along the way, he says, “I’ve gotten job offers, heard fantastic stories, and have fallen in love with every person I get to talk to.”
And of course, getting to know your fellow riders gave Lavi a Muni story or two of his own. We chatted with him last week:
What made you decide to do this 100-day project?
I heard about The Great Discontent’s #The100DayProject after reading an article about Michael Bierut, and it made me realize how out of touch with my own photography I had become. I do street photography in my downtime, but without downtime, I’d all but stopped. The project’s prompt to make something, however small, for 100 days caught my eye and has held my attention for over 50 days now. I love people, so it was natural for me to focus my project on the people around me every day.
Transit News: Warriors arena in SF, Muni challenge checkin, longer East Bay BART trains, new Muni LRVs
Model of new LRV built by Siemens | June 16, 2015
- SF plans nearly $40M in transit improvements ahead of proposed Warriors arena in Mission Bay (SF Examiner)
- 22-Day Muni-Riding Challenge, Day 10: Checking the Score at City Hall (Streetsblog SF)
- East Bay BART trains to get longer under $1.6 billion budget plan (SFGate)
- Muni’s New Trains On Display (Moving SF/SFMTA)
- Woman stabs man multiple times on Muni bus (KRON)
Photo by SFMTA photo department