SF Mayor Poses for Earth Day Photo Op on Muni but Won’t Prove He Rides Transit (As Required By Law)
It’s Earth Day and this mornig San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee posed for press photos as he boarded a Muni bus.
Actually, reporters surround the mayor every time he’s spotted on Muni. That’s because, despite a law that requires SF officials to ride public transit regularly (SFist, Examiner), photo ops are the only time Ed Lee rides our lurching and grossly underfunded transit system.
The Unfortunate Irony
Yesterday, the San Francisco Transit Rider’s Union challenged the mayor and members of the board of supervisors to ride Muni for 22 days starting June 1 — essentially 22 potential photo ops. The mayor did not accept (yet).
“Each of the 22 days represents each year since voters passed Proposition AA in 1993 which stated that the mayor, members of the board of supervisors and other city officials, [are] to ride Muni at least two workdays per week, said Thea Selby, chair of the transit riders union.” — SF Bay article
The Mayor & Supes *Should* Ride Muni
Our transit system needs massive investments that neither the mayor nor any supervisor have proposed.
“If you’re going to be making decisions about transit, you really need to know what it’s actually like. Not what it’s like in theory, but what it’s actually like,” said Christof Spieler of the Houson Metro’s board of directors in an Atlantic article that references San Francisco Several times: Why the People in Charge of Transit Systems Should Be Required to Actually Ride Transit.
More than 700,000 rides happen on Muni every day and too few of our leaders regularly experience how frustrating the system is.
Our city is widely known for the slowest trains and buses in the nation. The New Yorker called Muni “a notorious mess,” while Buzzfeed proclaimed our transit system a “national embarrassment.”
Last year, Muni’s on-time performace rate was a pathetic 57%.
That has a huge economic impact, too. When measured over April 2013, a period of just one month, Muni riders were delayed a cumulative 19 years and eight months (SF Weekly). In 2013, that cost workers $50 million in lost productivity (CBS 5 KPIX).
How much does Muni need?
Today, Muni limps along with broken down vehicles that suffer from a multi-billion dollar maintenance backlog.
Despite Props A & B, Muni’s budget has grown nowhere near the $250 million SFMTA director Ed Reiskin said it needed just to bring Muni’s current assets into a state of good repair — and that doesn’t include expanding service for a growing population (SFBG & CBS 5KPIX).
Why hasn’t the mayor or any supervisor done anything to close this $250 million funding gap?
If our leaders went to work and conducted city business using Muni, including 18-minute waits for the 38 Geary, Muni’s broken down trains and busses would certainly become a bigger priority.
Most Supes Are on Board
So far, Mayor Ed Lee and seven supervisors have accepted the SFTRU #OnBoardSF challenge:
- London Breed @londonbreed
- Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener
- Jane Kim @SupeJaneKim
- John Avalos @AvalosSF
- David Campos @DavidCamposSF
- Julie Christensen @SupeChristensen
- Eric Mar @ericmar415
These four supervisors have not yet committed to SFTRU’s challenge:
- Norman Yee @NormanYeeSF
- Mark Farrell @MarkFarrellSF
- Malia Cohen @MaliaCohen
- Katy Tang @SupervisorTang
(Article written 4/22/15. List updated 5/29/15)
Write or tweet to the mayor (mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org / @mayoredlee) and your supervisor. Enourage them to join the SFTRU #OnBoardSF challenge.
The Mayor Needs Positive Photo Ops More Than Ever
The mayor should love this challenge: Officials are encouraged to tweet their rides on Muni, including photos, with the hashtag #OnBoardSF.
Actually, if photo ops boost the mayor’s reputation, he should take every opportunity he can get.
In a poll released yesterday, 46% of voters disapprove of Ed Lee’s job performance, with just 38% approving and 16% unsure. His approval rating slipped 9% in just four months, which isn’t surprising considering his limp leadership skills and lack of an ambitious vision to solve the city’s biggest problems, including homelessness, housing, and transit.
But the mayor, like many other city officials, rarely ride our slow and unreliable transit system.
P.S.: My Sunshine Request
In January, I filed a sunshine request to see if the Mayor, Supervisors, and SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin had any records to prove they were complying with Proposition AA.
There were no records to provide. If I were a lawyer or reporter, I’d try to figure out why this isn’t being enforced.
I don’t want to be a transit activist but my annoyance with our city’s terrible system forced me to become one. I’m a member of @SFTRU, the San Francisco Transit Rider’s Union, but I do not speak on their behalf.
