San Francisco Muni To Introduce Safety Campaign After Alleged Driver Assault
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- San Francisco Municipal Railway is preparing to launch a safety campaign after a driver claimed she was assaulted.
It's a campaign that comes directly from the mouths of Muni drivers.
One of the 11 new ads features a quote from a driver that reads, "I get you across town safely. I want to get home safely, too."
"Our operators are working extremely hard to get people where they need to go safely. They have extremely difficult jobs," said San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Paul Rose. "The vast majority of them do them extremely well, and violence should never be an option against these operators who are dedicated to getting people around the city."
The SFMTA, which runs Muni, and the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A that represents Muni drivers are releasing the ads in an effort to keep operators safe just a few days after a Muni driver says she was assaulted.
San Francisco police said both the operator and her alleged attacker claim the other was the aggressor.
"I personally haven't seen the video, but all of our Muni buses carry video both internally and externally," said San Francisco Police Department Public Information Officer Carlos Manfredi. "So hopefully the video will be able to show and hear a lot of the confrontation that occurred."
Despite this attempt to keep operators safe, critics from the United Public Workers For Action are still planning to hold a news conference Wednesday to discuss the stress and dangers muni employees face every day.
"Every time there's an assault on an officer we take it very seriously and we follow up with the police, we follow up with the operator, and anybody else who's involved to find out exactly what happened," said Rose.
These ads have been in the works for months. Riders will see them on Muni buses and trains by early September.
