SFist: Let's Ride Muni to the Lazyweb

survivor

Tue, 22 May 2007 21:19:17 -0800

J: you call 311. or is it 411? 511? damn, i can never keep them straight. btw.. the panhandle is still trashed too.

Patrick Ledwith

Tue, 22 May 2007 21:07:28 -0800

Survivor, while the idea of plastering the shelters with stickers (or even paper and scotch tape) is grand, I hope it was said tongue in cheek, and if the hypothetical site takes off, it doesn't happen. Whoever owns the domain name could be in a bit of hot water and sent a bill for the removal of the stickers. It's happened before, and it'll happen again. I'd suggest getting really cheap business cards printed with massive lettering, leaving them at coffee shops, Safeway, wherever, and let the word spread. I bet the Chronicle would pick it up, too.

J

Tue, 22 May 2007 20:13:10 -0800

This is sorta related ... who do I call to get some leftover trash at the corner of Folsom and Main Street (courtesy Bay to Breakers) picked up by the City?

Jackson West

Tue, 22 May 2007 20:10:43 -0800

Love it. I'd be happy to help with the project, as I've been wanting to work on a mapping thingie for some time. I don't think it would cost much to maintain -- I'd be happy to pay for the domain name and host it.

survivor

Tue, 22 May 2007 19:40:04 -0800

Great idea-- go for it. How to publicize? Just make up a bunch of stickers: "Muni complaint? www.sitesname.com" and post them on all the shelters in town. (the new, fabulous ones)

shmoozilla

Tue, 22 May 2007 13:03:27 -0800

Sounds like a fantastic idea to me...a great way to subvert TWU 250a's efforts to keep bad operators from being held accountable for their badness.

Mark Ballew

Tue, 22 May 2007 12:38:49 -0800

I've thought of a similar idea myself, and if you have the time to do it, GO FOR IT! It would be useful to any internet-enabled Muni riders. So what if Muni rejects the complaints? I'd do some outreach to see if Muni is interested in accepting your complaints, and if not, screw'em. The public would looove to see how screwed up their tax payer funded system is. As far as Adsense revenue, you'll need to figure out a way to get people to view the site often. Allow SMS complaint submissions? User submission ratings? Very web-two-oh. Call it 'muniR'

mindful_indulgence

Tue, 22 May 2007 12:04:09 -0800

I think it's a great idea. So what if people have to submit a "review" to the site and an actual complaint to MUNI? If it fixes the system (even one baby step at a time) it seems that the people who use and hate MUNI would find it worth it - if for no other reason than to have a public forum in which to voice their discontent. As far as it being hard to publicize... uhm, how? You have this here blog and I'm sure tons of connections to other media (both traditional and bloggish) outlets. I'm a fan of informative vandalism too - sticker bus shelters, lightposts, etc. Stickers are cheap. So are a large batch of postcards. Yes you will need people who are not owned by their 'smart's' and a solid place to host it. And as far as revenue goes: find a cheap enough place to host it, solicit donations online and maybe sell t-shirts or something for even MORE publicity. I can see it working.

b

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:29:29 -0800

Wouldn't Maria Williams have her workload significantly reduced if such a website existed and the public chose to use it rather than the official complaint-submission process? I would think that funding would be the main issue. I imagine you could find the folks to build it pro-bono, but hosting it (reliably and cheap/free) might be a challenge.

Rachel Weidinger

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:10:57 -0800

Check out the Neighborhood Parks Council's ParkScan.org as a model. It's an awesome online reporting system for problems in local parks, backed by a staff member who ensures that the reports get sent to the appropriate Rec & Park staff (as well as their supervisor and the mayor's office). The NPC has designed an outstanding system for enabling individual residents to effect change. You can see the status of your reported issue, and know when it's fixed. MUNI needs MUNIscan bad. :)