New Muni chief Ed Reiskin spent his first on the day job Monday and personally witnessed a transit meltdown — although, thankfully for him, it had nothing to with his agency.

Reiskin was scheduled to go on a short ride though the Muni Metro system yesterday evening with Supervisor Scott Wiener, who has made improving transit service a top priority in his office.

Wiener, who has had some interesting experiences on the underground system, wanted a chance to pick Reiskin’s brain a little while riding on the Metro. However, due to ongoing protests against BART — which shares Muni’s underground system downtown — several stations were shut down and the two were forced to travel aboveground, according to Wiener.

“It wasn’t exactly what we had planned,” Wiener said. “We ended up finding a bus and rode that instead. I actually thought Muni did a great job providing service for the people who couldn’t take BART.”

wreisman@sfexaminer.com