San Francisco’s new transit chief, Jeffrey Tumlin, has never managed a transit system.

Nor has he ever overseen the building of a major transit project, like the Central Subway.

Nor has he managed a public agency, let alone one with rail and bus lines that move 709,000 passengers each weekday and has an annual operating budget of $1.2 billion and 6,046 employees.

An agency that has also been plagued by repeated meltdowns that halt its vehicles, chronic staffing problems, long and costly delays on megaprojects like the Central Subway and the Van Ness makeover. And those are on top of congested streets where cars, trucks, buses, bikes and electric scooters all battle for space.

Tumlin did spend nine months in 2016 setting up Oakland’s Department of Transportation. That department, however, is largely concerned with street design and repair, as Oakland operates neither a bus nor rail system.

Lack of hands-on experience, however, was no cause for pause from San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who called Tumlin “exactly the type of forward-thinking, results-oriented leader that the SFMTA needs” when she announced his appointment to lead the Municipal Transportation Agency on Wednesday.

According to sources with knowledge of the selection process, Tumlin rose as the top pick for two key reasons.

One: Breed and the SFMTA board were looking for an outsider with the skills to manage the city’s byzantine and often conflicting politics. Tumlin, with 25 years of experience as a consultant specializing in the social impacts of transit, fit the bill.

And two: None of the top transit directors around the country who were approached about the job wanted it.

“San Francisco is a very difficult transit system,” SFMTA vice chair Gwyneth Borden said. “Most of it is above ground and runs along clogged streets, and the city has a unique topography.”

Plus, “there is the high cost of living and the politics, all of which make it very challenging,” she added.

No one wants to say it publicly, but several sources close to the selection process said another reason many experienced transit heads said “thanks, but no thanks” was Breed’s very public berating of former Muni chief Ed Reiskin after a meltdown that choked the city for 10 hours in April.

Breed also took Reiskin to task for Muni’s equipment failures, poky buses and allegations made earlier this year that managers were mistreating female employees.

There were other problems as well, like the Central Subway — now projected to open three years late — and the Van Ness bus rapid transit route — projected to open six years late.

“The upper level of the transit world is pretty small, and everyone across the country had heard or read about what happened to Reiskin,” said one local transit chief who asked not to be named because the person’s agency works with the city.

Of the four finalists for the job, just one had upper-level transit management experience. But the candidate had previously worked with former chief Nathaniel Ford at Muni, and City Hall wanted an outsider because officials felt a culture change was needed. Breed and the SFMTA also wanted someone who could navigate the city’s often brutal political maze.

In the end the consensus was that Tumlin, with his 25 years of consulting experience, fit the bill.

And so does Tumlin.

“I haven’t run a transit agency — that’s true — and I haven’t overseen major construction projects, but we are really fortunate that we already have excellent people like Julie Kirschbaum, who runs the (transit) operations, and Tom Maguire, who runs the streets operations,” Tumlin said.

“We know Muni can deliver and we have the resources,” he continued. “My job will be more external, to help clear the path for the agency to run more successfully.”

On the nuts-and-bolts level, one of Tumlin’s goals is to beef up the staff by hiring more drivers, maintenance workers and “all types of workers.”

On the political level, he said, “we need to come to agreement to what degree we are going to prioritize the movement of people and vehicles, to what degree we are going to change traffic to have safe streets. We cannot give everyone what they want. There is just not room enough on the streets.”

And as a longtime San Francisco resident, Tumlin knows that managing Muni is always a bumpy ride.

“This is probably the most challenging job in the industry,” he said. “But unlike other public transit agencies, the challenge isn’t about resources, it’s the politics of being able to deliver.”

And he knows there will be the inevitable equipment meltdown or competing interest groups calling for his head.

“My job is to stand up and make the hard decisions, and I’ll be blunt with you: That is why I negotiated a severance package that will make it painful to fire me,” Tumlin said.

If there is a parting of the ways, Tumlin’s contract calls for a full year of severance of $342,483.

A severance payout Tumlin says he has no intention of ever collecting.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGO-TV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier