Month: February 2010

Photo by Flickr user messtiza

Update (10:10 a.m., Saturday): Here are some roundups of yesterday’s MTA board meeting and subsequent vote on 10 percent service reductions (passed) and fare hikes for seniors, youth, and the disabled (failed):

– Muni won’t raise prices of senior, youth passes (SFGate)
– MTA: Layoffs, service cuts, rate increases (on express buses and cable cars) (Examiner)
– Muni cuts service 10 percent to pare budget gap (SF Business Times)
– MTA Board Approves 10 Percent Muni Service Cut; Discount Fast Pass Spared (StreetsblogSF)

And a related story from StreetsblogSF: Are More Service Cuts the Last Straw For a Public Fed Up With Muni?

Update (4:50 p.m.): SFMTA’s recap of the day’s meeting. Among other things, 10 percent service reductions, layoffs of more than 175 Muni operators slated for May 1. See service changes here.

Update (4:08 p.m.): @sfmta_muni announces that the board, by a 4-3 vote, elected to enact the proposed 10 percent service reduction. Also announced: 6-1 vote killing Fast Pass hike to $30 for seniors, youth, and disabled (but a gentle reminder that those passes were already slated to jump from $15 to $20 a month this May), and that $70 Fast Passes will be required for adults to ride Cable Cars and express buses. We’ll get news reports about today’s voting up just as soon as we see them.

Update (11:20 a.m.): Streetsblog has a neat live blogging software up on their site right now so you can weigh in on the conversation.

KCBS reports on the overflow crowd.

A sampling of what we’ve heard so far in the public comment section:
Irwin Lum of Transport Workers Union says operators are unfairly targeted and encouraged applauses for overpaid MTA execs (though the union voted down the concession proposal); MTA operators saying that their salaries are splashed all over the papers; disabled, unemployed, senior riders came up to the mike to oppose the fare hikes and service cuts; a fourth grade teacher speaking on behalf of her low-income students; Eric of Transbay Blog calling for another look at the charter; and a call for extended parking meter hours.

Update (9:18 a.m.): Follow @rescuemuni and @streetsblogSF on Twitter for updates from the meeting. Or check our latest tweets to the right over there (@munidiaries). We’ll do our best to keep up with what should be a mad stream of information coming from City Hall as we watch the meeting streamed live on SFGovTV 1 (or cable channel 26).

Original post: It seems true what Michael at StreetsblogSF said: “Friday could be a dark day for San Francisco’s public transit system.” The implication, of course, being: a dark day for those who ride Muni.

Ahead of today’s SFMTA board meeting at 9 a.m., check out the excellent coverage from our transit  news sources. Maybe these stories will help contextualize the matter coming to a head today. In any case, we’ll be updating this post as we watch the meeting and follow the news coverage on the outcome of the board’s vote on Muni service reductions (see details of proposed cuts to: weekday service; Saturday service; and Sunday service).

Prepare yourself for today’s meeting by checking out these stories from StreetsblogSF:

– SPUR Director: Muni Drivers Deserve Good Pay, But Work Rules Must Change
– Seniors, Youth and Disabled To Get Reprieve on Muni Fast Pass Increases
– Transit Advocates Gearing up for Friday’s MTA Board Vote (featuring a story on Dave Snyder’s proposed Muni rider’s union)
– SF Youths Protest Costly Muni Ride to School while Sunday Parking is Free
– Can Anything Be Done to Fix Muni?

Oh, and for the record, Muni Diaries hopes some sort of compromise can be reached, and that cuts can be taken off the table.

Photo by Flickr user noremmie

I’ve been thinking about a way to express my misgivings about March Against Muni, a self-described protest/boycott of Muni set to start next Monday. The march is billed as a way to protest a set of proposed service reductions and fare hikes. On its face, yes, fair enough — I hate service cuts and fare hikes too.

But the whole “don’t ride Muni” and “don’t buy a March Fast Pass” slant seems wrong-headed. As Robert Cruickshank points out in his post at Calitics, the problems for SFMTA began when the state cut off all transit funding (in the last three years, SFMTA has lost $179 million it would’ve received from the state, owing to what was simply reduced funding at first, and then, this fiscal year, the total elimination of transit monies.) Taking that fact into consideration, the picture comes into better focus. It should be clear to most people that lack of funding, almost more than any other factor, got MTA to the sucky situation it’s in now.

Okay,

Yes, it sucks that we may see more and wider service cuts.
Yes, it sucks that Fast Pass prices could increase for some of the most vulnerable among us.
Yes, it sucks that drivers are sometimes rude, pass up stops, and ask riders to get them dinner.

But while most of the “demands” of March Against Muni‘s organizers are valid, none of the demands addresses the real problem: how to bring more money into the system to replace what was taken away by Arnold and friends.

Look, I hate that Nathaniel Ford (or whoever happened to have the job) makes so much money, but the job of director is a nationally competitive one. And to his credit, Ford took a pay cut. I hate that drivers make way more money than I do, too. But like the director, that job is nationally competitive. (Another fact: Unlike Nathaniel Ford, Muni employees, through their union, voted down a package of budget-deficit-reducing concessions just last week.)

I cannot see what a boycott and march will achieve. Our time would be better spent helping to think of creative actual solutions. I don’t have the answers myself, but I think you can do something that’s more useful than holding a sign at the cable car turnaround, such as:

– Educate yourself about what can be done to save Muni; start with this StreetsblogSF story.
– Go to this Friday’s MTA board meeting where the board will be voting on the service cuts and fare hikes (9 a.m. in room 400, City Hall). You can sound off during the public comments section.
– Go old media and write a letter to the editor.
– Email the governor yourself.

It’s true that nobody has a silver bullet, but I do think that those of us who ride Muni every day are quite capable of at least trying … instead of sticking it to Muni. Kinda, you know, like Arnold did.

– Jeff