I.  Introduction     

With the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA - Muni’s parent agency) facing multi-year budget deficits and service cuts, over 120 representatives of 60 neighborhood organizations and transportation advocacy groups met on Saturday, March 6, 2010 to identify ways of maintaining and enhancing San Francisco’s vital public transit system.  Many creative proposals for of resolving Muni’s operating and fiscal problems were presented and discussed.  Though perspectives varied, everyone agreed that fixing Muni should be a top priority item for San Francisco.

II.  Early Action Items 

           1.)  Need for a Citywide Dialogue.  The citywide dialogue on Muni and what to do about it should include motorists, Muni drivers, Muni riders, neighborhood groups, business people, labor groups, low income groups, ethnic groups, seniors, youth and the disabled.  To get anything accomplished it will essential to break down the usual barriers that often seem to divide people.  The common objective is, and should be, to end San Francisco’s public transit crisis and bring Muni up to standard.

             2.)  Role of Muni Drivers.  In particular, Muni drivers should be encouraged and empowered to take an active part in the discussion.  In order to creatively address Muni’s operating problems it is essential to tap into the knowledge and experience of Muni’s drivers.   Accountability, reasonable work rules and good performance are essential.    In order to render Muni’s operation as responsive to the needs of its riders as possible, certain changes to the current set of working rules and practices deserve receive serious consideration.  Included are the following:   

 a.)    Peak period surges in ridership should be handled by part time rather than full time drivers

b.)    Dispatchers at the east end of the LRV lines should be given full authority to reassign outbound light rail vehicles as required to maintain good service on all lines at all times.  There are currently frequent gaps in service on certain lines.  This is unacceptable.

c.)    Drivers who willfully disobey the rules should be disciplined without undue resistance from the Union.

At the same time it must also be recognized that Muni’s drivers have difficult jobs and important responsibilities that warrant both good pay and proper respect…from both Muni riders and SFMTA Management.

                3.)  Independent Outside Audits. 

 a.)    Financial Audit:   As recommended by the Board of Supervisor’s Budget Analyst, an outside financial audit of the SFMTA should commence immediately.  The audit should include in particular an analysis of the process by which overtime is assigned, the process by which other departments assess Muni for services rendered, and the processes by which developer, transit assessment fees and other revenues due Muni are assessed and collected. 

 b.)    Management Audit:  The Budget Analyst states that there has been no Management Audit of the SFMTA operation since 1996.  Such an audit is long overdue, and should therefore also be performed as soon as possible.

                 4.)  Short Term Fixes.  Simple near term fixes should be given priority over large and complicated projects.  Since most small projects are categorically exempt from environmental assessment and relatively easy to accomplish, they would produce earlier results and therefore help to restore the credibility of the SFMTA with its ridership.  Additional attention should be paid to short term proposals for restriping streets, providing dedicated bus lanes at peak hours, widening sidewalks, providing ticket machines, scheduling trucks movements to avoid interference with Muni vehicles, limiting parking on Muni streets and otherwise managing parking, giving transit vehicles priority over other vehicles, improving the locations of bus stops, placing cameras on the fronts of buses and rigorously enforcing parking and traffic regulations.

III.  Mid-Term Operating Improvements

                  1.)  Improving the Flow of Muni Vehicles.  In September, 2009, in response to a question from SaveMuni.com., SFMTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford, enthusiastically supported the idea of conducting test programs geared to improving the flow of transit vehicles on congested streets such as Stockton Street and Columbus Avenue.  To date, there has been no follow through on this promise.  Action on this item should proceed at once.  Drawing from the best transit practices around the world, it is apparent that San Francisco's recent street improvement success on Market Street could readily be applied to other parts of the city.

                  2.)  Returning Certain Streets to Two-way Traffic.   To calm traffic and significantly improve the routing and convenience of Muni buses, serious consideration should be given to returning Third between King and Market, Kearny, Post and Sutter (and perhaps other streets as well) to two-way traffic. 

                  3.)  Increasing Average Speeds.  In recent years, the average 24-hour speeds of buses and light rail vehicles have dropped significantly.  High priority should be given to reversing this destructive trend.   This can be accomplished through a determined effort to remove the many obstacles that currently impede reliable and expeditious Muni service on many of Muni’s 70 existing bus and rail lines.  A program for increasing the 24-hour average speed of Muni vehicles by at least 12% should commence immediately.

                  4.)  Priority for Light Rail Vehicles.  Whatever steps are required to keep trucks, automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians from impeding the movement of light rail vehicles should be taken.   This would include pre-empted signals, signals in place of stop lights and traffic barriers….as required.  It would also include eliminating the queues of automobiles that frequently block the flow of light rail vehicles. 

                   5.)  Priority for Buses.  Similar steps should be taken where possible to facilitate the flow of buses.  This would include eliminating parking lanes on certain streets, limiting deliveries to off-peak hours and creating special parking zones for trucks.

IV.  Improved Customer Service

                   1.)  Comfort and Convenience.  At the SFMTA it is essential that there be a renewed emphasis on customer service.  This would apply to managers and other Muni employees as well as to drivers. It is also important that increased attention be paid to keeping trains, buses, bus stops and stations attractive, clean, graffiti-free and safe at all times.   Rigorous discipline and enforcement is part and parcel of such a program.  A consistently high standard of vehicle and facility maintenance is obviously of equal importance. 

                    2.)  Loading and Passenger On-Board Distribution.  To increase passenger comfort and transit vehicle carrying capacity, a greater emphasis should be placed on getting riders to move to the back of the bus.  Such a program would necessarily involve rear door loaders at certain locations during commute periods as well as good signage, diligence on the part of Muni drivers and an effective PA system.  Steps should be taken to encourage rider groups, neighborhoods, civic organizations and business groups to provide volunteers willing to assist with loading and in helping to improve rider distribution on Muni vehicles.

                     3.)  Seats for Seniors.  Additional steps should be taken to ensure that the seats designated for seniors, disabled passengers and children are available when needed.  This program should include the use of volunteer attendants to remind people as well as the occasional citing of offenders.

                     4.)  Aids to Understanding Muni.  Muni maps should be posted inside Muni vehicles.  Individual route maps should be available at all times.   A one-page chart showing for each route the hours of service and frequencies during different times of the day should be made available to all Muni riders.

V  Fare Collection

                     1.)  Ticket Vending Machines.  Conveniently-located ticket vending machines would have the advantages of both speeding up the loading process and allowing passengers to pay fares with either credit cards or cash.

                      2.)  Fare Collection Maintenance.  To help establish a culture conducive to riders paying for Muni service, it is essential that ticketing machines be kept in proper working order at all times.

                      3.)  Use of Volunteers.  On certain lines it would make sense to use volunteers or part time employees to help out in loading and fare collection, particularly with respect to articulated buses or multi-car trains.

                       4.)  Proof-of-Payment.  To speed loading, the proof-of-payment system should be expanded.

                       5.)  TransLink.  TransLink, which speeds up loading and lowers operating costs, should also be expanded.

VI.  Revenue Sources and Cost Cutting

          It is of critical importance that Muni be both adequately funded and efficiently run.  Here are some proposals for increasing Muni revenues and decreasing Muni costs:

       1.)  Fare Evasion.   Fare-evasion is a significant problem that should be addressed.

       2.)  Incentives to Use Transit. 

            a.)   Work more intensively with large and small employers, apartment owners, residential developers and municipal permitting authorities to provide incentives for people to use Muni Fast Passes and/or TransLink. 

            b.)    Increase the sale of day and multi-day passes, to both tourists and residents with ticket machines and at hotels and other business centers.  Create a moderately-priced all-day pass for all vehicles, except for cable cars and the F-Line.

            c.)     Create a higher cost day pass that’s also valid on ferries and commuter bus services.

                         3.)  Transit subsidies.  Along major corridors, look for ways for the business people and employers who benefit from Muni to subsidize the system.

                         4.)  Parking Charges.  Increase parking meter fees/hours/days and garage taxing rates as appropriate.  Eliminate parking exemptions, discounted all-day parking (except for neighborhood protected parking) and all other special parking privileges.

                         5.)  Handicap Placards.  Cite those who commit fraud or otherwise misuse handicap placards

                         6.)  Vehicle License Fee.  Lobby for the reinstatement of the Vehicle License Fee.

                         7.)  Gasoline Taxes.  Lobby for the raising of State and federal gas taxes as required to significantly reduce or preferably eliminate the heavy public subsidies now benefitting roadway users at the expense of other tax payers.

VII.  Diverting Central Subway Funds

As indicated elsewhere in this report it is essential to put the maintenance and upgrading of the existing Muni system ahead of exotic-sounding but impractical capital improvement proposals.  In recent years much attention and funding has been diverted from the basic function of running the Muni system to new projects.  This has significantly degraded the quality of service now provided to most Muni riders.  For example, the riders of the southern leg of Muni’s new T-Line’s suffer from very slow service, to the point there the southern leg carries only a meager 11,940 riders a day, no better than the southern leg of the replaced 15-Kearny Bus.  The T-Line rerouting program also caused over 10,000 riders of the northern leg of the 15 line to lose their fast and convenient bus connection to downtown San Francisco and the Montgomery Street BART Station.  If the present plan to extend the T-Line into the southern part of Chinatown proceeds, things will get worse, not better.

In order to offset the much higher operating and maintenance costs of the proposed Central Subway, SFMTA wants to cut 76,400 bus hours a year out of today’s Muni bus operation.  It is partly for this reason that despite the exorbitant $1.58 billion cost of the project, it is anticipated that most Muni riders in the Northeast Quadrant of San Francisco would end up with degraded service.

What’s left of the $384 million in local and State funds earmarked for the Central Subway boondoggle should immediately be reallocated to help resolve critical Muni capital and operating problems.  The $942 million in federal funds tentatively earmarked for the Central Subway should be redirected to address some of San Francisco’s more pressing passenger rail needs.  

The current public transit mess along Stockton and Fourth Streets could be resolved by near term steps geared to speeding up and regularizing the flow of electric buses, using techniques similar to those successfully applied in 2009 to Market Street. 

VIII. Miscellaneous

                   1.)  Associations of Muni Riders.  To appropriately prioritize problems and challenge the status quo, Muni’s riders should organize.  An effective coalition of riders could become a forceful new voice favoring the upgrading of Muni’s service while at the same time respecting the rights of Muni drivers and other Muni employees.  It could also help to educate people about key transportation issues and play an active role in the campaign for beneficial change.

                     2.)  Adaptation of Best Practices from around the World.  In recent years, many cities have adopted innovative transit improvements.  San Francisco should follow suit.

                     3.)  Timed Transfers.  Transfers should be timed when practical.  In some cases it might be appropriate to establish transfer stations.  It would be important to ensure that such facilities were maintained in a clean, comfortable, convenient and safe condition at all times. 

                     4.)  Interceptor Parking Lots.  Interceptor parking lots, planned and built in cooperation with other counties, could allow commuters to park in outlying areas and continue their San Francisco commute trips via public transit.  It would be important to ensure that such facilities were maintained in a clean, comfortable, convenient and safe condition at all times. 

                      5.)  Better Streetscape Design.  Beautiful, well-lighted, safe, landscaped and attractive streets should be created wherever and whenever possible.  Public transit should be improved to the point of serving the transportation needs of a high percentage of those accessing these areas.

                      6.)  Free or Low-Cost Muni.  Higher transit fees push people into automobiles, with negative environmental consequences.  Lower fares and convenient transfers have the opposite effect.

                       7.)  Improvements at Balboa Park.  The Balboa Park Muni stop is dangerous and confusing.  It should be reconfigured.