Comments on: SFMTA Board Approves Two-Year Budget by 4-3 Vote; Muni Cuts Extended

By: mikesonn

mikesonn — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:12:41 +0000

Nick, they have plenty of room now that they aren’t printing the price on the passes. Plus, everybody could use a good laugh while waiting for the bus that’ll never come.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:53:12 +0000

Here’s a tip to help Dave Snyder and his organization:

Request that MTA print “San Francisco is a Transit-First city” on the face of every Fast Pass and transfer. That should awaken quite a few people.

By: jamie

jamie — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:43:21 +0000

I encourage everyone to head over to http://www.fixmuninow.com/ and to help collect petition signatures to at least take one step towards reigning in MUNI’s costs …

By: Richard Mlynarik

Richard Mlynarik — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:33:26 +0000

My only guess is that the SFMTA needs to reduce service enough that the FTA won’t halt central subway funding because of expected operational cost impacts.

Bingo.

Your public servants. Paid for by your tax dollars and fares. Working full-time to bolster PBQD’s bottom line.

By: James Figone

James Figone — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:25:44 +0000

@mikesonn: your guess regarding the central subway sounds plausible. It is interesting to note that they really did not try very hard to avoid service cuts given the available additional revenue options as proposed by SPUR and SFTRU.

It would pretty earth shaking if it indeed service is being cut in order to allow central subway construction by meeting FTA requirements.

By: mikesonn

mikesonn — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:06:59 +0000

So Jamison, does that mean we’ll have 10% cuts on top of these “10% cuts” we’ve already faced? And is MUNI already running pretty much every train/bus it can right now? If one breaks down, then that route is just a train/bus short until it is fixed because nothing else is sitting in the yard ready to go?

By: Jamison Wieser

Jamison Wieser — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:55:20 +0000

Restoring service isn’t as easy as applying the $36 million in reduced state funding and everything will be ok, we’ve dug ourselves a much deep hole than that.

Year after year of accident damage, headcount reductions in maintenance, deferred maintenance and the increasing costs of repairing ill-maintained vehicles, etc. leave us without enough working vehicles to operate more than the reduced schedule like Muni Metro which has had at least 10% fewer trains pulling out than scheduled every day this month.

By: mikesonn

mikesonn — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:46:45 +0000

Aaron, just send an email to Bevan Dufty, he’ll be transit first for you. Well, until someone asks him not to be, then he won’t. But if you ask again, he’ll probably switch back. You know, until…

Michael, I see your point but we still got robbed. And yes, it is much more significant that they aren’t using the money to reverse the cuts. My only guess is that the SFMTA needs to reduce service enough that the FTA won’t halt central subway funding because of expected operational cost impacts. Otherwise, I haven’t heard a better reason to continue to slash service and raise fares. Well, besides the fact that our mayor is all talk.

By: Aaron Bialick

Aaron Bialick — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:43:09 +0000

Ugh. We need, among other things, a mayoral candidate in the next election running explicitly on a Transit-First platform. Or better yet, all of them.

By: Michael Rhodes

Michael Rhodes — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:53:29 +0000

@Greg: Absolutely true that the state aid is just a fraction of what was taken illegally from local transit agencies. Still, it’s more money than the MTA will save through its massive service cuts (about $28M), so I’d call it significant. Even more significant is that the MTA didn’t use the $36 million next year to reverse service cuts.

By: mikesonn

mikesonn — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:48:09 +0000

Katherine, yeah. My mistake. Between the MTA taking a crap on our city and the girl upstairs pounding around like an 800 lb elephant – I can’t think straight anymore.

And I agree with Greg, it is not a “windfall”, we got robbed and they are throwing the change back at us because they are too lazy to carry it around.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:26:57 +0000

There was no “windfall” for Muni. Please stop using this misleading term. The governor let a few bucks go back to transit after illegally looting all agencies for years (with a collaborationist Democrat legislature). What little money came back was not enough to replace what was taken, and now we’ve lost the gas tax formula permanently.

Don’t let the mainstream media contaminate you with their ready adoption of doublespeak spin.

As for the MTA, it’s clear that Newsom and the board don’t really care and that Overpaid Nate Ford has done more to destroy the agency than most CEOs. Time for him to go, and time for a reset button on the agency. At this point we’ll have the worst of all worlds — all the while San Franciscans run aroung smug in their alleged “Green” lifestyles, all the while carrying pink plastic bags to their cars.

By: Katherine Roberts

Katherine Roberts — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:25:20 +0000

You mean a sham, Mike, right?

By: mikesonn

mikesonn — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:00:27 +0000

Heinicke, parking meters?

This budget is a shame. This board is a shame. Transit first is a shame.