Streetsblog San Francisco

Riders of the J-Church know all too well what it’s like to wait for a packed peak-hour train without any guarantee they’ll be able to squeeze on board. If you look at the data, though, the SFMTA says the picture isn’t as bad as it’s been made out to be. Still, two city supervisors aren’t buying it.

The J-line has recorded a 76.8 on-time performance rate since January, according to SFMTA Transit Director John Haley, but Supervisor Scott Wiener wonders whether that statistic reflects the reality of the daily riding experience.

“I think a lot of people who use it regularly would look at that number and laugh,” he said.

Supervisors Wiener and John Avalos held a hearing yesterday to address frequent rider complaints about poor reliability on the J-Church and switchbacks on the 14-Mission line at a City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting. Haley came to the table with statistical data highlighting Muni’s recent progress, but the numbers were cold comfort to supervisors and riders.

“In a system where [switchbacks are] a common occurrence, I have no real leverage in my district to encourage people to get out of their cars and use Muni. I want to do that desperately,” said Avalos, who admonished the disproportionate impacts of switchbacks felt by those living in the outer neighborhoods. “But…it’s impossible for me to speak about Muni being a reliable service that people should use rather than their cars. The reality does not meet their needs.”

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San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, in an interview with Streetsblog this week, pledged to make the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) implementation his number one Muni priority. That’ll be no easy task, however. More than three years after the SFMTA Board unanimously approved a plan to give Muni its first major revamp in 20 years, the TEP — at a cost of over $3 million so far — remains just another plan collecting dust.

SFMTA staffers who worked on the TEP examined what’s wrong with Muni and what needs to be done to turn it into a more efficient transit system. It was adopted after an ambitious process of gathering ridership data and community input and considered best practices at other transit agencies.

The goals to dramatically improve service and reliability focus on Muni’s busiest corridors. Recommendations include establishing networks of faster routes, restructuring routes and expanding limited-stop service, among other improvements, to shave delays and increase speed. So far, though, it’s only been used to inform the process for making service cuts and restorations.

The two major obstacles to quick implementation are California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and a detailed funding strategy. Add political will as the third. If Mayor Lee is serious about implementing the TEP, he will have to direct the SFMTA and other city departments to move immediately to expedite the process, including major environmental analysis.

“He needs to tell the SFMTA executive director (Nat Ford) to implement the TEP immediately and that he will take the heat for any public push back on its elements,” said transit advocate Dave Snyder, who is also a member of the Golden Gate Bridge District Board of Directors.

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It wasn't without grumbling, but commuters this morning made it through the biggest changes to Muni's bus network in over 30 years, and the MTA wasn't sent scrambling to fix any huge problems.

Calls to 311 have spiked by 40 percent since the service changes took place Saturday, according to the Examiner, but the MTA reports that riders are mostly calling for information about the changes, not to complain. So far, there's no indication of major issues, but given that the MTA saved virtually nothing from the changes - the $3.2 million was all from driver schedule efficiencies, since total service hours weren't reduced - riders are certainly entitled to evaluate the changes as a revision that should improve overall service, not degrade it.

The recently-deceased 26-Valencia, one of several routes that were cut, has inspired a great deal of nostalgia among its former riders, many of whom admit they took the line rarely. For the most part, though, the first Monday without a 26 line in over a century has been without incident. Standing at the corner of Valencia and Cesar Chavez Street, a Muni "transit ambassador" who had been out on bicycle along the route of the former line all morning said he'd spotted only a few people who appeared to be waiting for the 26. Everyone else, he said, was aware of the change, and he was mostly kept busy by instructing passengers on new ways to reach their destinations.

A man from Detroit told the transit ambassador, who didn't want to be identified, that walking even an extra block from Valencia to Mission could be a hardship for less mobile transit riders, but also expressed shock that buses in San Francisco stop on nearly every block, slowing down service. Other riders said they recognized the abundance of transit alternatives, and the 26's low frequency made it an understandable candidate for cancellation. Still, some said they preferred it to the Mission Street lines because of its less-crowded buses.

Ironically, the addition of a new line, the 9L-San Bruno Limited, seemed to cause more confusion than the scrapping of the 26-Valencia and other lines. The 9L, which runs weekdays and had its first run today, mostly traces the same route as the existing 9-San Bruno but with fewer stops and faster service

One bus driver said he'd encountered some kinks in his first day driving it.

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This Saturday will bring wide-ranging changes to Muni, a broad reorganization of the city's transit system that MTA Executive Director Nat Ford called the most complex service changes in a generation. But while this round of changes will be virtually net-neutral in terms of overall service and revenue, Ford said the MTA's looming $19 million mid-year budget deficit will force the agency to consider much deeper future service cuts.

"I don't think we can avoid ever taking a look at that," Ford told reporters at a briefing on the upcoming service changes. "It's something that we regret doing ... However, we have to deal with the physics of our finances."

"There's no way to avoid what is probably our largest cost driver. The Muni service is the largest cost driver for the MTA, and to deal with any deficit situation, we will have to continually look in that area."

The upcoming service changes were originally intended to help close the MTA's $129 million budget gap this spring, but the final package did not net any savings, as service cuts were balanced by enhancements. The result will be a de facto implementation of some Transit Effectiveness Project recommendations, though the agency isn't classifying the route changes as such. In total, the MTA will save about $3.2 million from adjustment to operator schedules as part of the changes, but that figure is the result of "efficiencies," not any service cuts, said Ford.

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The MTA today announced the specific Muni service changes it will make on December 5 as part of its efforts to close a $129 million budget gap. Half of Muni's bus routes and one of its rail routes are affected, with changes including discontinued or shortened routes and altered service hours and frequencies. To soften the impact, several routes will get increased service. Six routes will be discontinued altogether: the 4-Sutter, 7-Haight, 20-Columbus, 26-Valencia, 53-Southern Heights, and 89-Laguna Honda.

None of the specific changes come as a surprise, since the MTA has discussed the plans at several of its board meetings (including a prolonged debate among Richmond district residents over the 2-Clement's new terminus.) The agency has repeatedly said the changes do not represent implementation of the Transit Effectiveness Project, but that the TEP did inform the changes, making them more surgical and logical.

"These Muni service changes are the results of months of work by SFMTA staff and countless stakeholders," said MTA Executive Director Nat Ford in a press release. "We must apply this same diligence to ensure that all our customers understand these extensive changes."

While the MTA's TEP data has made the service changes less painful than they could be, the agency is not yet out of the water financially, and sources say the agency faces a mid-year deficit nearing $50 million. This round of service cutbacks also did not amount to the projected savings the agency had hoped for. That could mean further, even more painful service cuts if the agency isn't able to increase its revenues or cut costs elsewhere.

See the complete list of changes on the SFMTA's website.

After two MTA board meetings filled with passionate though civil debate over the alignment of the shortened 2-Clement, the MTA has finally settled on a terminus for the line. Instead of the two options that brought out well-organized opposition at previous meetings, 2-Clement buses will layover at an existing bus stop on the south side of Clement Street, just west of 14th Avenue - but only for six months. After that, the MTA will review the terminus location, and hopes to replace the line with an electric trolley bus that would run on California Street instead, taking advantage of existing overhead wires on Sutter, Presidio, and California Streets.

The final decision was made just in time to reap the cost savings from shortening the line that the MTA had already banked on in its current budget. The 2-Clement will be shortened from its current terminus near 33rd Avenue to Park Presidio, a move originally recommended in the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) due to low ridership on the final stretch of the line. Though the TEP is on hold for now, its recommendations helped inform service cuts the MTA made to close its $129 million budget gap in May, including shortening the 2-Clement.

Perhaps surprisingly, shortening the line didn't bring out opposition, but finding a new spot for it to layover between runs brought several dozen Richmond residents and members of Congregation Beth Shalom to MTA board meetings in protest. The two options the MTA originally considered for the terminus - the east side of 14th Avenue just north of Geary Blvd, and the west side of Funston Avenue just north of Geary Blvd - were blasted by residents concerned about the safety and noise impact of buses on their streets. The MTA originally favored those two options because neither are in front of buildings, and both would offer close connectivity with the 28-19th Avenue and 38-Geary lines. The Clement Street terminus doesn't offer as direct a connection, but staff ultimately concluded that riders wouldn't be overly inconvenienced.

"We estimate that the transfer market is likely to be relatively small, in part because there are so many rich transit choices nearby," said the MTA's Julie Kirschbaum.

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In light of news that the Mayor opposes extended parking meter hours and that taxi medallions may bring in $12 million less than anticipated, the MTA's mid-year budget could be in trouble, threatening to bring deeper Muni service cuts than the ones on the way later this fall.

Adding to the uncertainty, it's not clear that the first round of service cuts will result in the savings originally envisioned.

The Muni cuts approved by the MTA board in April will not be nearly as painful as they first appeared, when a five percent reduction in service hours was proposed to help cover the agency's $129 million budget gap. Thanks to a compromise reached with the Board of Supervisors, the $13.4 million in service cuts will be partially offset by $8.7 million in added service, including greater frequency and extended hours on some lines. The result left net service reduction far less than five percent, and net savings closer to $4.7 million.

Over the past five months, MTA staff has worked to finalize the package of service changes, which are scheduled to go into effect December 5. Julie Kirschbaum, who coordinates the MTA's Transit Effectiveness Program (TEP), said the overall service reduction will be much lower than five percent.

"There will be a much lower percentage of overall service reductions," said Kirschbaum. "We're also working very hard to try to get efficiencies out of the schedules that don't come from service hours, that come from, for example, cutting the schedules more efficiently, having less operator downtime."

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For a second straight MTA board meeting, changes to the 2-Clement dominated both the board's discussion and public comment. Funston Avenue residents and Congregation Beth Shalom members showed up in force to voice safety and noise concerns about a new bus terminus at either location. MTA directors expressed reservations about both options, acknowledging the community concerns and beseeching Transit Effectiveness Program project manager Julie Kirschbaum to offer an alternative that avoids either scenario.

For a second time, the board delayed action on the matter, requesting more information about alternatives. Without any input from a single 2-Clement rider, the board opened the door to considering an alternative that would not provide an easy connection to nearby major bus lines.

The MTA plans to shorten the 2-Clement from 33rd Avenue to Park Presidio Boulevard to save money and improve service on parallel lines, a recommendation originally proposed in the Transit Effectiveness Project recommendations. In order to accomplish these savings and service upgrades, the MTA needs to find a new terminus for the line. The two proposed terminuses were the finalists from a larger pool, and were the only options that MTA staff concluded would provide connectivity to the 28-19th Avenue and 38-Geary as well as minimize impact on residents and businesses. The Geary connection will be especially critical once the 2 is shortened.

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Tom Nolan is a veteran of local government. A former San Mateo County supervisor, he's served on the boards of numerous public agencies, including SamTrans, Caltrain and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. He views his current position as chair of the MTA Board of Directors as his "civic responsibility."

"I’m not campaigning for anything. This is not a stepping stone to anything. I’m doing this because I was asked to do it, that’s all.  I didn’t campaign for it," said Nolan, in a recent hour-long interview with Streetsblog at the Polk Street office of Project Open Hand, where he is the executive director.

Nolan doesn't fudge at all around the issue of the MTA Board not being independent. All of its members are appointed by the Mayor, and they seem very reluctant to break from his wishes. "We’re just kidding ourselves if we think it's a totally independent body, it just isn’t.  The only way that would be the case really would be if we were all elected by the people." 

In our interview, Nolan tackles questions about the accountability of the MTA Board, his role as chair, the budget process, the Bike Plan and parking. Nolan seems to get parking issues, and he's a fan of Donald Shoup's book, "The High Cost of Free Parking." So why isn't he stronger on the issues?

"I would say watch over the next two or three months about what the real choices are going to be and I expect increasingly I’ll play a more active role." 

The interview was recorded on June 17th, 2009. Read highlights below the break.

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Does the 14-Mission really need to stop at every block on Mission Street? Does the 21-Hayes? Consolidating bus stops could speed transit vehicles and reduce dwell time, saving service hours that could be used to increase frequencies and add hours of operation. Yet the MTA has avoided the topic for years, not even mentioning stop consolidation as a cost savings measure to mitigate the service cuts and fare increases just approved to bridge part of the agency's $129 million deficit.

The reason for this reluctance, according to several people within the agency who I spoke with, is that the planners were afraid that the controversy around stop consolidation would jeopardize other equally or more important reforms they were promoting. MTA planners are still stung by the defeat of their modest proposal to consolidate stops on the 38-Geary in the Tenderloin. Tenderloin residents got the Board of Supervisors to reject that proposal by pointing out that only the Tenderloin was targeted, giving the appearance that stop consolidation was more about helping the more well-to-do residents of the Richmond zoom through the Tenderloin more quickly than it was a transit efficiency measure that could benefit everyone.

Times have changed, apparently, with stop consolidation finally making it to the top of TEP Program Manager Julie Kirschbaum's "to do list." What's different?

From a political perspective, the supervisors no longer have any authority over stop location. From a policy perspective, by proposing systemwide consolidation (at least on the 15 busiest routes), the MTA is not vulnerable to charges it is pitting one neighborhood against another. And most importantly, the benefits of stop consolidation are beginning to appear greater than the political cost of taking away some bus stops.

Kirschbaum has consistently claimed that stop consolidation was not "the most important" efficiency measure the system could make, but she has recently conceded that of all the possible reforms, it's in the "top eight to ten."

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