MTA Chief Operating Officer Ken McDonald Resigns

1:02 PM PDT on August 4, 2009

Ken McDonald, in the middle with his hands resting on the rail, at the scene of last night's streetcar crash. Photo by Bryan Goebel.

We heard rumblings from sources in the days following the West Portal Muni crash that Ken McDonald, Muni's Chief Operating Officer, had been reassigned by MTA Chief Nat Ford. The agency never confirmed the rumor but this just in: McDonald has submitted his resignation with "mixed emotions." Read his resignation letter here (PDF). His last day at the agency will be October 9th.

In the letter, McDonald makes it a point to list his successes, stressing that in his three-year tenure Muni collisions decreased 28 percent while derailments fell by 48 percent.

"I truly believe those successes outweigh the challenges and from an operational vantage point the agency is in better position than it was three years ago," he wrote.

Meantime, safety issues are expected to dominate this afternoon's MTA Board meeting, especially in light of yesterday's streetcar crash. We'll be tweeting from the meeting.

Bryan Goebel @

Bryan Goebel is a reporter at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. A veteran journalist and writer, he helped launch Streetsblog SF in 2009 and served as editor for three years. He lives car-free in the Castro District.

Stay in touch

More from Streetsblog San Francisco

Transit Advocacy

Seamless Bay Area Five Years Later

The founders of the Bay Area's advocacy group dedicated to fare integration and rational schedules talk about a half-decade of fighting for better transit and what's likely to happen in the next five years.