Transit Supporters Seek Solutions at Save Muni Summit

Photos: Michael Rhodes

About 100 transit supporters gathered for a summit at the Women's Building this morning to discuss Muni's future, settle on issues that have broad support, and build a movement to lobby for a better Municipal Railway.

Many of the solutions that were popular with participants today have been widely discussed before, and some are moving forward, but there has not been the political will or funding to make them all happen. The newly formed San Francisco Transit Riders Union hopes to change that by taking ideas that most Muni riders support and building political momentum around campaigns to implement them.

We'll take a more in-depth look at today's Muni Summit on Monday, but for those who couldn't make it, here are some of the ideas that were endorsed by most participants.

• Build bus rapid transit on Geary and Van Ness
• Switch to a proof-of-payment system on buses, with all-door boarding
• Exert political force to get transit preferential streets implemented
• Push for small incremental improvements that could be tested immediately, like new transit-only lanes
• Focus on headway adherence rather than schedule adherence
• Create a cheaper day pass that's valid on all vehicles except the cable cars
• Enforce parking meters on Sundays and possibly evenings
• Increase meter and parking garage rates downtown and eliminate discount all-day parking
• Increase the residential parking permit fee
• Implement congestion pricing (this had mixed support, with some participants concerned about feasibility, equity and economic impacts)
• Increase the vehicle license fee
• Reduce work orders
• Improve the accuracy of NextBus displays
• Look at cost saving measures proposed by the various MTA unions and involve Muni drivers in the conversation on how to improve Muni
• Enforce payment but don't overly criminalize fare evaders who can't afford to pay
• Make sure Muni informational pamphlets are available in multiple languages
• Reach out to people who were missing from today's meeting, especially people of color and younger people