‘Streets for All’ Talk with SFMTA Director Julie Kirschbaum

No night service, routes eliminated, service levels greatly reduced. These are a few of the doomsday scenarios described by SFMTA’s Julie Kirschbaum in an interview session held last Thursday afternoon, hosted by Streets for All San Francisco. This danger is due to looming deficits (see chart below from Kirschbaum’s presentation) resulting from reduced post-COVID ridership and the evaporation of state and federal funding.

Fortunately, advocates are on it, gearing up to get the 200,000 or so signatures needed for a 2026 sales tax ballot measure to start making up the shortfall. “Agencies are running on the fumes of relief funding,” explained advocate Cyrus Hall during the Zoom meeting. “Hopefully, we will have two ballot measures in November of 2026.” S.B. 63, if enough signatures are gathered and approved by voters next year, would institute a half-cent sales tax to fund transit throughout the region. A parcel tax is also in the works to make up for the $150 million annual deficit that would persist on Muni even if 63 passes. “We can not meet any of our goals for vehicle miles traveled, safety,” said Kirschbaum, if the funds are not identified. That’s because the resulting congestion from all the service cutbacks would put “all other ways of traveling around the city at risk.”

She also stressed that infrastructure expenditures will be focused on keeping Muni reliable and in good working order before taking on any new projects. “‘Fix the roof first, [renovate] the kitchen second,” she said.

For the full video and more on how Kirschbaum and advocates hope to cooperate to get the funding secured, check out the video from Streets for All: