Muni

Before you head off to one of the SFMTA's ten public workshops on how to make your Muni route faster and more reliable, first you can take a peek at the proposed plans on the agency's website.

The SFMTA Board of Directors postponed a vote on a two-year budget yesterday in order to refine a proposal to provide free Muni for all youth. The board seemed to favor the rest of the budget, including enforcing parking meters on Sunday afternoons.

Two years from now, Muni buses will have traffic signal priority at 600 intersections throughout the city, SFMTA Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) Manager Julie Kirschbaum told the agency's board of directors today.

Streetfilms documented the benefits of all-door boarding in March 2010.

The SFMTA is aiming to implement its plans to speed up Muni service under the Transit Effectiveness Project by 2017, beginning with eight priority routes.

A picture is forming of how the SFMTA might address its budget shortfalls over the next two years. The SFMTA Board of Directors and an advisory panel of community leaders seem to oppose any further fare hikes or service cuts for Muni riders while mostly favoring extending parking meter hours to nights and Sundays -- a politically challenging yet long-overdue measure.

Yesterday the SFMTA Board of Directors signed off on raising fines for double parking, obstructing traffic, and riding bikes on sidewalks to $100. The fines were previously $80, $50, and $50 respectively -- "substantially lower than the penalties for similar violations" set in 2010, according to the SFMTA [PDF].

As if squeezing onto the 30-Stockton wasn't already undignifying enough, Muni riders on Stockton Street soon face a four-year detour to make room for the construction of the Central Subway project.