Muni

Cameron Beach likes to mention that he started his career in public transportation forty six years ago sweeping buses. The 62-year-old semi-retired transportation consultant and former chief operating officer of the Sacramento Regional Transit District does know a lot about running a transit system.

A trial project diverting private automobile traffic off Market Street will become permanent following a unanimous vote by the SFMTA Board of Directors today. The changes have made the the city's main thoroughfare more inviting for people who walk, take transit and bike by requiring eastbound drivers on Market to turn right at 10th and 6th Streets.

SFMTA Chief Nat Ford told Streetsblog today that heading up the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is actually the first job that he's been interested in taking, despite steady rumors that he's been applying for a number of positions over the years.

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.

In a wide ranging interview with Streetsblog this morning, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said he is frustrated by how long it takes to implement ideas to improve transit and pedestrian safety, and pledged to make the implementation of the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) the top Muni priority in his administration.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee told the Bay Citizen this week that Muni will apparently not be a priority for his administration. That's troubling news but I can't imagine Lee really feels that way. With 700,000 daily boardings, Muni affects that lives of so many San Franciscans but is over capacity, struggling to find new revenue and suffering reliability issues, among other problems.

A proposal to give thousands of low-income public school students free Muni passes is on its way to the SFMTA Board for approval after the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday. It followed a passionate show of support from dozens of speakers at Monday's City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee hearing.

The thousands of daily Muni riders who take the 14-Mission line continue to endure frequent switchbacks, poor reliability, slow speeds, and overcrowding, but advocates and city leaders are putting a spotlight on the problems plaguing the busy Mission bus corridor, which serves one of San Francisco's most transit-dependent communities.

Editor's note: The following is being republished from SPUR, the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. Visit their blog at SPUR.org.