Muni

The SFMTA Board of Directors voted to continue the agency's declaration of fiscal emergency today, but took a proposal to charge a premium for cable cars and express bus routes off the table, and promised to use some of the $36 million expected from a state windfall to help "defray or delay" a 10 percent service cut scheduled to take effect in a month

On the heels of the good news from Sacramento that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA), which operates Muni, will get $36 million in state funding for this fiscal year and the next, the agency's directors must now make difficult decisions about how to spend that money: Could it mean smaller or delayed service cuts, smaller fare increases, or some of both?

A ballot measure that would change the way Muni operator wages and benefits are set now has an official name and summary from the City Attorney's Office.

It will soon be a lot easier for any Muni rider with a cellphone to find out when the bus will arrive.

Some of the most important changes for Muni are also the simplest ones and there are a number of relatively basic adjustments the MTA could make that would improve service and speed up the city's buses.

The City Attorney's office has determined that the short first terms of MTA Board members Shirley Breyer Black and James McCray do count towards the three-term limit for directors, meaning both are termed out as of May 1. That answers an open question about the seats that Streetsblog first raised last month.

As if the lure of playing in the street wasn't enough, city leaders and organizers gathered at City Hall yesterday afternoon to promote the first of nine Sunday Streets events this year, which will run along the Embarcadero up to Fisherman's Wharf [route map PDF] this Sunday.

Could rounds of Muni service cuts and fare hikes push more people to start cycling in San Francisco?