Muni

Transit advocates have begun mobilizing Muni riders to speak out against a new round of proposed service cuts at tomorrow's MTA Board meeting. 

The MTA is proposing broad-ranging service cuts to Muni in order to close a $16.9 million projected budget gap through the end of the fiscal year. The cuts - far greater in scope than the service changes implemented in December - will reduce frequencies on every Muni line and, if they're approved by the agency's Board, will be coupled with fare increases on services including the F-line, express routes, and cable cars. Numerous additional changes are proposed, including charging MTA employees for parking and seeking labor concessions.

For anyone still looking for bold action from the Mayor to improve the city's transit system and rescue it from financial calamity, last night's State of the City speech didn't offer any hope. The Mayor did apparently defy his staff, though, including Muni briefly in his speech - a two-minute discussion buried 70 minutes into his 81-minute address.

Drivers heading east on Market Street will soon be directed to turn off at 10th Street instead of 8th Street, a refinement intended to improve conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists on Market. Mayor Newsom and the MTA announced the change today, two and a half months after the launch of the traffic diversion pilot program on Market, which has required eastbound private automobiles to turn right off of Market at 6th and 8th Streets.

Hoi Chong Wong can tell you about the commute from 3rd Street in the Bayview to Chinatown or the commute in Guangzhou, China. Though retired now, he's been making the trip to Chinatown on Muni almost daily since he immigrated to San Francisco in 1997, first on the defunct 15-Third bus line, and now on the T-Third Street light rail line, with a transfer to the 30-Stockton or 45-Union-Stockton bus line near 4th and King. In Guangzhou, he also traveled mostly by bus, plus the occasional bicycle ride.

The MTA received approval from the Federal Transit Administration on Thursday to enter into Final Design for the Central Subway project.

The MTA has released DriveCam video of a crash involving a 19-Polk bus and a pickup truck on De Haro and 18th Streets in Potrero Hill early yesterday morning that left seven people injured. The press release from spokesperson Judson True said "the video appears to show that the Muni bus rolled through its STOP sign on De Haro Street and the truck ran its STOP sign."

In case it wasn't clear before, this week's MTA Board meeting eliminated any doubt that solving the agency's $45.1 million mid-year budget deficit - not to mention future budget deficits - won't be pretty. After close to an hour of testimony Tuesday from SEIU employees concerned about broad cuts to their ranks, several MTA Board members asked whether they couldn't delay a vote on the cuts, only to be reminded that the layoff notices already went out in November, and that a $22 million shortfall remains even after the sweeping layoffs. Once again, the specter of service cuts also flared up as a near certainty in light of the agency's progressively worsening finances.

With California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger poised to raid transit funds yet again, and the MTA facing a mid-year budget in the tens of millions, it's looking increasingly likely that the December 2009 service changes will soon look relatively benign compared to what lies ahead.