Muni

For years, spotting a police officer on Muni has been about as likely as winning the lottery, even though officers are required to ride transit vehicles twice per shift. As a result, fare evasion, tagging, eating, and other violations are rampant on the city's transit system, and crime on Muni hasn't declined in recent months even as it's gone down across the city. So, as the San Francisco Police Department sent dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers onto Muni en masse today, Ingleside Cpt. David Lazar said it shouldn't be hard to hit the jackpot when it comes to finding violators.

With memories of last spring's budget battle still fresh in mind, the MTA announced in a mid-year budget presentation [PDF] today that it now faces a $45.1 million deficit and plans to cut 250 positions across the agency as part of its plan to help close the gap.

Listed under the MTA Board's agenda, on the agency's antiquated website, is a link titled "Know Your Rights Under the Sunshine Ordinance." "Government's duty is to serve the public," it says, "reaching its decision in full view of the public." It's an ironic juxtaposition given the MTA's recent lack of transparency about a worsening mid-year budget gap that could reach well over $45 million. Never mind next year's looming deficit.

The MTA today announced the specific Muni service changes it will make on December 5 as part of its efforts to close a $129 million budget gap. Half of Muni's bus routes and one of its rail routes are affected, with changes including discontinued or shortened routes and altered service hours and frequencies. To soften the impact, several routes will get increased service. Six routes will be discontinued altogether: the 4-Sutter, 7-Haight, 20-Columbus, 26-Valencia, 53-Southern Heights, and 89-Laguna Honda.

Are Muni's days on Market Street numbered?

The SFBC is working with the Transportation Authority (TA) to get a bicycle path considered for a portion of the Geary BRT project, a result of a meeting held between the two groups recently.

The new head of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Jay Walder, is considering a novel approach to attracting more transit riders: lowering fares during off-peak hours. In an interview with the New York Times he outlined his ambition to get more out of a system designed for peak capacity, even late at nights and on weekends.

After two MTA board meetings filled with passionate though civil debate over the alignment of the shortened 2-Clement, the MTA has finally settled on a terminus for the line. Instead of the two options that brought out well-organized opposition at previous meetings, 2-Clement buses will layover at an existing bus stop on the south side of Clement Street, just west of 14th Avenue - but only for six months. After that, the MTA will review the terminus location, and hopes to replace the line with an electric trolley bus that would run on California Street instead, taking advantage of existing overhead wires on Sutter, Presidio, and California Streets.

There are plenty of eye-popping statistics in the MTA's new proof-of-payment study [PDF]: 9.5 percent of Muni riders don't have valid proof-of-payment, costing the agency $19 million in missed revenue annually. The fare-evasion rate is even higher among riders who illegally board buses through the back door: 55 percent don't have valid proof-of-payment. As the MTA looks to address the problem with back door boarding, staff has its eyes on another illuminating statistic in the report: on average, about 70 customers board any given MTA bus each hour - more than any other large transit system in the nation.