A San Francisco ballot measure that would have added a tax on Uber, Lyft, and Waymo to fund Muni service will fail and proponents of the measure are warning of future Muni service cuts.
Proposition L would have created a new gross receipts tax on ride-hailing companies operating in the city. The measure said that revenue generated from the tax, approximately $25 million annually, would have gone toward funding Muni service and fare discount programs. Despite voters’ support of Proposition L at 56.9 percent, as of Tuesday’s results from the election’s department, the measure had to overcome another hurdle in Proposition M, the measure to overhaul the city’s business taxes.
Proposition M had a poison pill in its measure that nullified any gross receipts tax on the same ballot that receives fewer votes. Proposition M will pass and has 26,892 more votes than Proposition L as of Tuesday.
With the defeat of Proposition L, transit advocates who campaigned for the measure are sounding the alarm on the need to fund Muni and pointing to a Nov. 6 presentation by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) that showed a reduction of service on some Muni routes starting next February.
SFMTA staff presented the service plan to its Muni Equity Working Group, a group focused on informing and guiding the agency about Muni service plans in lower-income neighborhoods.
The slides from the presentation showed midday service reductions from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 24-Divisadero, the 38-Geary and on the 43-Masonic. The SFMTA said the reduction in service will help match with service demand during those hours. The Voice of San Francisco reached out to the SFMTA for comment about the possible service changes in February but had not heard back by press time. We will update the story when we hear back.
“Muni is an essential service, and the cuts that are now slated for next year will cause direct harm to families, workers, and local businesses. Such cuts are unacceptable to the thousands of San Franciscans who voted for Prop. L,” said Chris Arvin, the coauthor of Proposition L.
The SFMTA has projected a budget deficit of $15 million in the 2025–26 fiscal year and a deficit between $239 to $320 million in the 2026–27 fiscal year. To reduce the budget gap, the SFMTA may look at further reducing Muni service in the future.
Transit officials and the controller’s office have convened the Muni Funding Working Group to look at ideas where the SFMTA can reduce spending throughout the entire agency, not just in the transit division.
The working group, which has met three times already, will focus on four categories: efficiency improvements, new funding sources, service cuts and ways to improve service that could save the agency money. Each category will have different options for the working group to prioritize
No final decisions will be made by the working group, but a study will be released early next year that will offer recommendations from the group to the SFMTA’s Board of Directors.
At Wednesday’s working group meeting, the city’s director of transportation Jeffrey Tumlin, said the options presented to the working group are not planned yet but are worst-case scenarios the agency may have to deploy if they are unsuccessful in closing the budget deficit. He described some of the scenarios as “deep” and “terrifying.”
Tumlin added that the topic of looking at new revenue sources will also be key to helping the agency’s budget deficit. In the Bay Area, transit agencies are looking to place a tax measure on the November 2026 ballot to fund transit operations.
Worst case scenario Muni service cuts
The SFMTA’s director of transit Julie Kirschbaum presented options Wednesday that included suspending routes with low ridership that have higher frequency parallel service. Those routes would include the 1X-California Express, 6-Haight/Parnassus and 21-Hayes along with five other routes. The agency estimated savings of $32 million. Another dozen low-ridership routes would also be suspended that do not have other nearby Muni service and would save the agency approximately $31 million.
Another scenario would include reducing service by 50 percent on higher frequency routes such as on the 1-California and 38-Geary, for example. This service reduction could be politically more digestible for some as it would not include losing routes. Kirschbaum said routes that frequently arrive every five to seven minutes would instead arrive every 10 minutes. The agency would see about $71 million in estimated savings.
She said the reduction in service on high-frequency routes would lead to more crowding and having wheelchair passengers waiting possibly for three to four buses before being able to board.
Another scenario would to be suspend cable car and historic streetcar services, but Kirschbaum noted the importance of the cable car service for tourists and residents. Savings are estimated at $33 million by suspending both services.
A final scenario looked at starting Owl service at 9 p.m. instead of at midnight, which would save the agency approximately $14 million.
“San Francisco leaders must be proactive in generating new revenue for Muni, and not stand by waiting for the axe to fall,” said Kat Siegal, a proponent of Proposition L.
The working group plan on meeting again to continue the discussion of service cuts on Nov. 20.
Jerold Chinn is a freelance reporter who covers transportation.