On Tuesday night, San Francisco transit officials took a major step in implementing Muni service cuts this summer that could shorten some bus routes to terminate at Market Street and merge two other routes.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Board of Directors voted 3–2 to direct staff to shorten certain routes before continuing down Market Street toward the downtown area. This decision is part of a new set of proposed Muni service reductions made by staff, as opposed to the more extensive cuts suggested in late January, which would have affected services citywide.
While there was no exact date, the Muni service cuts will take place this summer. They include terminating the 5-Fulton near McAllister and Market streets and ending the 9-San Bruno route at 11th and Market streets. The new terminus of both routes will only be in effect on weekdays. Rapid routes on both the 5-Fulton and 9-San Bruno routes will remain the same. The 31-Balboa would end at Fifth and Market streets.
Another changeßoccur on the 6-Haight/Parnassus and 21-Hayes. Staff proposed combining both routes as a cost-saving measure. The 6-Haight/Parnassus will continue its coverage on the west side of the city and at the UCSF Parnassus Campus but will no longer serve Haight Street and the downtown corridor of Market Street. Instead, the 6-Haight/Parnassus will cover parts of the 21 route and terminate at Hyde and Market streets.
The proposed Muni cuts will save the agency about $7.2 million and will help close a $50 million budget deficit that SFMTA will face starting July 1.
Bree Mawhorter, the agency’s chief financial officer, had already identified $43 million in agency cuts. These included delaying a second phase of a midlife overhaul of Muni buses, canceling an overhaul of vintage vehicles and reducing maintenance costs at shared subway stations with BART.
SFMTA Board Chair Janet Tarlov said if services were cut, the agency’s popularity would take a hit.
Thanks in part to the agency-wide cuts, the Muni service cuts are smaller than previously proposed but still impactful to Muni riders who will need to make a transfer if riding on one of the buses affected by the changes, transit officials said.
The agency also plans to shift some funding normally for capital to operations and plans to implement parking changes that will bring in $18 million, such as increasing parking meter and garage rates and spending less on professional services contracts.
Cajina, who favored using some of the agency’s reserves, said now was not the time to cut, especially since the agency is seeing higher ridership numbers and employees are set to return to work next month after Mayor Lurie ordered city employees return to work at least four days week.
“I don’t see a dip into the reserves as a solution,” Cajina said. “I see it as a way to buy time.”
Board Chair Janet Tarlov told her colleagues that if they were to cut service, it would make the job harder and that the agency’s popularity would take a hit.
“Our trust is eroded. These are real concerns that … don’t go unnoticed, certainly by me, and I don’t think by any of my colleagues,” Tarlov said.
Still, Tarlov said she agreed with directors Mike Chen and Fiona Hinze to not dip into the reserves and to abide by the agency’s reserves policy set by their predecessors.
“I just don’t feel like it’s a responsible thing to take from the reserves when we have no plan for how we can replenish them,” she said.
The SFMTA board will vote to finalize the summer service cuts at its April 1 meeting.
The SFMTA is facing a larger deficit that is estimated to be $322 million at the start of next year’s fiscal year. There could be a regional tax measure on the ballot in November to support funding transit operations in the Bay Area. It was also reported that Mayor Lurie launched a ballot measure committee for a possible ballot measure to help the cash-strapped transit system.
Ahead of the board’s decision, over 100 transit advocates rallied in front of City Hall demanding that the board not cut any Muni service this summer. They were joined by supervisors Myrna Melgar, Bilal Mahmood, and Jackie Fielder.
Mahmood said he was “disheartened” to hear about the original proposed Muni service cuts in his first weeks of office, adding that they would have hurt seniors in Japantown and families living in the Tenderloin. He still had reservations about the new proposal.
“While the updated proposals keep most of the lines on the map, they cut vital direct links from our district to downtown, threatening the downtown recovery we’re working so hard to move our city forward,” said Mahmood.
Supervisor Fielder introduced a resolution Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting urging Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state legislature to give $2 billion to transit agencies to fund operations. Earlier this month, state Senator Jesse Arreguín and Assemblyman Mark González requested $2 billion from the state’s budget to support transit agencies statewide.
“We need our state government to step up and save public transportation before it’s too late.” Felder said. “It is very hard to undo these cuts once they are made.”
Dylan Fabris, the community and policy manager with the San Francisco Transit Riders organization, said he was disappointed in the board’s decision to move ahead with the service cuts.
“San Francisco Transit Riders is disappointed that the SFMTA Board decided to dismiss these people and move forward with service cuts, rather than use a small amount of agency reserves to address this year’s fiscal emergency,” Fabris said in a statement.