A reminder to everyone: MTA service changes take effect on Saturday, December 5. Don’t forget to review the list to see what happens to your line. The Chronicle also has a story.
Then take a look at the always entertaining Muni Diaries for reader-submitted obituaries for the lines being discontinued. Best so far: “89 Laguna Honda. Your obituary should be as short as you.”
The MTA has at last announced details of service changes to take effect December 5. Some of these are cuts due to the recent budget problems, but there are also many changes that are the result of the multi-year Transit Effectiveness Project, including added limited service on Potrero/San Bruno (new 9L), Mission (14L and 14X), Geary (38L), Haight/Noriega (71L), and the long awaited extension of the 5 downtown at all hours. However, several lines will be cut entirely: 4-Sutter, 7-Haight, 20-Columbus, 26-Valencia, 53-Southern Heights, and Muni’s shortest line, 89-Laguna Honda.
Take a look at the new service plan and give us your thoughts.
The SF MTA will be reviewing a proposal to extend meter hours to evenings and Sundays in commercial districts around San Francisco on October 20. This proposal was requested by the MTA board as part of the 2010 budget, as a means to find additional revenue to avoid service cuts and also to reduce car traffic in heavily traveled corridors.
As written, the proposal would generate approximately $8 million annually, enough to avoid at least some service cuts. Priorities for Rescue Muni are to make it easy for drivers to pay the meters (parking cards are still very difficult to find at retail stores), and to use the money to fund service improvements such as expanded limited stop service as proposed in the Transit Effectiveness Project.
If you agree that extended meter hours could be a good way to fund expanded service, please attend the meeting on October 20 at 2 pm at City Hall, room 400. (Yes, this is impossible for people who work normal business hours. We have complained about this in the past.)
Update: The Chronicle covered the story.
Update 10/20: Beyond Chron has a commentary as well.
From N Judah Chronicles on Twitter: the proposal to reject the budget failed, with only five Supervisors (Avalos, Campos, Daly, Mar, and Mirkarimi) voting to reject. (We had urged rejection due to the inflated work orders causing excessive service cuts.)
Meanwhile some Supervisors are promoting yet another charter amendment, this time to give the Supervisors control of three of the MTA board appointees, and make one elected. We opposed an amendment like this the last time it went before the voters.
Update: The Chronicle covers the story.
As part of the continuing budget debate about the MTA, Supervisor Dufty is urging Muni to raise fines for fare evasion to $75 from the current $50, and more importantly raise fines for repeat offenses to $500 for a third offense.
Although this won’t close the budget gap on its own, this is a much needed proposal. Fare evasion is a serious problem on Muni, particularly on many bus lines where riders board via the back door with impunity. With fares going up to $2 soon, fare paying riders deserve to know that everyone is paying his or her fair share. If this is done, MTA needs to post signs reminding riders of the $500 maximum fine – as is done for red light photo enforcement and carpool lanes.
Perhaps littering on the bus should also have a $500 maximum fine?