Rescue Muni

No more need to go all the way down to Van Ness to buy passes. According to the Chronicle, passes will also be available for sale at a new booth at Geary and Masonic starting Dec. 27th. The Powell Cable Car sales booth will also get an overhaul.

The new sales center will be open 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm and offer all pass types, including life line passes. The total cost of both booths, including art depicting the city’s iconic cable cars, was $829,000.

The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) denied a request from the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A to pursue an injunction to block the partial Muni service restoration that went into effect over Labor Day Weekend.  The drivers’ union sought the injunction after SFMTA announced a plan to restore 61% of the service cut in May.

Had an injunction been granted, service would have reverted to the levels in effect after the May service cuts.  In their petition filed with PERB, the union claimed they would suffer immediate and irreparable harm if, among other things, new absenteeism rules went into effect and union chairs at each division were no longer paid full-time salaries by the city to do union work.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

The Muni operators’ union, TWU Local 250-A, filed a brief with the California Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) to block the restoration of 61% of the service cuts that took effect in May.  The restoration is supposed to take place Saturday, but if the board grants TWU an injunction, the service cuts will remain in place.  SFMTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford says Muni is moving forward with the restoration, at least for now.

One thing is clear: TWU has given up even the slimmest hope of defeating Proposition G.  Having alienated San Franciscans thoroughly by insisting on pay increases during a severe budget crisis, just as other city workers were accepting pay cuts, they’ve decided to go for broke and litigate their way to cushy jobs for union leadership and less service for Muni riders.

PERB isn’t scheduled to meet until October 14, according to its web site.  It’s hard to say from here whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for Muni riders.

The SFMTA Board is expected to adopt next year’s budget, including deep service cuts, today.  Please show up and let them know how you feel.

Many budget solutions to prevent service cuts involve long-term cost controls and revenue measures; we’ve written about a number of those here.  In the short run, we think the most immediate solution to prevent budget cuts is to raise money through extended parking meter hours and higher parking meter rates.  Many cities with less of a transit orientation than San Francisco run their meters on weeknights and Sundays.

Right now, today, the choice the SFMTA Board faces is one between raising more money at parking meters and cutting Muni service.  Please show up at City Hall, Room 400, at 2:00 p.m., to let the board know which you prefer.  Even with the unexpected injection of funds from the state, Muni is looking at a deep service cut which will do grievous damage to the notion of San Francisco as a Transit First city.

Extending parking meter hours and bringing meter rates into line with garage rates isn’t the solution to all of Muni’s problems, but it’s the best solution to the dilemma we face today.  Please let the SFMTA Board know that.

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Wonder why your bus still stops on every block, even though budgets are being cut to the bone? According to SF Streetsblog, MTA stop consolidation (which would speed up service and was proposed in the SFTEP, and which we have supported for years) has been put on the back burner due to the recent budget cuts. If you comment on the proposal at the upcoming MTA Board meeting, make sure to mention this zero-cost way to speed up service.