Rescue Muni

The proposal to ban or restrict cars on Market Street is being considered again, this time by the SF County Transportation Authority at the request of Supervisor Chris Daly. (See also results of a previous study.) This has been considered many times before but was always rejected – Rescue Muni participated in a Transit First Market Street Alliance way back in 1996, if memory serves properly.

Whether or not cars are banned entirely, we have long supported extending the existing bus lane the full length of Market Street, or at least from Van Ness to the Embarcadero. This would be a good first step towards improving the currently glacial speed of mass transit on this important corridor.

Regional commuters on BART are likely to see fares and fees go up this year due to budget shortfalls, today’s Chronicle reports. Among the options being considered are reduced frequency on weekends (from a frequency that is already quite low), higher parking fees at peak demand times, and deferred maintenance.

Other regional systems are facing similar shortfalls, mainly due to lower tax revenues in the slowing economy, despite increased ridership. Caltrain just increased fares at the beginning of the year, and although SFMTA is in the middle of a two year budget cycle, it too is facing higher costs and lower revenues.

Today’s Chronicle reports that Muni wrote just over 10,000 fare evasion tickets last quarter, for a total of over 26,000 for the year. It’s still a drop in the bucket compared with the total amount of fare evasion, but every little bit counts – particularly because fare enforcement on the buses allows legal rear door boarding, which speeds up service.

Reminder: Sign up for Translink to speed up your own fare payment – and avoid a ticket!

You don’t want to sit in traffic with a bunch of drunk out of towners on New Year’s Eve, do you? Take mass transit instead! Muni will be offering free rides after 8 pm and extra service until 4 am, and BART, Caltrain, AC Transit, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit, and other services will be offering extra service throughout the evening.

Want to know if you have time for a nightcap? Check NextMuni for arrival times at the stop nearest your celebration venue of choice. iPhone users, try the $3 Routesy application (cheaper than a cab ride) which automatically checks your location (assuming the GPS is behaving that day).

SF Bay Area transit operators are hoping for new mass transit investment from the feds as part of the upcoming stimulus package as well as reauthorized transportation spending bills. Among the proposed projects are big BART expansions, Caltrain electrification, and Muni projects as small as upgraded fare gates and as large as the Central Subway. But will the new secretary of transportation share these goals? We shall see.