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SF Muni Board Says Not So Fast to Proposed Service Cuts

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The K Line arrives at West Portal Station in San Francisco on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. San Francisco transit agency staff presented various reductions in bus and train schedules to trim a $50 million deficit at Tuesday's board of director's meeting, but the board is asking for alternatives.  (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

The board that oversees San Francisco’s Muni transit system said it wants the agency to find ways other than cutting bus and train service to reduce the $50 million shortfall it faces in the coming fiscal year.

Municipal Transportation Agency staff came to Tuesday’s board of directors meeting expecting a discussion of the proposed cuts. Instead, board members told them cuts would be a mistake that would harm riders in the short term, undermine the city’s effort to revitalize downtown and make it tougher to persuade voters to support planned ballot measures next year that would raise taxes to support transit.

Transit planners presented three scenarios for service reductions this summer that would trim the fiscal 2025–26 deficit by $15 million.

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The options included suspending some of Muni’s lower ridership routes, reducing the frequency and operating hours of bus and train lines, or a hybrid scenario of line suspensions and frequency reductions coupled with increased service on the lines used most by transit-dependent riders.

Director Steve Heminger said that even though the proposals had been presented as choices, “the choices are ‘cut transit service, cut transit service and cut transit service.’ I think we need a couple of options that don’t involve cutting transit service.”

Passengers board a San Francisco MUNI bus on March 7, 2007. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Heminger said the SFMTA should consider dipping into its $140 million reserve fund for the $15 million the agency would otherwise save through service cuts.

He also suggested the SFMTA look at other parts of the agency, which regulates parking and street-safety projects, among other activities, to find the other $35 million it needs to balance its budget next year.

The SFMTA has said its budget trouble is partly due to a continuing decline in parking revenue. The agency has already considered raising hourly parking rates, extending meter hours and charging more for residential parking permits — politically unpopular moves that have drawn opposition from members of the Board of Supervisors.

But Heminger said transit service cuts could be politically costly, too, as Muni joins with other Bay Area transit operators and officials to craft at least one ballot measure next year that would raise taxes to help pay for transit operating expenses and improve service regionwide.

“We’re going to need partners at the ballot box in the not-too-distant future,” Heminger said. “That’s for Muni as well as Caltrain and BART and everybody and their brother. … I would be very leery of reducing service in the face of that and perhaps provoking a reaction from the public that is not going to help us pass those measures.”

Julie Kirschbaum, the SFMTA’s interim executive director, promised to come back to the board with alternatives to the Muni service cuts. She said that with future annual deficits forecast to soar above $300 million, virtually every aspect of the agency’s budget is already under scrutiny.

“We’re looking at every contract, we’re looking at all of our positions, we are looking at any capital projects that could potentially be deferred or redefined to bring you choices,” Kirschbaum said.

An initiative to collect more bus and train revenue by stepping up fare inspections has been successful and enabled Muni to meet this year’s budget targets, Kirschbaum said. She added that the SFMTA is bringing on 28 new parking control officers, already included in the current budget, and considering a range of new pricing and enforcement strategies to increase revenue.

“So we’re stretching everything to try to meet this challenge,” Kirschbaum said.

The SFMTA board will get its next look at budget proposals on Feb. 18. The transportation agency hopes to settle on a plan for budget reductions by the end of next month.

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