Rescue Muni

On the agenda for Tuesday’s board meeting: a budget for the next two fiscal years (as required by last year’s Proposition A), with several fare and fine increases to cover a two-year operating deficit of $81 million. Most notable for Muni riders is a proposed $10 increase in the monthly Fast Pass, and a $5 increase in the discounted pass, beginning in 2009. However, it appears that cash fares won’t go up – so more riders will pay cash, which is exactly opposite of London’s strategy to move riders to passes to speed boarding. Parking fees are also proposed to increase.

More details as we see the exact budget proposal, but an initial recommendation: make it easier to get a fast pass! Muni needs to encourage more people to use passes, not more difficult and expensive. Many other systems let you buy a monthly pass via vending machines that take credit cards; only Muni forces you to go to a corner store, and hope they haven’t run out (see one blogger’s comment on this), or remember to order online during a twelve day window.

Update: Matier and Ross comment on the proposed expired meter fine, noting that it might scare away downtown shoppers – of course, ignoring entirely those shoppers who take mass transit.

Update 2: The MTA is expecting to raise $100M per year from parking fines from this year’s budget, spending it mainly on filling staffing shortages to improve service.

No more replacement buses, at least for a while: the Twin Peaks Tunnel project is done as of today, so Muni Metro service is back until 1 am (or close to it, check schedules and NextBus).

Also, plan now for a SFMTA hearing on fares and fines April 1, at the regularly scheduled MTA Board meeting. Due to budget shortfalls, the MTA is again considering fare and parking/traffic fine increases.

The Chronicle and Examiner report today that up to seven positions in the Mayor’s Office are actually being funded by the Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, DPT, and soon the Taxi Commission. Some of these positions are focused on transportation, including former MTA deputy director Stuart Sunshine, but others seem very loosely related to transportation (e.g. the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, and a deputy press secretary). The total cost to the MTA is $655K, according to the Mayor’s Office.

It’s not unusual for the MTA to contract with other departments for service – in fact, this was envisioned in Proposition E which created the MTA in 1999. However, this does seem odd. When the MTA is facing a long-term structural deficit and just got an infusion of cash from Proposition A to improve service and prevent service cuts, is this the best use of the MTA’s money? It’s something for the current members of and nominees for the MTA board to consider, since the MTA’s budget is approved by the MTA board and then just subject to veto by the Supervisors. The budget for the next fiscal year is being discussed by the CAC finance committee and the MTA Board next week.

(The N Judah Chronicles has a take on this as well.)

Update: SF Usual Suspects links to all the latest on this one.

Don’t stop renewing your Fast Pass just yet. Tuesday’s Chronicle reports that Muni has done a study of the costs and benefits of eliminating the fare, and the results aren’t pretty: to save $8 million in fare collection costs, Muni would be giving up $112 million in fares and also increasing operating costs by $69 million.

Update: Here is the study. (long pdf)