Rescue Muni

The Culture Bus, a 1 year project that will cost Muni $1.6 million, has only 255 weekday riders, according to the Chronicle.  Known as the 74X-CultureBus, the line is intended to bring tourists and Muni regulars from downtown to the car-congested Academy of Sciences building that recently opened in Golden Gate Park.  The buses aren’t run like the rest of the fleet, the coaches are extra clean and the drivers have gone through additional customer service training, something that the rest of the Muni system could use more of.

Service on the line has since been cut from 20 minutes to once an hour according to the article, but Rescue Muni has taken the position that this line should be terminated if it is not profitable within one month, especially in light of the city, state, and federal budget constraints.

Improved fare enforcement and more people deciding to save money and stress by taking transit has boosted Muni’s bottom line, with cable cars raising the biggest slice, bringing in a whopping $14.5M, or 21% more over the last 6 months. Muni could really use the money too, with a projected $90M shortfall over the next 18 months.

Rescue Muni is monitoring the budget situation and will publish how the numbers will add up to in a future posting.

In the extremely late, unloved California budget, what got whacked at the last minute by Gov. Schwarzenegger? Mass transit, of course. The budget included only $306 million for mass transit instead of the almost $1 billion required by formula, after the Governor line item vetoed $100 million more than the legislators had already cut.

The budget is “ripping thousands of new seats right out from under our riders,” said a spokesman for BART. Thanks, Governor!

Today’s Chronicle has a sobering article about the cost to the SF farepayer and taxpayer of Muni accidents where the city settles or loses a lawsuit: $66 million in the last six years. (This is $11M per year, or about one-tenth of annual fare revenues.) Of course a good chunk of this money goes to plaintiffs’ lawyers, and Muni is not at fault in every case, but still this is a pretty big amount for a system that is trying to improve its safety record and respond to increased demand for service.

From our friend Dave Snyder at SPUR:

Today (Thursday) at 4:00 p.m. the Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee is hearing the MTA Budget. This budget is good for transit riders, but it’s run into some political difficulties. We need your help to get the necessary votes to avoid a rejection of this budget by the Board of Supervisors. (It requires seven votes to reject the budget; therefore, we need five to support it.)
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