Rescue Muni

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.

The always useful Muni Diaries posted a detailed recap of the recent town hall meetings on the budget deficit. Well worth a read.

Note that the next public meeting is the MTA Board on February 16.

Update: The Appeal reports that the meeting has been postponed until February 26.

Do you think Muni wastes taxpayer money? They have nothing on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which at a time of severe budget cuts has spent half a million of your hard-earned dollars, not to add service, not to improve the 511.org website, not even to put up more ads encouraging riders to take mass transit, but to rebrand the Translink card. Someone they paid good money to thought it would make sense to replace all of the logos and advertisements for the (finally mostly functional) card with new ones with a new name - Clipper.

Is it too late to cut this item from the regional budget and spend it on - here’s an idea - better service instead?

Update: Hey SF Appeal, you got us on this one. Apparently they reported this in the last decade - and the total’s $1 million. Still, it’s a big waste.

Update 2: SFist has a long commentary on all things Translink today.

Concerned about proposed service cuts? Do you agree with us that extended meter hours (including enforcing meters on Sundays) are far better than cutting mass transit, and that charging extra for the F line and expresses is a terrible idea? If so, please attend and comment at this SFMTA public meeting:

Town Hall Meeting, One South Van Ness Ave. @ Market St., 2nd Floor Atrium
Tuesday, Feb. 9 - 6 to 8 p.m.
Transit: 6, 71, 47, 49, Metro to Van Ness

Update: We live tweeted the meeting at our Twitter. Follow it!

Were you on the 22-Fillmore last night at Haight Street? Then you may have been doused with water due to one of the odder accidents in recent Muni history. The SF Appeal has all the details - and the news even hit the Associated Press.

Clearly some mistakes were made here. But don’t operators get reminded repeatedly not to move the bus when the wheelchair lift is down? Or was there a brake failure? Meanwhile taxpayers and farepayers will once again get stuck with the bills.