A Transit Riders' Association for San Francisco P.O. Box 190966 San Francisco, CA 94119-0966 Hotline: (415) 273-1558 Email: board at rescuemuni.org Web: http://www.rescuemuni.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Andrew Sullivan Chairman, Steering Committee / Chief Spokesperson (415) 673-0626 [email protected] Daniel Murphy Vice-Chair, Steering Committee (415) 665-4074 [email protected]

RESCUE MUNI, the two-year old advocacy group for Muni riders, opposes the mayor’s plan to award Booz-Allen & Hamilton a contract to run the troubled Muni Metro.

“Any contract of this scale should be competitively bid,” said Andrew Sullivan, steering committee chair and chief spokesperson for RESCUE MUNI. “A single-source contract is completely inappropriate. The Board of Supervisors should put this out to bid. That’s the only way to make sure taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.”

“We’ve already spent millions on Booz Allen in consulting fees. What do we have to show for it?” asked Daniel Murphy, vice chair of RESCUE MUNI’s steering committee. “The city should look long and hard at what it got for the money. What I see is a train control system that doesn’t work especially well, running the world’s most expensive streetcars. And very little accountability for a whole series of questionable capital spending decisions.”

“Any contract like this should come with strict performance standards. The standards in this contract are very weak. Booz Allen gets paid even if service doesn’t improve,” added Sullivan. “If Muni really thinks the solution to its problems is to be found in an outside consultant, those consultants should compete to see who can offer the most service improvement for the dollar.”

RESCUE MUNI earlier announced opposition to the proposed single-source advertising contract to TDI, with proceeds earmarked to pay for some of Booz Allen’s fees.

RESCUE MUNI, A Transit Riders’ Association for San Francisco, is an organization of concerned riders who seek to make service faster, safer, more reliable, and more responsive to riders’ needs. Founded in 1996, it now has more than 450 members throughout the city.