This Sunday, Muni’s all door boarding policy officially starts. Muni will have more inspectors to check for those who don’t pay, increasing from 42 to 52 officers. With 30% of Muni’s time spent boarding passengers, boarding through any door on buses could save the agency as much as $76m per year by speeding up average service by 1mph.
Muni’s plan to hire 95 part-time drivers to save cash under Prop G hasn’t worked out as planned. The current operator attrition rate at 12 per month, and Muni hasn’t been able to hire new drivers fast enough with the current students in the 8 week training course. TWU-250A’s president Eric Williams says a smeared reputation by SFMTA management and the media has made getting new operators difficult. Converting part-time drivers to full time has saved the agency money, $1.05m compared to running overtime drivers at $1.8m.
Under city law, Muni is considered on-time if a bus or train is no more than one minute early or four minutes late. Due to rounding, any time after the minute is rounded down, so a bus or train could be measured as being 4 minutes and 59 seconds late, but still be considered “on-time”. Based on research from the Bay Citizen, the actual Q4 2011 on-time rate was 61.4%, not 71%.
The proposed 83X line will provide limited stop, rush hour service to 4th and King, Division and Townsend, and 9th and Market. The SFMTA estimates the the new line will cost $300k a year, with a ridership of 400k.
The board of supervisors will vote before July 1 to approve all door boarding on Muni’s buses. Riders will have to tag Clipper when boarding the rear of the bus, provide proof of payment, or suffer a $100 citation. As part of the plan, 10 more fare inspectors will be hired, costing the agency $700k. The upside is big, however, since all door boarding could boost service speed by 1 mph, a savings of $76m a year.