MUNI Chief Ed Reiskin
MUNI is a mess. Any SF commuter or occasionally rider could attest especially those stranded by two full days of N Line disruptions last week. The Castro's Supervisor Wiener has set his laser sharp sites on exposing, analyzing, problem solving and holding MUNI's feet to the fire until systemic issues within the ailing system are cured.
Tuesday at the Land Use Committee meeting Wiener chairs Transportation Director Ed Reiskin released his latest findings regarding MUNI's dismal service record for the current year up through April 2013. Here were some of the findings:
MUNI’s on-time performance is just 58.7 percent, far below the voter-mandated goal of 85 percent.
On an average day, 181 vehicles need to be held out for maintenance.
A sufficient number of light-rail vehicles are available to operate full scheduled Muni Metro service on just 33.1 percent of weekdays.
MUNI suffers 216 delays of over 10 minutes per month on transit lines, meaning approximately 2,500 delays a year.
The cost of those delays during peak hours along in April was about $4.2 million, meaning $50 million when extrapolated to a full year.
Supervisor Wiener has promised to hold more of these public, MUNI shaming meetings quarterly to keep citizens in the loop of how changes-or lack of changes-progress within SFMTA.
Help may be coming from the Mayor who just announced his preliminary-but as yet unfinished-$14 billion dollar, two year, City budget. Included: hiring 300 new MUNI staff. Primary targets include replacing retiring drivers and a huge bump in the number of MUNI mechanics and maintenance workers.
Giants fans offloading from a Castro S Shuttle MUNI train this year-will their fun & games soon cost a couple of dollars more?
As we noted earlier in the week, Mr. Wiener proposed assessing a $1-$3 surcharge onto big-ticket, SF entertainment events earmarked for MUNI maintenance, vehicle rehab and new bus or train purchases. His idea has gotten cautious editorial support from the SF Examiner.
The Examiner encouraged a study be done to determine how viable an option it could be for the City. In part they stated:
Before we can say whether to support Wiener’s proposed transit fees, we need to see more information about the gap between the costs that such events impose and the increased revenue that could be generated to respond to those transit impacts.
If the study of such events finds an incongruence between their transit impacts and the money that they generate for The City, a case could be made for Wiener’s ticket surcharge. Everyday riders should not suffer when others overtax The City’s aging transit system. But event patrons also shouldn’t be charged for a problem that extends well beyond their rides to concerts or sporting events.
The ball is now in the City's court as to how this proceeds. We will keep you updated as the story continues to develop.
Meanwhile over at the far reaches of the neighborhood the hotly debated Church Street Red Lane Pilot Program got a bit more media exposure this week.
As we've posted many private car drivers seem unaware of the changes, rules and no left turn adjustments that have occurred within the area. It seems we weren't the only ones who noticed the blatant, daily, non-stop violations going on between Duboce and 16th Street on Church.
Stanley Roberts of KRON 4 News brought his camera to the Castro and dedicated a segment of his 'People Behaving Badly' series exposing the rash of illegal left turns and other red lane law breakers on Wednesday.
Violators who choose to ignore posted signage and driving codes could well face stiff fines, points on their records, car insurance increases due to violations and traffic school. As Mr. Roberts notes, "this is the Bay-for some drivers if they gotta make an illegal turn, they're going to make an illegal turn. The only way to combat this behavior is with enforcement."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP2SDlVWOXM&feature=player_detailpage
Perhaps SFMTA can encourage SFPD who charge MUNI $19 million dollars per year for security to see if the police can redirect some of those funds to budget officers to patrol and ticket along the red line corridor? This would help determine if unimpeded MUNI/taxi access would work to improve on time MUNI averages for the J Church, 37 and 22 bus lines as some early studies of the pilot program have indicated.
via SF Examiner, KRON
Meanwhile over at the far reaches of the neighborhood the hotly debated Church Street Red Lane Pilot Program got a bit more media exposure this week.
As we've posted many private car drivers seem unaware of the changes, rules and no left turn adjustments that have occurred within the area. It seems we weren't the only ones who noticed the blatant, daily, non-stop violations going on between Duboce and 16th Street on Church.
Stanley Roberts of KRON 4 News brought his camera to the Castro and dedicated a segment of his 'People Behaving Badly' series exposing the rash of illegal left turns and other red lane law breakers on Wednesday.
Violators who choose to ignore posted signage and driving codes could well face stiff fines, points on their records, car insurance increases due to violations and traffic school. As Mr. Roberts notes, "this is the Bay-for some drivers if they gotta make an illegal turn, they're going to make an illegal turn. The only way to combat this behavior is with enforcement."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP2SDlVWOXM&feature=player_detailpage
Perhaps SFMTA can encourage SFPD who charge MUNI $19 million dollars per year for security to see if the police can redirect some of those funds to budget officers to patrol and ticket along the red line corridor? This would help determine if unimpeded MUNI/taxi access would work to improve on time MUNI averages for the J Church, 37 and 22 bus lines as some early studies of the pilot program have indicated.
via SF Examiner, KRON
