Whether you’re telecommuting, teaching or learning online, or staying home and riding Muni for essential trips only - do it in style with these Muni virtual backgrounds. Download, save and use them for any of your preferred video chatting platforms. For the latest COVID-19 related transit updates please visit SFMTA.com/COVID-19.
If you’re taking Muni for essential trips along Market Street you might see SFMTA’s yellow-vested Ambassadors wearing face masks or coverings and directing customers to maintain safe physical distance at curbside bus stops and boarding islands. What you can’t see are their smiles behind their masks as they work throughout the day to help San Francisco “flatten the curve.”
COVID-19 Ambassadors at a bus stop on Market Street.
Last week, the SFMTA launched our COVID-19 Ambassador Program. Although overall ridership is down, during peak times in certain areas we sometimes still see crowding at bus stops and on buses. If a bus is too crowded, our operators will stop picking up new passengers until there is enough room for more. We know that this and other changes are tough on everyone.
That’s where our Ambassadors come in. Their aim is to encourage customers to practice good public health behavior throughout the entire Muni experience – waiting, boarding, riding – as well as informing customers about alternatives to Muni like our new ETC discount taxi program for older adults and people with disabilities. They also have information on the temporarily modified routes or can explain why a bus may have just passed up riders.
In some places, we added markings on the ground at bus stops to signal where the customers can wait at an appropriate physical distance from one another, just like those at many area supermarkets and other essential businesses.
Signage and ground markings at Muni stops encourage physical distancing.
Graphic showing physical distancing at Muni stops
To encourage customers to give each other space on and off Muni, when buses arrive about half full or more, Ambassadors may ask customers to wait for the next bus. And, once a bus arrives the Ambassadors remind waiting customers to give space to those offloading, explain that customers are required to wear a cloth face covering or mask, and ask customers to maintain physical distance inside the bus throughout their ride.
Example of physical distancing on Muni buses: Wear a mask or face covering and give space for fellow riders.
We have also launched new onboard announcements and two social media campaigns encouraging customers to #stayhome and use Muni for #essentialtripsonly. New signs inside Muni buses and ads on the outside of buses are coming soon to remind customers to give space and wear face coverings or masks.
Now that wearing face coverings is a citywide order, customers are required to wear these when riding Muni. Operators may skip stops if those waiting don’t have face coverings. Operators have been instructed that they may also skip stops if the bus is already more than half full to maintain appropriate physical distancing on board.
Though ridership has decreased dramatically thanks to people staying home in observance of the shelter-in-place, Muni continues to serve approximately 100,000 customers daily. These customers are largely hospital workers, social service providers, grocery store workers and other essential workers. Any time you take another mode of transportation, you save a seat for those who rely on Muni. If you need to ride, be sure to wave hello to our Ambassadors.
Muni Ambassador looks on as customer wearing a mask waits to board through the back after taking an essential trip for groceries.
This is the fourth in a series of blogs exploring the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA’s) budget process and proposal for Fiscal Years 2021-2022. The first blog provided a high-level overview of the budget process, the second discussed our projected revenue and expenditures and how they inform budget development, and the third presented a deep-dive into our policy objectives and funding priorities. This post will discuss on overview of the outreach process for the Fiscal Years 2021-2022 Consolidated Budget. Please stay tuned for future posts in this series.
The SFMTA’s work impacts the lives of everyone that sets foot in San Francisco, connecting individuals to work, school, healthcare, and other essential services by foot, wheelchair, bike, paratransit, and public transit. Our policies, services, and projects affect the lives of workers, residents, and visitors throughout the city. The Consolidated Budget reflects our values and lays out the path the SFMTA will take towards fulfilling its mission to connect San Francisco through a safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation system. Engaging the public and incorporating their perspectives in the Budget, and all of our work, is necessary to fulfill this mission.
The development of the proposed FY 2021-22 Consolidated Budget included a public outreach and engagement process. We designed the outreach and engagement process to ensure that SFMTA’s stakeholders are fully informed and their feedback is carefully considered as the agency develops the Budget. The public outreach and engagement plan included meetings with elected officials, neighborhood groups, community organizations, citizens’ advisory councils, and partner agencies. A list of organizations that we met with is presented at the end of this blog.
The Consolidated Budget outreach planning and implementation began in January and ends April 21st when the SFMTA Board is presented with the final budget. It’s important to note that SFMTA staff learns about community needs in the years between budget cycles through surveys, SFMTA committees, advocacy and community groups, and project-specific outreach. These learnings informed budget proposals and decisions. Below are the highlights of the outreach schedule:
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Activities/Tasks |
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1/28/2020 |
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Feb/Mar 2020 |
Reached out to and met with District stakeholders and Supervisors. |
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2/12/2020 |
Posting of notices in SFMTA vehicles |
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2/14/2020 |
Posting of Facebook events and related advertisements |
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2/18/2020 |
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Feb/Mar 2020 |
Publication of advertisements in citywide and neighborhood newspapers |
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3/3/2020 |
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3/17/2020 |
SFMTA Board of Directors Presentation – Updated Consolidated Budget |
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4/2/2020 |
Online Conversation with Jeff Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation |
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4/7/2020 |
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4/21/2020 |
SFMTA Board of Directors Presentation and Vote on the Consolidated Budget |
In January 2020, SFMTA staff hosted an all-day budget workshop for the SFMTA Board of Directors which outlined the budget landscape and proposed a roadmap to achieving a balanced and sustainable budget. At the budget workshop staff presented possible funding priorities (i.e. additional Transit Operators, ect.), and policy objectives (i.e. fare policy, ect.). This workshop was also the first opportunity for public comment on budget proposals.
Following the workshop, the Agency launched a series of public workshops and online discussions to share proposed budget decisions and gather valuable feedback to further refine the budget. We emailed 1,024 community stakeholders in each district to offer the opportunity to meet with SFMTA staff and ask questions or offer feedback on the balanced budget proposals presented at the Board of Directors workshop. We met with every group that responded, and a complete list of participating community partners can be found at the end of this blog.
As the community engagement process continued to shape the budget, COVID-19 emerged as a serious threat to public health and major disruption to the way of life in San Francisco. The financial impacts of the first weeks of the public health emergency drastically reshaped the Agency’s understanding of and projections for the budget.
Despite the challenges created by COVID-19, we were committed to continuing our dialogue with the public. The SFMTA moved the series of planned public meetings and workshops to a virtual space. Members of the public could participate in live conversations via social media accounts (twitter, Facebook, YouTube), via email, and via telephone. Recordings of both the Virtual Budget Open House (3/19) and the Online Conversation with SFMTA Director of Transportation (4/2) are available on the SFMTA YouTube page.
During our outreach and engagement process, we received hundreds of postcards, voicemail messages, emails, and mentions on our social media accounts with valuable feedback on our consolidated budget proposal. The issues that we heard the most about included fare policy (28.2%), advocating against increasing towing and fees (18.2%), support for more Muni service (15.9%), support for extended meters (15.6%), and support for taxis (3.6%); see pie chart below. The Agency put together a FAQ to answer many of the questions that we heard most throughout the outreach process.
Accessible text version of graphic #1
This feedback informed several key decisions in the proposed budget including addressing equity concerns related to the fare proposal and the tow fees, providing support for the taxi industry, proposing extending parking meter hours, allocating funds to Vision Zero projects in the Tenderloin, increasing fines on safety violations such as parking in a bike lane, etc.. Stakeholder input and discussion informed many of the final Consolidated Budget decisions.
The table below provides a short summary of how the Agency addressed community feedback. More detailed feedback and also be found in the FAQ.
Accessible text for graphic #2
We at the SFMTA want to thank you all for your invaluable input. You truly helped to shape the budget we will bring to our Board of Directors on April 21st. The Agency recognizes that we must work to continuously improve our outreach process. We will assess the success of the budget outreach process and welcome your feedback, which you can submit to sfmtabudget@sfmta.com.
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SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council |
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Small Business Commission |
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San Francisco Youth Commission |
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San Francisco Transit Riders |
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Budget Digital Town Hall |
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Paratransit Coordinating Committee |
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South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) |
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Market and Octavia Citizens Advisory Council |
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Chinatown Community Development Corp TRIP |
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SF Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) |
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SF Chamber of Commerce |
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SF Council of District Merchants |
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SF Travel |
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Young Women’s Freedom Center |
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Community Housing Partnership |
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SF Rising |
With Muni service temporarily reduced during the COVID-19 health crisis, many San Francisco residents need to walk and take other modes of transportation to make essential trips. However, sometimes it is difficult to maintain 6’ of social distance on many sidewalks, park paths, and bikeways. This can be especially true when passing lines outside grocery stores and other essential services. Because of this, many pedestrians are choosing to walk in the street, exposing themselves to swiftly moving vehicle traffic. The SFMTA is implementing a new program, Slow Streets, to close some streets to through traffic and allow roadways to be used more as a shared space for foot and bicycle traffic.
Throughout the city, corridors have been identified for Phase 1 Slow Streets. Beginning this week, some of these streets will be closed to through vehicle traffic to prioritize walking/biking and to provide more space for social distancing during essential travel by those modes.
What will Slow Streets look like?
Streets will not be closed completely, and local vehicle access is permitted. There will be no changes to parking or driveway access for residents. Slow Streets will not create any legal change in the right of way. People walking/running in the street will not have the right-of-way over motor vehicles but will be allowed to be in the street (as the Calif. Vehicle Code currently permits). The goal is to take advantage of low vehicle numbers on certain travel corridors and allow people to maximize our resources while maintaining social distancing. Slow Streets will be in effect 24/7, given the limited staff resources to deploy/re-deploy equipment daily.
The purpose of Slow Streets is to manage traffic speeds and create a safe network for essential walk and bike travel while transit service levels are reduced. Our agency is committed to giving San Franciscans the necessary space to practice social distancing as they leave their homes for critical needs.
Slow Streets candidates
| Street | From | To | Muni Routes |
| 17th Street | Noe | Valencia | 22 Fillmore, 33 Stanyan |
| 20th Avenue | Lincoln | Ortega | 28 - 19th Ave |
| 22nd Street | Valencia | Chattanooga | 48 Quintara |
| 41st Avenue | Lincoln | Vicente | 18 - 46th Ave |
| Ellis | Polk | Leavenworth | 27 Bryant, 38 Geary |
| Holloway | J Serra | Harold | K Ingleside, 29 Sunset |
| Kirkham | Great Highway | 7th Avenue | N Judah |
| Phelps | Oakdale | Evans | 23 Monterey, 44 O'Shaughnessy |
| Ortega | Great Highway | 14th Avenue | 7 Haight |
| Page | Stanyan | Octavia | 7 Haight |
| Quesada | Lane | Fitch | 23 Monterey, 44 O'Shaughnessy |
| Scott | Eddy | Page | 24 Divisadero |
When will these streets be closed?
Beginning this week, we hope to install 2-3 Slow Streets corridors per week. The first round of Slow Streets implementation will consist of signage and traffic cones. We will continue to monitor the use of Slow Streets to minimize impacts on surrounding streets.
How were the Slow Streets corridors chosen?
The streets were chosen to supplement reduced or suspended Muni routes, while providing bicycle and pedestrian access to essential services. Many of these streets run parallel to other major streets and transit routes. The Slow Streets are intended to provide a network of streets that prioritize walking and biking for essential trips.
Slow Streets are one part of the city’s efforts to reduce sidewalk crowding. Other efforts include removing vehicle parking outside grocery stores and restaurants to create extra pedestrian queueing space and widening sidewalks by removing vehicle parking on select high-pedestrian-traffic corridors. Please visit sfmta.com/COVID19 for the latest agency updates.
Since April 8, Muni has been operating a COVID-19 Core Service Plan to support essential trips that cannot be made any other way. With fewer operators, car cleaners and maintenance staff available during the shelter-in-place, Muni service has been significantly reduced. Our initial network of 17 key lines was informed by our data on where ridership is highest, our Muni Equity Strategy to provide transportation for those with the fewest options, locations of essential services like hospitals and groceries, and to provide coverage across the city.
Over the past week and a half, SFMTA has seen a small increase in the number of available key personnel, allowing us to expand our service based on ridership trends and public feedback during the pandemic. On April 25, we will be modifying Muni’s Core Service by adding back some modified routes and increasing the frequency of buses on others. This additional bus service was informed by the same criteria as our initial Core network, along with on-the-ground information from operators, riders, and policy makers.
The service additions will increase coverage across the city and connect to additional essential services. To ensure we’re connecting customers who are making essential trips to health care facilities like hospitals, we’re restoring modified service on the 5 Fulton and 28 19th Avenue lines. Segments of the 12 Folsom/Pacific and 54 Felton are also being restored to ensure customers in Chinatown and southeastern neighborhoods have greater access to essential trip locations.
By adding service on heavily used lines of the Core network, it will also help minimize risks to customers and operators by reducing crowding on buses and increasing riders’ ability to physically distance from others.
Muni still serves approximately 100,000 passengers a day – getting nurses, cooks, custodians, and other essential workers to their jobs. We continue to ask San Franciscans’ help by a) complying with the shelter-in-place directive, b) only making essential trips, and c) using alternatives to Muni for essential trips when possible.
In addition to running Core service, the following Muni routes will start service or be adjusted on Saturday, April 25. Please note differences between weekday and weekend service.
5 Fulton
9 San Bruno
12 Folsom
28 19th Avenue
38R Geary Rapid
54 Felton
714 BART Early Bird Shuttle
L Bus
N Bus
This modified Core Service Plan is in support of essential trips that cannot be made in other ways. We are asking all San Franciscans to help us maintain adequate space on buses for social distancing by staying at home except for essential trips. Staying home or walking, biking or driving instead saves a seat on Muni for those that don’t have other options. You may see some of our staff at select bus stops helping reinforce this message to our customers.
Still need to travel on Muni? Be sure to plan extra time for your trip which now may include transfers and a longer walk. Remember your fare is good for two hours across multiple buses. We have also updated our predictions software to better account for the changes in service - read this blog post to find out more.
We also know that the recent temporary transit changes are hard for many people with disabilities and older adults for whom walking farther to an alternate bus or paying for other transportation isn’t possible. To address this need, the SFMTA launched the Essential Trip Card Program to help older adults and people with disabilities take and pay for essential trips in taxis during this crisis.
The Essential Trip Card Program provides two to three round trips per month at 20% of the cost of a regular cab ride fare. If you are a 65+ years old or person with a disability, you can apply for the Essential Trip Card by calling 311 and mentioning the program or visiting the program page to learn more.
Stay tuned for additional details about these service changes. Visit SFMTA.com/COVID-19 for the latest information or to explore other ways to get around.
The last month has brought about dramatic changes in virtually all aspects of our lives, including how we use our Muni transit system. When we implemented our Core Service Plan that focused our limited resources on 17 lines that were serving the majority of our customers, we also transitioned our service operation from a schedule-based system to a headway or frequency-based system. This means vehicles depart their terminals at regularly timed intervals instead of at specific times. In so doing, we also had to make adjustments on how this information was processed by NextMuni to generate reliable arrival time predictions.
Up until now, if a Muni vehicle departed the terminal before its scheduled departure time, it would register on NextMuni as being on break and would not generate predictions, even though it was on its regular route. When we transitioned to a headway-based system, and as the buses experienced fewer delays on their routes, we started to see a lot of these vehicles depart before their scheduled times. The stopgap solution has been for a small but dedicated team in our Transit division to manually reassign these early departure vehicles within NextMuni, thereby allowing this system to generate predictions. Recently this team has been making about 300 such reassignments per day. This was neither efficient nor sustainable.
Working with our NextMuni vendor, we were able to modify the prediction software to better handle this situation. When generating predictions, the software will now basically disregard any scheduled times and instead rely only on the vehicle’s location.
With this change, arrival time predictions will now only become available once a vehicle has left the terminal. What this means is that if you are waiting at a stop, especially stops near the beginning of the route, you may see “No Prediction Available” when you check either the bus shelter display (should one be available) or NextMuni’s online predictions. This will mean that a vehicle has not yet departed the terminal. In this case, please check either our website or that bus shelter’s display to see the frequency for that particular route. Our website also has a live map which will show the location of each bus on the route, including those at the terminals that are not yet generating predictions. Simply use www.sfmta.com/the letter or number of the Muni route you want to check (For example, www.sfmta.com/22 takes you the live map for the 22 Fillmore.
While this is not ideal, our other option was to make no change and have vehicles operating in service without generating predictions at all. The current changes will make sure most vehicles have predictions most of the time. Another benefit of this change will be that prediction times will now only reflect an actual vehicle that is in service, thus eliminating the dreaded “ghost bus,” which has been the bane of many transit riders.
Please note that our Core Service Plan operates daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. our Owl Service Plan is in operation. Frequency times on each of the 10 Owl routes in service will be about 30 minutes. Please visit our Owl Service Plan webpage for further details.
Our team continually reviews the performance of our prediction system and suggests changes when they believe it will result in more accurate information to our riders. In addition to that continuing effort, we are in the process of rolling out a Next Generation Customer Information System as the replacement to NextMuni. When deployed, this new system will allow us to provide more reliable information to our riders, including being able to generate more reliable predictions near the terminals.
For more updates on all SFMTA services during this public health crisis, please visit SFMTA.com/COVID19.
Vision Zero SF is the City’s road safety policy that will build safety and livability into our streets, protecting the one million people who move about the City every day.
From education to traffic engineering, from enforcing traffic laws to changing public policy, Vision Zero SF is driving an agenda to change the way we think and act on San Francisco streets.
This month, we’re featuring some improvements to benefit motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. Here is a list of what we’ve been working on this past month:
This is the third in a series of blogs exploring the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA’s) budget process and proposal for Fiscal Years 2021-2022. The first blog provided a high-level overview of the budget process, while the second discussed the state of our projected revenue and expenditures and how they inform budget development. This post will discuss our policy objectives and funding priorities for Fiscal Years 2021-2022 based on the latest proposals that SFMTA staff have put forward. Future blog posts will include content on:
The previous blog post described the foundation of the Operating and Capital Budgets; the funding necessary for daily operations, equipment, and infrastructure maintenance. This post will discuss the policy proposals & funding priorities above and beyond current service levels. Funding the current service levels comprise most (98%) of the budget. These generally include: employee salaries and benefits, professional service contracts for services, like the maintenance of our bus shelters, that aren’t directly provided by SFMTA staff, and materials and supplies like bus tires or fuel. It is imperative that we continue providing these services to meet the Agency’s Strategic Plan Goals:
As noted in the previous blog post, the Agency faces a structural deficit, meaning that our projected revenue will not keep up with the projected expenditures necessary to provide daily service. So, while the suite of policy proposals discussed in this blog will help us improve and expand services, they will also help us address this deficit. These proposals are rooted in our values of creating a safe transportation system, advancing equity, decarbonizing, and creating a workplace culture that delivers excellent customer service.
Our budget process began in January and, over the past three months, we have worked hard to ensure an open discussion with the public about San Francisco’s needs, priorities, and the trade-offs that would be required; and to gather feedback through multiple channels so they could be involved in and inform the outcome.
We launched a comprehensive, multilingual public outreach campaign at the beginning of the budget process to gather and consider public input on the budget and the proposed fare changes. As part of that outreach campaign, we received over 300 questions, comments, and concerns, many of which were focused on fares.
We began with our Automatic Indexing Policy, increasing all of our fares as a result of increases in both Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Labor Costs. The implementation of a fare indexing policy allows Muni to raise fares incrementally, rather than holding constant in good times, and increasing above cost of living to help cover budget deficits in economic downturns. Allowing fare revenue to rise in relationship to increased operating costs also allows the SFMTA to invest in the system and increase service.
Some people have questioned whether the SFMTA should raise fares at all, especially given the fact that fares have doubled in the last 10 years.
While this is true, it is important to note that for the previous 10 years, Muni fares were held constant while the economy was strong. Moreover, fares represent a significant percentage of our budget (almost 20 percent). Although the current public health emergency creates uncertainty about our future revenues, we project that not raising fares would mean a loss of $15 million dollars annually. While this seems like a relatively small amount in the context of our overall budget, it does mean that the agency would need to cut programs and services by that amount. For example, because our transit operating expenses are about 60% of the total budget, a revenue loss of $25 million, proportionally reducing all programs and services at the SFMTA, would mean a 3 to 5% transit service reduction and would remove up to 140 operators from service.
Cutting transit service and/or other programs is a bad idea at a time when: we’re seeing significant population growth in the region and one of the Mayor’s top priorities is to build more housing; the need to support sustainable modes of transportation is undeniable given the climate change we’re experiencing; and the need to maintain our infrastructure in a state of good repair is the long-term fiscally responsible thing to do.
So, not increasing fares is NOT a strategic option that considers the trade-offs between short-term gains and long-term consequences.
In order to create a more equitable system, we must prioritize better service and more accessible service through our low- or no-fare programs. Our goal is to create a budget that recognizes the trade-offs that we face and best advances our values. This is why we are proposing free Muni for all youth and for individuals experiencing homelessness.
In response to calls to pause fare increases or to eliminate fares altogether, and with an eye on our funding gap and keeping proposals revenue neutral, we developed two equity-driven proposals that asks San Franciscans who are able to pay, to pay a little more to help our more vulnerable populations who are reliant on transit for employment and other essential needs like healthcare and getting kids to school.
Both fare proposals provide free Muni for all youth under the age of 19 and for individuals experiencing homelessness, and do not raise fares for Cash Fare Single Rides or Reduced Fare Single Rides.
The Equity Monthly Option places the cost burden largely on monthly pass holders to avoid increases in the cash fare and adjusts our Lifeline Pass to be increased by Social Security Income (SSI), rather than inflation (CPI).
The Equity Clipper Option places the cost burden on the monthly pass holders and on riders paying the full single ride fare electronically by reducing—but not eliminating—the discount between the electronic fare and the cash fare.
We are recommending the Equity Clipper Option to our Board, as it distributes the cost burden between a number of fare mediums and supports a more overall equitable fare policy. If this option is approved by our Board:
Based on the recommendations of the Muni Reliability Working Group, the Agency is proposing to hire 88 full time employees for system management, maintenance, and planning. Primarily, this includes 30 Transit Operators to support the opening of Central Subway. Other critical staff will:
These proposals represent only an initial investment in the Muni Working Group’s entire set of recommendations. Due to the previously discussed structural deficit, we have scaled back proposals for transit supervision and near-term maintenance improvements and are not recommending a 6% service expansion by FY 2022.
In addition to fares, SFMTA is also recommending policy changes to parking pricing. These proposals arose from community feedback, supported by data on parking space availability, that the Agency needs to increase efforts to manage the curb and congestion. Our parking policy proposals have several main components:
1. Modernize Parking Meter Hours: Evening Option and Sunday Option.
Parking pricing is used to manage demand and ensure space availability, not maximize revenue. Any revenue collected goes back into the transportation system, specifically to fund transit.
Since 2011, the SFMTA has operated a demand-responsive parking pricing system: if demand is high, we raise prices to ensure a space or two is available when you go to your favorite restaurant (which hopefully will be soon when the Shelter in Place Order is lifted). When demand is low, we lower prices.
We recognize that increased parking prices could mean less demand from more price-sensitive drivers, many of whom are low income. As part of any proposal we will need to address equity concerns, including maintaining access by continuing to provide quality alternatives, like transit.
We’ve recently looked at our parking polices and realized that they are outdated when it comes to evening metering and Sunday metering. We know that the demand for parking in commercial corridors during the evenings is high. That’s why we are proposing extending the time that meters are enforced beyond the standard 6 pm end time.
We won’t be doing this city-wide immediately; we’ll partner with local merchant associations to determine where extended meter hours make the most sense and see how it works, particularly given the current economic challenges related to the pandemic.
We’re also considering enforcing meters on Sundays, where we’d follow a similar community- and data-driven process to make sure it works for our residents, businesses, and visitors. In 2014, San Francisco's meters charged on Sundays--as a result, parking availability increased significantly, which allowed folks visiting our commercial neighborhood to find parking.
2. Raise the maximum variable parking meter rate by $1 per year to a maximum of $9 per hour in FY 2021 and a maximum of $10 per hour in FY 2022.
The current maximum rate for demand responsive pricing is $8 per hour[1]. This policy is a response to the demand for parking and ensures that parking spaces are regularly accessible to commercial corridor patrons and disabled placard users during business hours. A relatively small percentage of meters in the City operate at the maximum hourly cap.
In addition to updating parking pricing policies, the Agency also recommends the hiring of 66 more Parking Control Officers (PCOs) to manage congestion. This will be a 20% increase of our current staff of 300 PCOs who are responsible for enforcing several safety and quality of life violations like double parking, school zones, bike lanes, and blocked driveways. They are also responsible for traffic control, known technically as a ‘fixed post’. Fixed post is when a PCO stands at an intersection and directs traffic. This is a critical job for reducing congestion and increasing safety by, for example, making sure cars don’t block the box. Just as importantly, many fixed-post PCOs facilitate movement of transit. So, adding more PCOs will increase our ability to:
Driven by overwhelmingly positive public feedback, the Agency is proposing to hire 20 more employees for the Muni Transit Assistance Program (MTAP). MTAP staff are community members who are trained in conflict resolution, and ride on specific transit lines with high incidences of graffiti and youth conflict. They focus on supporting our schools and young people, by working to diffuse and deter any conflicts or acts of vandalism and assist transit operators as needed. MTAP staff do not enforce fare payments, their purpose is to further the safety of youth and other Muni riders.
The City and County of San Francisco adopted Vision Zero in 2014, committing city agencies to build better and safer streets, educate the public on traffic safety, enforce traffic laws, and adopt policy changes that save lives. The goal of this collaborative, citywide effort is to create safer, more livable streets as we work to eliminate traffic fatalities.
Supporting the Capital Budget, voters approved the use of Prop D Ride-Share Business Tax as a revenue source, with $15 million estimated annually for street safety projects. Staff are proposing expanding existing programs by using the funds evenly for:
Additionally, staff are recommending that the Agency ensures ongoing funding and support of the Vision Zero Education and Outreach Program and Safe Routes to School in the Operating Budget. These programs focus on encouraging behavior change through education, complementing engineering programs and enforcement efforts. They also support the City’s children and families by building a coordinated framework to provide safe and effective options for school transportation. Creating a consistent funding source will increase outreach and education campaigns on safe driving behaviors and maintain the importance of realizing our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities.
While SFMTA has grown and added staff in recent years, we have not hired enough Human Resources (HR) employees to keep up with hiring needs. Not including Operators (who have a different recruitment pipeline), the Agency currently has 824 vacant positions out of 4,270, with one analyst for every 118 vacant positions. This has contributed to a number of issues, including that it takes 165 days on average to fill a typical position. To begin addressing this and other HR concerns, the Agency is proposing to add 13 positions to our Human Resources Division to support increased administrative needs, talent acquisition, examinations, leave management, and merit and comparability analyses.
In addition to meeting HR needs, SFMTA staff are also focused on strengthening morale and wellness through enhanced employee engagement and support, and a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce.
To achieve these goals, the Agency is proposing to create an Office of Race, Equity and Inclusion to address inequities in our workplace and services, prioritize those who have the most need in every decision, and ensure just outcomes for all people.
Over the past month, COVID-19 has significantly impacted our community and dramatically altered the SFMTA’s financial outlook. Although this sudden change had an impact on our budget proposal, we maintained as many of the policies and proposals developed with help from public input as we could. However, we will be monitoring both our revenue and our expenditures closely, and we are committed to staying within our means. We can expect that the financial outlook will change over time and we will be making adjustments to the budget accordingly. We will report regularly to the public and the SFMTA Board during the course of the budget period on measures that we are taking to manage our finances.
We at the SFMTA want to thank you all for your invaluable input. You truly helped to shape the budget we will bring to our Board of Directors on April 21st. We encourage you all to tune in to SFGovTV to watch the meeting. You can also call in during the public comment portion of the meeting to share your opinions directly with the Board.
Coming up next in our series: Overview of our outreach
[1] Only 0.02% of metered streets are currently at the maximum $8, so this change only applies to a very narrow set of meters.
[2] San Francisco’s Communities of Concern include a diverse cross-section of populations and communities that could be considered disadvantaged or vulnerable now and in the future. Communities of Concern can have high levels of households with minority or low-income status, seniors, people who have limited English proficiency, people who have disabilities, and more.
[3] The 13% of all SF streets where 70% of severe and fatal collisions with pedestrians and cyclists occur
With a shortage of operators, car cleaners and other key personnel, Muni has implemented significant reductions to Muni service. We know that for many older adults and people with disabilities, walking farther to an alternate bus or paying for other transportation simply isn’t possible. To address this need, the SFMTA is announcing the Essential Trip Card (ETC) to help older adults and people with disabilities pay for essential trips in taxis. We are thankful that taxis have stepped up to serve this critical need.
The ETC will provide two to three round trips per month at only 20 percent of the cost of a regular cab fare. All taxis in San Francisco will accept the card to pay for essential trips like going to the grocery store or the doctor during the shelter-in-place period. Customers who pay $6 will receive $30 value or $12 for $60 value for taxi trips on a debit card. Cards can be re-filled once a month for each month of this special temporary program until the SFMTA announces its end.
If you are an older adult (65 and older) or a person with a disability, you can apply for the ETC program by calling 311 and mentioning the program. Staff will be available on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. to answer the question and get people signed up. For those who prefer to use a language other than English, language assistance is provided. While we encourage using the phone to minimize contact, as a last resort, qualifying customers may enroll in person at the SF Paratransit Broker’s Office (68 12th Street) if needed. The office remains open during regular weekday business hours (as of April 13, 2020).
If you are eligible, you will be automatically enrolled in the program and your debit card will be mailed right away. Once you receive your card in the mail, you may activate your card by following the instructions provided. To add funds to your ETC, you can provide payment information over the phone, online, or arrange to pay by cash or check.
Once you have the card, you can hail taxis, including ramp taxis, on the street, by phone, or by Flywheel app to make a trip. To limit risk to both riders and drivers, a CDC-approved sanitizer to clean frequently touched surfaces between trips is being provided to taxis. We ask riders to do their part by washing their hands and/or using hand sanitizer thoroughly before and after taxi trips, wearing a mask or cloth face covering if possible, coughing or sneezing into a tissue or elbow and not touching their faces. We also encourage riders to clean their debit card, child seat, or any items that the driver or anyone else may help to carry or load with a sanitizing cleaner, before and after each trip.
The taxi industry is an essential part of our transportation system. Taxis have been instrumental in our city’s efforts to effectively serve people with disabilities and older adults before and during this crisis. Taxis have been an integral part of Paratransit since the early 1980s and San Francisco has had wheelchair-accessible ramp taxi service since the early 1990s. The SFMTA is thankful that taxis continue to deliver these critical services to our most vulnerable citizens during these challenging times.
Help spread the word about this new program to those in need by reaching out to a family member, friend or neighbor to let them know about the program.
For other needs, the City’s Disability and Aging Service helpline at (415) 355-6700 now operates 7 days per week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. DAS helpline operators are available to connect people to the City’s existing service providers and expanded services as they become available.
With a shortage of operators, car cleaners and other key personnel, Muni has implemented significant reductions to Muni service. The COVID19 pandemic has disrupted many parts of everyday life, including transit. As everyone is getting used to our new Muni Core Service Plan, some key routes are continuing to run but are using different stops. And, other changes have been made in response to customer feedback.
As a reminder, during this public health emergency, we are asking San Franciscans to:
Comply with the shelter-in-place directive
Only make essential trips
Use Muni only for those essential trips that can’t be made in other ways
The following changes went in effect on Wednesday, April 8. All of these are in place until further notice with mulit-lingual signs-up at all stops detail the service.
K Ingleside Bus Temporarily Discontinued, T Bus Operating to Castro
The Muni Core Service Plan temporarily suspends K Ingleside service. The T Third Bus will operate service to Castro and Market. For service to the Forest Hill and West Portal neighborhoods, riders should transfer to the L Taraval Bus from Market & Castro. For service to City College, transfer to the 49 Van Ness/Mission at Van Ness and OakHYPERLINK "https://www.sfmta.com/stops/van-ness-ave-oak-st-16821".
L Taraval Bus Stops in Twin Peaks
The L Taraval Bus is making more stops than our standard L Taraval replacement bus. Recognizing that there are fewer choices with our core service plan, stops were added to the L Taraval Bus route to provide more transit service to the Twin Peaks area between West Portal and Castro. Additional Twin Peaks area stops can be found here.
N Judah Bus Temporary Extension in the Haight
The N Judah Bus has added additional stops to fill service gaps along Haight Street. This should be useful to people who usually rely on the 7 Haight/Noriega. These stops are in addition to the usual N Judah Bus replacement service stops. See the N Judah Bus’ additional Haight neighborhood stops here.
8 Bayshore Inbound Reroute to Stockton Street
The 8 Bayshore was rerouted inbound (going north) via Stockton Street between Market and Columbus to serve riders heading towards Chinatown. This should help people who usually ride the 30 or 45. More information about added stops are available here.
9 San Bruno Extension to McLaren Park
Before the pandemic, the 9 San Bruno line terminated at Bayshore and Sunnydale on weekdays. The 9R San Bruno Rapid had carried riders to the Cow Palace and McLaren Park. With our new Core Service Plan discontinuing the 9R, the 9 San Bruno will run its weekend route, proving service to McLaren Park. You can find out more about the changes on the 9 San Bruno Page.
38 Geary and 38 Geary Rapid to 48th Ave & Pt. Lobos
To provide an additional option for riders, the 38R Geary Rapid returned to service to supplement the 38 Geary. The 38R Geary Rapid will serve Rapid stops only, and the 38 Geary will serve all local stops. Both the 38 Geary and 38R Geary Rapid lines will terminate on 48th Avenue at Pt. Lobos, but the 38 will serve Fort Miley Circle near the VA Hospital first before proceeding to the terminal. More info on the 38 Geary page.
49 Van Ness/Mission Extension to Fisherman's Wharf
For those going to Fisherman’s Wharf, the 49 Van Ness/Mission has been extended to serve many of the 47 Van Ness stops in that area. To see where the additional stops are you can look at the 49 Van Ness/Mission page.
44 O'Shaughnessy Temporary Terminal at Forest Hill Station
The 44 O'Shaughnessy is extending farther than originally planned (only to Balboa Park) as part of the COVID-19 Muni Core Service Plan. It now operated between the Bayview and Forest Hill Station. Stops north of Forest Hill Station will not be served. By ending the northern part of the line at Forest Hill Station, we are able to preserve service to Laguna Honda Hospital from the south. To learn more, you can look at the 44 O’Shaughnessy’s page.
Next Steps and Tips for Getting Around
SFMTA staff is monitoring and implementing service changes on a faster timeline than normal to respond to the public health emergency. We have made major efforts to post multilingual signage. Please take note of any SFMTA signage posted at bus stops to inform riders of any recent changes and their effective dates. We are also regularly replenishing signage and taking down outdated signage for thousands of stops throughout the city.
As our customer information systems require time to update accurate stops and route information, you may see inaccuracies in NextBus and headsign displays on buses until system updates are complete. Refer to posted expected frequenices and ask operators to confirm their destination if the headsign on the bus says “Ask Driver for Terminal.”
We understand that our riders have different reactions to these changes. For some, the changes will be less convenient or eliminate service that people rely on. For others, these changes add important connections for taking essential trips. We are trying to balance our service to provide as much essential service as possible given the greater demand for vehicles to support social distancing and our shortage of operators, car cleaners, and other key staff needed to keep the system running. We encourage you to follow our social media channels to get the latest on upcoming service changes. We are all in this together and appreciate your patience during this public health crisis. Thank you!
In this week's Director's Report from the SFMTA Board of Director's Meeting, Jeffrey Tumlin gave updated on the following topics:
Coronavirus Response
Vision Zero
Our Board of Directors meeting is usually held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. To watch the meeting in full, go to SFGovTV.
Today we’re rolling out a new service plan that will operate 17 Muni core routes from 5 a.m. – 10 p.m., plus expanded evening-late night or Owl service. We are making these changes to ensure that the limited resources we have are used to provide service for essential trips on our busiest lines with the highest demand with adequate space for passengers.
We appreciate your understanding as our agency has been working diligently and as quickly as possible to develop and communicate this plan. Our blog posts on the essential core routes and the expanded Owl service have more details on these changes and our COVID-19 webpage has more information and resources, including updated service maps.
We understand that usually each of us has our preferred method for tracking our bus or timing the train we catch. We wanted to let you know what to expect from our schedules and NextMuni in the coming days. Again, we appreciate your patience as we implement these changes.
New Muni Updates & Related Data
Muni planners routinely modify routes and schedules a few times per year. From planning to implementation, this process typically takes several months. In this case, however, our response must be expedited, so we’ve restructured Muni service quickly and compressed this process into days.
Can I rely on the published schedules for the core routes?
Until they are updated in our systems over the next few days, the published schedules on our website and others such as 511.org that use on this data may be temporarily inaccurate.
We will update the schedules for our tracking and management purposes as quickly as possible. Muni service during this time will operate with attention to vehicle frequency or headways, not specific schedule times.
Will the NextMuni real-time arrival predictions work on the core routes?
On core routes, NextMuni will continue to provide predictions for buses on signs at shelters and by visiting www.nextmuni.com.
Generally speaking, we expect that the NextMuni predictions on the core routes to be accurate. However, some of the core routes are operating differently than normal. For example, the 44 O’Shaughnessy is running between the Bayview and Forest Hill Station only and the T Third bus is running between the Castro and Sunnydale. In these cases, predictions may temporarily be less accurate until all our systems are updated.
The following routes may experience inaccurate predictions: 9 San Bruno, 14R Mission Rapid, 38 Geary, 38R Geary Rapid, T Third bus, 44 O’Shaughnessy, 8 Bayshore.
Again, this should only be an issue only until we update our scheduling systems.
What about mobile apps?
The SFMTA provides digital route and schedule data to the public on an open API (Application Programming Interface). This data also relies on the schedule systems we are currently in the process of updating. Mobile apps may use this data to provide transit information to their users; however, the SFMTA does not control these independent apps and cannot guarantee their accuracy.
Our COVID-19 response and service information is covered daily in our blogposts with a more in-depth look into the changes we make and why. Consider subscribing and receiving daily blog email updates. You can also receive real-time email or text service updates, Monday – Friday, 5 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, by subscribing to our Muni Alerts.
Our priority is to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission to our employees and riders. We are committed to being transparent with the community as we make changes to pursue this priority. We look forward to restoring as much service as possible as soon as possible. In the meantime, these service changes are necessary to keep the system moving during this crisis.
The SFMTA asks San Franciscans to:
Remember, for more information on all our service changes visit SFMTA.com/COVID19.
Muni service is undergoing dramatic changes in response to COVID-19. Many critical Muni staff including operators, mechanics, and car cleaners are more vulnerable to coronavirus due to their age or preexisting health conditions, so they are sheltering in place in accordance with the city’s order. This has made it difficult for us to fully staff all our routes.
Muni’s Core Service Plan now in place focuses SFMTA’s limited resources on providing service on our busiest lines with the highest demand during this crisis. Although we are running only about 20% of our transit lines (17 of 79 lines), last week those 17 lines carried approximately 80% of our passengers due to changing trip patterns. This core service is in support of essential trips that cannot be made in other ways. We are asking all San Franciscans to help us maintain adequate space on buses for social distancing by staying at home except for essential trips. Further, if you can take alternative transportation to Muni, please do.
Still need to travel on Muni? Check out the changes now in effect. Be sure to plan extra time for your trip which now may include transfers and a longer walk. Remember your fare is good for two hours across multiple buses.
For more updates on all SFMTA services during this public health crisis, visit SFMTA.com/COVID19.
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