Budget woes mean dramatic changes for San Francisco MUNI riders

[marmar]

from the SF Chronicle:




CITY INSIDER
Muni ready for dramatic change

Michael Cabanatuan, Heather Knight, John Coté
Wednesday, November 25, 2009


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Muni's 38-Geary line was running like clockwork at Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue Tuesday afternoon. Along with the shiny bus stop - just painstakingly detailed by a Clear Channel crew - it provided a perfect backdrop for Mayor Gavin Newsom and Municipal Transportation Agency Executive Director Nathaniel Ford to remind riders that big changes are coming to the San Francisco Municipal Railway on Dec. 5.

More than half of Muni's bus routes, plus one light-rail line, will be altered as part of an effort to reduce a $129 million budget gap.

"We're about to experience the most dramatic change in a generation," said Newsom.

The service changes involve eliminating seven bus routes and several portions of lines with low ridership. The frequency with which buses run will be reduced on some routes, and service will end earlier on others. But service on some of Muni's busiest lines - including the 38-Geary - will increase.

A full list of the changes is available at links.sfgate.com/ZIUF.

Newsom acknowledged that the changes are likely to be controversial and said he expects to receive some angry calls and messages on Dec. 7, the first weekday the changes will be in force.

"Everybody should be prepared," he said. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/25/BAUN1APSDL.DTL

[KharmaTrain]

1. All Transit Systems Are Having Big Troubles...

Here in Chicago, the CTA has raised fares and cut services to try to fix a big shortfall...a result of the doubling of fuel costs and the collapse of taxing subsidies and nowhere to turn for help. The states aren't in any shape to bail out local transit and the federal government bailout is earmarked for many other shortfalls...public transit has literally gone to the back of the bus.

The transit mess is a real Catch 22 as those most affected are people who need and hold the jobs that fuel the tax bases. But now with so many defecits and fewer dollars to fill the holes, do you take money away from teachers or police or fixing roads to keep busses and rapid transit going?

It's another reason a second stimulus is going to be needed next year...no matter if this administration wants to ignore it or not.

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. You take the cash away from prisons, first off

Then you add a new tax base of allowing pot sales.

[KharmaTrain]

3. I'm All For It...

...if you can get it pass my state legislatures. Instead we're looking to take in "terrorists" cause it will create several thousand jobs. You tell me where the priorities are.

Cheers...

[sendero]

4. Plain as the nose on everyone's face..

.... but the depression deniers are still all around :)