By Zusha Elinson, Bay Citizen Muni paid thousands of dollars in bonuses to top executives for meeting or exceeding on-time performance goals, even as the agency inflated its on-time rates by as much as 18 percent. The agency’s two previous chief executives, Michael Burns and Nathaniel Ford, received the bonuses. Both men have denied knowing […]
Category: Muni
MUNI
Reporting and coverage on San Francisco’s public transportation system.
Posted inMedia, Muni, Neighborhoods, Transportation
Rerouted bus through heart of Mission District hurts business, neighbors say
Riders and businesses in the Mission District say the rerouting of major Muni bus lines is causing confusion and hurting commerce. The 14-Mission, 14L-Mission and 49-Mission/Van Ness, which usually travel along Mission Street, have been rerouted to South Van Ness since the beginning of March because of a repavement and infrastructure project by the Department of Public Works and Public Utilities Commission. The project affects Mission Street between 16th and Cesar Chavez streets.
Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Muni, Transportation
Muni chief takes aim at swollen overtime budget
City transportation director Ed Reiskin says he hopes to control Muni’s overtime spending in the next fiscal year by budgeting it at $42 million. After budgeting $32 million for this fiscal year, the actual spending is expected to reach $60 million.
Posted inMuni, News
Muni riders speak out at town hall meeting
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees public transportation in the city, faces a $53 million budget deficit for the next two years. At a meeting in the San Francisco Public Library Wednesday evening, the agency was showing off its budget plan and was getting public feedback. We follow it via Storify.
Posted inCity Hall, Muni, Transportation
Challenges await new Muni chief Ed Reiskin
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors announced Thursday that the Department of Public Works Director Ed Reiskin will become the next agency’s executive director. Reiskin arrives at a crucial time in the agency where Muni’s on-time performance fell slightly to 71 percent and the relationship between the agency and its drivers is increasingly strained.
Posted inCity Hall, Muni, News, Transportation
Supervisor wants to see results of new Muni contract
An arbitrator-imposed labor contract for the city’s Muni operators went into effect on Friday and is expected to save the city $41 million over the next three years. City Supervisor Scott Wiener wants the transit agency to show where those savings are coming from.
Wiener introduced a resolution at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting calling upon the transit agency’s governing board to give periodic updates on how the agency is saving money from the deal.
Posted inMuni, News
Report: Muni chief to step down by the end of the month
The San Francisco Examiner reports that Muni Executive Director Nathaniel Ford will leave the transit agency by the end of the month. Ford has been rumored to be a candidate for a position with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, but members from the authority delayed the decision in choosing its next executive director back in […]
Posted inMuni, News
Arbitrator upholds rejected Muni contract; some drivers hint at strike or slowdown
Like it or not, Muni operators must accept a labor contract they rejected last week. An independent arbitrator made her decision Monday to implement the tentative labor contract that was agreed upon by union leaders and the Municipal Transportation Agency last month. The contract includes the same terms as the previous agreement including a three-year […]
Posted inMuni, Transportation
Muni to start express bus to ease crowding on N-Judah
Muni N-Judah streetcar riders may soon get some relief during their packed morning and evening commute home. A six-month pilot project to run an express bus between Ocean Beach and the Financial District will begin on Monday. With 38,000 daily boardings, the Municipal Transportation Agency says the N-Judah is the most used and crowded of all the rail lines. Complaints have been coming in to the transit agency from passengers who are not able to board the N-Judah during peak hours, according to the agency. The six-month pilot project will operate on weekdays during peak morning and evening hours making stops between Ocean Beach and 19th Avenue and Judah Street in the morning before heading to Montgomery and Bush streets.
Posted inMuni, Transportation
Drivers take the heat for discontent of Muni riders
Operators face long hours, crowded streets and a sometimes hostile ridership
Proposition G, the initiative that voters overwhelmingly approved to change pay and work rules for Muni operators, focused attention on the system’s drivers, painting them as a reason that San Francisco’s Muni transit system is notoriously slow and unreliable.
And the drivers did little to help their cause on the public relations front — rejecting cuts that other city workers agreed to, boycotting the annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest and threatening to strike if the measure passed.
But on the job, drivers work in a high-stress environment, with long hours and, for many drivers, few breaks.