SF Transit Riders Union

The MTA Board yesterday voted to restore half the service they eliminated in May of this year. Service will be restored in mid-September. First priority for this partial restoration will be 30-minute service on the OWL routes and later hours for most of the routes whose service now ends in the early evening.

Here are some choice quotes from the hearing.

Fran Taylor, SF Transit Riders Union supporter, on the MTA board referring to these service restorations as improvements: “If someone steals your wallet, and it has $100 in it, and they come up to you the next day with $50 and say, here, here’s a present for you, would you call that an improvement?”

Director Cam Beach, on his concerns that the MTA is adding service without the money to pay for it: “I want to make sure that if this board does do this, it will be the only service change or addition until at least July 2012. There will be no increase in July 2011, as we had previously discussed.”

Gee, Director Beach, thanks for the optimism!

Transit riders need more service, not less. And we need it before July 2012, Director Beach. It’s your job, as Director, to find the money to provide service. To give thanks where due, “thank you” for voting to put the parking tax on the ballot to raise additional funds for more Muni service, but, please don’t be so pessimistic about that or other sources of revenue!