SFMTA Recently Approved Budget Serves San Francisco

SFMTA Recently Approved Budget Serves San Francisco
By Stephen Chun

Delivering on Your Service Priorities

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 & 2024 SFMTA Budget was passed by the SFMTA Board of Directors last week. It will be submitted to the Mayor’s Office by May 1, and the mayor will then send the budget to the Board of Supervisors on June 1.

This budget cycle, we approached outreach as a city-wide listening session. Rather than presenting a pre-set budget to our stakeholders, customers and the wider community for feedback, we focused on soliciting feedback and then crafted our budget to address the top community priorities.

Community Survey Highlights

Surveys were offered in English, Chinese, Spanish and Filipino both online and in print. They included an open-ended question to ensure San Franciscans had a real opportunity to provide specific feedback about service priorities.
1,295 responses from online and paper surveys in four languages
917 additional comments from listening sessions, phone calls, and emails
Feedback from the SFMTA Board of Directors and Citizens Advisory Council

Pie chart showing data from responses of various priorities of the SFMTA

Budget Highlights: Equity, Reliability and Safety

As a direct result of your feedback, the SFMTA FY 2023 & 2024 budget has doubled down on our long-standing commitment to ensuring equity in San Francisco’s public transportation network. To improve reliability, we’ve made the largest investment in decades for State of Good Repair, which refers to the condition in which the SFMTA’s capital assets can operate at a full level of performance. To ensure that all our riders feel safe, we’ve increased investments in Muni safety, including funding a new Safety Equity Initiative designed to reduce gender-based harassment and violence on Muni.

EQUITY  

For San Francisco to be an equitable community, we must fully invest in a robust transportation system that ensures that everyone--especially people who have the fewest transportation options and rely most on Muni--can access jobs and services throughout San Francisco. This means that we made the following investments to ensure Muni remains safe and affordable for all who rely on it, including:

No fare increases for the two-year budget period (pause fare indexing)
Free Muni for All Youth continues 
Pilots of new fare programs , such as a 10-Trip Pass
More Muni service, especially for neighborhoods identified by the Muni Service Equity Strategy

RELIABILITY

To make Muni faster and more reliable, we’ll be investing an unprecedented amount in State of Good Repair because a broken bus or train reduces reliability and impacts all our riders. Based on what we have heard and the feedback we have received, the updated 5-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) will fund critical investments in transit speed and reliability projects, through significant investments in State of Good Repair:

Continue replacement of the Breda Light Rail Vehicles
Replacement of the subway’s Muni Metro Train Control System
Muni Bus Fleet Mid-Life Overhauls
Upgraded Facilities for improved maintenance

The FY 2023 & 2024 budget also invests in street improvements that have proven to increase Muni reliability, such as transit lanes, bus bulbs and smart traffic signals. Similar improvements on the 9R San Bruno, 5R Fulton and 14 Mission have improved the rider experience and increased both reliability and ridership.

To further increase reliability, we must invest in larger infrastructure projects, like upgrading our 100-year-old bus yards so we’re able to repair modern buses more quickly. We are aggressively pursuing state and federal grants to support San Francisco’s transportation infrastructure needs and fill holes on the capital funding side of the budget. We will know how much funding is needed after voters decide on the Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond measure that’s on the ballot in June 2022.

SAFETY

The FY 2023 & 2024 Budget includes 53% more funding than the previous two-year budget for Quick Build projects that slow down vehicle speeds and increase pedestrian visibility and safety, which will help us achieve our Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries. 

We also know that for the SFMTA to increase ridership and reduce car use – one of the most important changes in our fight against climate change – riders need to feel safe. Consequently, the FY 2023 & 2024 Budget:

Increases the number of staff in our Security Intelligence Center. These staff will analyze data, gather intelligence and review security video footage to identify patterns and direct security response 24 hours a day.
Funds a new Safety Equity Initiative designed to reduce gender-based harassment and violence on Muni.
Fully funds the security budget and staffing from our last two-year budget cycle that included 20 new Muni Transit Ambassadors who began riding Muni routes at the end of 2021 to assist customers, defuse and deter conflicts, prevent acts of vandalism and assist bus operators.

The 2-year Consolidated Operating and Capital Budget will go into effect on July 1 and will end on June 30, 2024. To learn more, view our full budget.

Published April 29, 2022 at 05:31AM
https://ift.tt/wnkqdpK

Comments

New top story from Time: Hongkongers Line Up to Buy Last Edition of Pro-Democracy Apple Daily Newspaper

https://ift.tt/3vYZQfu (HONG KONG) — Across Hong Kong, people lined up early Thursday to buy the last print edition of the last remaining pro-democracy newspaper. By 8:30 a.m., Apple Daily’s final edition of 1 million copies was sold out across most of the city’s newsstands. The newspaper said it would cease operations after police froze $2.3 million in assets, searched its office and arrested five top editors and executives last week, accusing them of foreign collusion to endanger national security — another sign Beijing is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city. In recent years, the newspaper has become increasingly outspoken, criticizing Chinese and Hong Kong authorities for limiting the city’s freedoms not found in mainland China and accusing them of reneging on a promise to protect them for 50 years after the 1997 handover from Britain. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The pressure on the paper — and Hong Kong’s civil liberties — increased after authorities r...

Creating a Better Market Street: Car-free Enforcement to Resume

Creating a Better Market Street: Car-free Enforcement to Resume By Mariana Maguire It’s been over a year since Market Street went “car-free” on January 29, 2020 , but shortly afterwards, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down our city and changed how people move through San Francisco. As the city begins to reopen and vehicle traffic is increasing, we are by stepping up compliance and enforcement efforts to keep Market Street car-free starting March 29, with the help of SFMTA’s Parking Control Officers (PCOs) and the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). Under the year-old car-free rules established as a part of Better Market Street , no private vehicles are allowed to travel along Market Street eastbound from 10th to Main streets or westbound from Steuart Street to Van Ness Avenue. Traffic is still allowed to cross Market Street, but there are no turns allowed onto the street in the car-free area. These restrictions apply to all private vehicles, including Uber, ...

New top story from Time: Simone Biles Is Already the Best Gymnast Ever. She’ll Be Even Better for Tokyo

https://ift.tt/3qlhBnM When you’ve won seven national championships, 19 world titles, five Olympic medals ( four of them gold ), and your leotards are already decorated with a rhinestone goat (a nod to Greatest of All Time status), is there anything left to prove? For most people, the answer is no. But Simone Biles is not like most people, or even most Olympians. The 4 ft. 8 in. 24-year-old from Spring, Texas, is not only the most dominant gymnast of her time—she is likely the greatest in history. With an unmatched blend of skill, power and daring—and more than a splash of charisma—Biles has won every all-around national, world and Olympic competition she has entered since 2013. Her record haul of 25 World Championship medals is five more than that of her closest rival—who retired in 2004. Biles has four gymnastics skills named after her, an honor reserved for the first competitor to execute a new move in a major international competition. And she has a fifth that she is lik...

New top story from Time: Accused of Being “Woke,” Pentagon Pulled Into America’s Culture Wars

https://ift.tt/3gUrTXM After weeks of political backlash over Pentagon’s recent attempts to promote inclusion in the military, the nation’s top officer chided lawmakers who accused the armed services of becoming “woke.” “I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned and non-commissioned officers of being ‘woke’ or something else because we’re studying some theories that are out there,” General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday at the House Armed Services Committee about the Defense budget. Watch: Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just now on Critical Race Theory, ‘Wokeness’ & Jan. 6. “I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist. So what is wrong with understanding…the country which we are here to defend?” pic.twitter.com/KsRtOoWN0w — James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) June 23, 2021 The Pentagon has gradually be...

FOX NEWS: Horse photobombs maternity shoot with hilarious smile: 'Always into mischief' When Amanda Eckstein and Phillip Werner posed together for their maternity shoot, they didn’t think a horse would steal the show.

Horse photobombs maternity shoot with hilarious smile: 'Always into mischief' When Amanda Eckstein and Phillip Werner posed together for their maternity shoot, they didn’t think a horse would steal the show. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/2UEG8Zv

New top story from Time: The Pandemic Caused the Biggest Decline in U.S. Life Expectancy since World War 2. Black and Hispanic Americans Have Suffered the Most

https://ift.tt/3j8iYEM Although James Toussaint has never had COVID-19, the pandemic is taking a profound toll on his health. First, the 57-year-old lost his job delivering parts for a New Orleans auto dealership in spring 2020, when the local economy shut down. Then, he fell behind on his rent. Last month, Toussaint was forced out of his apartment when his landlord—who refused to accept federally funded rental assistance —found a loophole in the federal ban on evictions. Toussaint has recently had trouble controlling his blood pressure. Arthritis in his back and knees prevents him from lifting more than 20 pounds, a huge obstacle for a manual laborer. He worries about what will happen when his unemployment benefits from the federal government run out, which could come as early as July 31 . “I’ve been homeless before,” says Toussaint, who found a room to rent nearby after his eviction. “I don’t want to be homeless again.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] With coronavirus ...

FOX NEWS: Firefighter helps veteran suffering from PTSD episode on airplane Firefighters don’t just fight fire.

Firefighter helps veteran suffering from PTSD episode on airplane Firefighters don’t just fight fire. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3ddRzO9

New top story from Time: South Korean President Moon Jae-in Makes One Last Attempt to Heal His Homeland

https://ift.tt/3zNEV25 Moon Jae-in can still hear the roar today. South Korea’s President had been seated next to Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium on Sept. 19, 2018, for the close of the Mass Games when North Korea’s leader beckoned him up to the dais. Beneath a vast collage calling for Korea to “unite the strength of the entire people,” Moon urged the 150,000-strong crowd to “hasten a future of common prosperity and reunification,” while revelers brandished white flags with powder blue outlines of a unified Korean Peninsula. For Moon, it was a transformative experience. The North Koreans’ “eyes and attitudes” showed that they “strongly aspire for peace,” he tells TIME. “I could see for myself that North Korea has completely changed … and is doing everything possible to develop.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] That speech was the first by a South Korean leader in North Korea and the high point of a long, often agonizing process of engagement that Moon had charted...

FOX NEWS: Rattlesnake bites 5-year-old girl multiple times in dad's backyard, revealing previously unknown allergy Education is the best way to prepare for emergencies.

Rattlesnake bites 5-year-old girl multiple times in dad's backyard, revealing previously unknown allergy Education is the best way to prepare for emergencies. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3vOQO4j

Delhi's air quality hits 'very poor' level first time this season https://ift.tt/2IqcAsn

The national capital's air quality was in the “very poor” category on Tuesday morning, the first time this season, with calm winds and low temperatures allowing the accumulation of pollutants. According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, an increase in farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring regions of Pakistan is also going to impact the air quality in Delhi-NCR.

My precise view

Search This Blog