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

Vaccine nationalism will not shorten COVID pandemic, warns WHO chief https://ift.tt/3oqykEN

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for solidarity in the rollout of future coronavirus vaccines. In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that it was natural for the countries to want to protect their own citizens first but, he urged, "we must also use it effectively".

New top story from Time: Why the First Black Woman to Be a History Professor in the U.K. Sees Her New Book African Europeans as a ‘Call to Arms’

https://ift.tt/3vAXTFW Many academics don’t get much popular attention for their work, and historian Olivette Otele knows it. The Paris-raised, U.K.-based scholar was surprised to see her research draw widespread attention over the last year—but, given the global context into which her latest book arrived, perhaps she should not have been so shocked. “ I was very flattered that people think that what I do is not just staying in an ivory tower,” she says. “It has resonance for everybody.” African Europeans: An Untold History , which was published in the U.K. in October and in the U.S. on Tuesday, traces the presence of people of African descent in Europe from as early as the era of the Roman Empire up to the present day. In the U.K., the book has been shortlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize for Political Writing , and received positive reviews from readers and academics alike. Otele, an expert on the history of colonialism and slavery, starts by looking at early encount...

Bihar: Special family pension for dependents of govt staff who die of coronavirus https://ift.tt/32WpXZC

Family members, dependents of state government staff who die of coronavirus while on duty will receive a special family pension, the Bihar Cabinet took the decision on Saturday. According to an official release, the dependent of a government employee, who die of COVID-19 while on duty, will be given the benefit of compassionate ground, for getting a job, besides other existing benefits, informed Cabinet Secretariat Department's Special Secretary Mithilesh Kumar Singh. If the dependent doesn't want to avail the benefit of compassionate ground, then the family will be given full salary of the staff, who died due to COVID-19, as "special family pension" till the date retirement, he said. This decision will be effective from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. Quick recap Bihar government agrees for a special family pension for state government employees dependents, family members who die of coronavirus on duty. Dependents will also have a benefit of compassionate grou...

FOX NEWS: Couple gets married at 'most beautiful' Taco Bell: 'It was the best of both worlds' Analicia Garcia, 24, and Kyle Howser, 25, from Sacramento, California, got married on Tuesday, Oct. 26 and had their reception at the famous Pacifica, California, Taco Bell.

Couple gets married at 'most beautiful' Taco Bell: 'It was the best of both worlds' Analicia Garcia, 24, and Kyle Howser, 25, from Sacramento, California, got married on Tuesday, Oct. 26 and had their reception at the famous Pacifica, California, Taco Bell. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/1G43ec8

New top story from Time: ‘Most Heinous Attack.’ Merrick Garland Pledges to Take on Domestic Terrorism as Attorney General

https://ift.tt/3dGuLHC As the federal government continues to grapple with the fallout of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol Building by pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, the Biden Administration has remained close-lipped about how it plans to confront the rising threat of domestic terrorism. This week, Americans got a first look into how that effort may unfold with the testimony of Merrick Garland, the nominee to be the next attorney general. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday and Tuesday, Garland declared that investigating the Capitol insurrection was his “first priority” and promised to “do everything in the power of the Justice Department” to stop domestic terrorism. He also warned that the events of Jan. 6 were not a “one-off,” and that the U.S. is facing “a more dangerous period” than any in recent memory. Garland would know. More than 25 years ago, he led the Justice Department’s prosecution of the perpetrators of the 1995 Oklahoma Cit...

New top story from Time: To Vaccinate U.S. Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains and Tundra

https://ift.tt/3uavmaw A Learjet 31 took off before daybreak from Helena Regional Airport in Montana in late January, carrying six Veterans Affairs medical providers and 250 doses of historic cargo cradled in a plug-in cooler designed to minimize breakage. Even in a state where 80-mph speed limits are normal, ground transportation across long distances is risky for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, which must be used within 12 hours of thawing. The group’s destination was Havre, Mont., 30 miles from the Canadian border. About 500 military veterans live in and around this small town of roughly 9,800, and millions more reside in similarly rural, hard-to-reach areas across the United States. About 2.7 million veterans who use the VA health system are classified as “rural” or “highly rural” patients, residing in communities or on land with fewer services and less access to health care than those in densely populated towns and cities. An additional 2 million veterans live in remote ...

New top story from Time: Anne Lamott’s Advice Could Stop You From Drowning in Cynicism

https://ift.tt/3m8JRbR Well hello! I’m so glad you’re here. A version of this article also appeared in the It’s Not Just You newsletter. Sign up to get a new edition every Saturday. This year has tested my lack of faith. I was raised as an erratic agnostic, unsure about being unsure. But lately, I’m not the only one scrabbling for meaning or optimism or even someone to blame for the various messes in which we find ourselves. And who better to address this moment than bestselling author Anne Lamott , who has both faith and a fierce sense of humor? [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Lamott has written 19 books , many of them wry memoirs about spirituality , addiction, recovery, and hope , in addition to her beloved classics about motherhood and advice for writers . She has a vast following that crosses cultural boundaries, though she refers to herself as an “unabashed, extremely left-wing Christian, and the New York Times has described her as “ a feminist C.S. Lewis...

West Bengal to impose strict 7-day lockdown at 5 PM today: What's open and what's not https://ift.tt/3iJyjt1

In light of the deteriorating COVID-19 situation in the state, Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has decided to impose a strict 7-day lockdown across the state. The lockdown comes into place today, at 5 pm, and will be applicable for a period of 7 days, till July 16. from IndiaTV: Google News Feed https://ift.tt/3gEhXQh

New top story from Time: Pfizer-BioNTech Have Started Testing Their COVID-19 Vaccine in Children Under 12

https://ift.tt/3vWOQjL Alejandra and Marisol Gerardo are nine years old but already making a little bit of history. The twin sisters are among the first young children to get vaccinated with a COVID-19 shot in Pfizer-BioNTech’s study of its vaccine in kids under age 12. Alejandra and Marisol had their blood drawn in the morning on March 24, then got their first dose of the two-dose vaccine later that afternoon. “Their primary concern was, ‘is it going to hurt,’” says their father, Dr. Charles Gerardo, chief of emergency medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. “They’re not too worried about the long term side effects; they’re looking at the moment, not the future.” Testing the vaccine in younger children will answer critical questions about how much immunity the shots can provide, and potentially give parents and education officials more confidence in re-opening schools. While it appears that younger children don’t get as sick with COVID-19 as older teens and adult...

New top story from Time: I Found a Rainbow At the End of My Hunt For a Vaccine Appointment

https://ift.tt/3dt1i2v A version of this article also appeared in the It’s Not Just You newsletter. Sign up here to receive a new edition every Sunday. CHASING RAINBOWS (AND VACCINES) We humans are notoriously unreliable, superstitious narrators, always scanning the horizon for signs that validate what our hearts have already told us. Take me, for example. I keep telling people I was vaccinated at Hogwarts’ Manhattan campus under the waxing moon (it was a gibbous moon to be exact). How auspicious! Ok, so my COVID-vax site was really The City College of New York . But stepping through its big old gothic gates to receive a blessing of science was wondrous, maybe a little spiritual. There was even a rainbow-y halo around that big moon, another lucky omen if you’re hungry for such things. I started digging for lore on moons and rainbows and learned that the physics of rainbows doesn’t detract from the mythical place they have in our cultural imaginations. In fact ...

My precise view

Search This Blog