SFMTA Receives $116 Million Award from CalSTA

SFMTA Receives $116 Million Award from CalSTA
By

Two Light Rail Vehicles at a Station Platform

A Snapshot from our most recent round of service changes

Back in June, we published a blog about the loss of Proposition A, the Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond, and what it would mean for our infrastructure projects going forward.

In the post, we reaffirmed our commitment to find alternative sources for these funds. We know that improving Muni and making streets safer remain priorities for our community—and we’re dedicated to making that a reality. We’ve also committed to being transparent about our financial situation and budget, and we have good news to share on that front.

Last week, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) awarded us $116 million for SFMTA Core Capacity projects as part of the fifth cycle of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). This historic investment will be used to directly fund projects that will make Muni more reliable and dependable. Speeding up Muni and making it a more desirable option for San Franciscans benefits all of us—including easing congestion

Three key components of our system will benefit from this money. Funding for this project will implement the Muni Forward program on three key corridors (K, N, and the 38R Geary lines) to enhance reliability, efficiency, travel times, and rider comfort. Muni Forward has already been successfully deployed on 70 miles of Transit Priority Projects across San Francisco. The new Muni Forward projects will promote reliability and ridership gains on the K Ingleside and N Judah rail lines, and the 38 Geary bus line.

Two phases of our Train Control Update Project will also receive funding from CalSTA. This project will eventually increase capacity by 20 percent on our vehicles that travel through the Market Street tunnel and will for the first time provide the ability for centralized line management of the entire light rail system.

Lastly, CalSTA is providing funding for a Muni Metro Modernization Planning Study, which will identify the next package of investments to provide additional capacity and reliability improvements for the Muni Metro. Together, these infrastructure improvements will provide Muni rail customers faster, longer trains and a quality of service that can be relied on for time-sensitive trips.

The SFMTA also received news last week that Moody’s Investors Service has assigned an Aa3 on revenue bonds forthe SFMTA's outstanding revenue bonds and the agency’s planned issuance of revenue bonds to help fund critical capital projects. Although this is a downgrade from our previous Aa2 rating, Aa3 is currently the highest rating for US mass transit systems’ revenue bonds secured by general operating revenue. Moody’s also assigned the SFMTA a rating outlook of “stable” based on the expectation that our finances will be balanced with federal aid over the next 18-24 and the SFMTA’s commitment to proactively seek additional revenue sources to a maintain structural balance. You can read more about the announcement at our Press Center.

We will continue to update the public as we get a better sense of our financial outlook and identify alternate funding sources for projects that depended on Proposition A funding. We will continue to have more conversations and engagement with community members and community-based organizations on their priorities to deliver a transportation system that works for all San Franciscans.

Published July 09, 2022 at 01:05AM
https://ift.tt/hSTMxCg

Comments

New top story from Time: ‘One Slip of the Tongue Could Ruin Things.’ Bipartisan Talks on Police Reform Advance—Delicately

https://ift.tt/2ScOdmJ A small bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington are making an urgent push to get a police reform bill passed in Congress in the wake of a Minneapolis jury finding Derek Chauvin, a white former police officer, guilty of murdering George Floyd, a Black man, last May. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they are optimistic that renewed bipartisan talks will result in a deal that can pass both of the closely split chambers of Congress. President Joe Biden has given lawmakers a deadline to get it done by the anniversary of Floyd’s death on May 25. “Congress should act,” said Biden during his joint address on Wednesday. “We have a giant opportunity to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.” The way forward in reforming America’s police force must now be found in a legislative body regularly paralyzed by partisanship and disagreement, on an issue that has become so divisive that compromise can translate to losing support from member...

New top story from Time: How China’s Response to the COVID-19 Lab Leak Theory Means It Will Rumble On and On

https://ift.tt/3vyD4f0 Zhao Lijian isn’t one for pulling punches. So when asked Thursday about U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to reinvestigate whether the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, China’s hawkish Foreign Ministry spokesman came out swinging : “What secrets are hidden in the suspicion-shrouded Fort Detrick and the over 200 U.S. bio-labs all over the world?” The lab leak hypothesis has returned to front pages across the world and Zhao’s baseless rekindling of the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 came from the U.S. Army base in Maryland shows how the origins of the pandemic that has so far claimed 3.5 million lives globally is once again a central fissure in the already-tense U.S.-China relationship. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It also spotlights the difficulty in finding any firm answers in an authoritarian state shrouded in secrecy, consumed by victimhood and determined to avoid any culpability that would undermine its pitch that liberal ...

New top story from Time: ‘I Choose to Do More.’ Olympian Ashleigh Johnson Embraces Her Role As Water Polo Pioneer

https://ift.tt/3i8slne When Ashleigh Johnson —the 6’1″ star goalkeeper for America’s “best-team-you’ve-likely-never-heard-of-but-totally-should”—was growing up swimming and playing water polo in Miami, she heard racist stereotypes about Black people and pools. Other kids, parents, even people she didn’t know would tell her they were surprised she could swim. Or ask her if Black people could float. She was sometimes the only Black person around the pool. “When you’re young, you don’t really have the protective mechanisms to not internalize that story,” says Johnson, 26. “I brought those questions to my mother, and she’s like, ‘O.K., that’s not real.’ But I still held on to it a little bit. Because those are my teammates, or maybe a coach I came into contact with, who would limit my belief in myself. And I had to learn you write your own story. And the things that make you different are your strengths.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Johnson, who in Rio became the first Blac...

New top story from Time: After Australia Banned Its Citizens In India From Coming Home, Many Ask: Who Is Really Australian?

https://ift.tt/33TpXIW When Ara Sharma Marar’s father had a stroke in India in early April, she got on the first flight she could from her home in Melbourne, Australia to New Delhi . She had planned to return to Australia , where she works in risk management at a bank, on May 14. But then her government banned her from coming home. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on April 27 that travelers from India—including citizens—were barred from the country. The government emphasized that anyone who tried to come home would face up to five years in jail and a $50,000 fine. “It’s immoral, unjustifiable and completely un-Australian because, you know, Australia prides itself saying that we are multicultural, we embrace all cultures, we welcome everyone,” she says. Morrison faced a furious backlash from many corners from the country—especially from Australians of South Asian ethnicity, many of whom said the ban was racist—and quickly backed down. On May 15 the fir...

New top story from Time: Supreme Court Delivers Two Major Voting Victories to Democrats. But the Battle May Not Be Over

https://ift.tt/3ea9ynJ The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed Democrats major victories in election legal battles in two critical swing states, letting extended deadlines for mail-in ballots in North Carolina and Pennsylvania remain in place for now. The Supreme Court declined to expedite a decision on Pennsylvania’s extended deadline for receiving mail-in ballots, virtually guaranteeing it will remain in place through the election, and, in a separate ruling, declined to halt an appeals court ruling that kept the North Carolina deadline in place. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented in both of the rulings. The Court’s newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed on Monday, did not participate because she did not have adequate time to review the filings, according to the court’s public information officer. As a result of the rulings, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received through Nov. 6th in Pennsylvania and Nov. 12 ...

New top story from Time: Team USA’s Ilona Maher Is a Star on the Olympic Rugby Field—and TikTok

https://ift.tt/3ydIUUi When Ilona Maher isn’t dominating on the rugby field while representing Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics , she’s going viral on TikTok. The 24-year-old has become a star on the social media platform by giving fans a front row seat to the behind-the-scenes fun in Tokyo as the U.S. women’s rugby squad chases its first Olympic medal. (Team USA recently beat Japan and China to advance out of the group stage to the quarterfinals on Friday). Maher’s videos are a wry, witty, and engaging peek at the action in Tokyo, where spectators have been banned due to the COVID-19 state of emergency there, that have garnered tens of millions of views. whether that’s trying to talk to her “ kiwi coach ” while social distancing, modeling Ralph Lauren’s Olympic uniforms (especially that bucket hat), or trying to work up the courage to go talk to Romanian volleyball players. (“It is not easy to go up to a pack of six, seven Romanian volleyball players and shoot my shot,” sh...

New top story from Time: Minneapolis Cops Involved in Fatal Shooting Get Separate Attorneys, Signaling Movement in 2013 Case

https://ift.tt/3iBH0XK Five Minneapolis police officers involved in the shooting death of an unarmed young Black man in 2013 have retained separate lawyers, a new sign of movement in the investigation into the controversial killing and an indication that officers could testify against each other if any is prosecuted. Relatives of 22-year-old Terrance Franklin have always alleged that police lied about the circumstances of Franklin’s death, and the Hennepin County Attorney, Michael Freeman, told TIME in July that the case “troubles” him. Only two of the five officers present during Franklin’s death fired the fatal shots, and when they shared attorneys, all five gave similar accounts and cast the shooting as self-defense. As laid out in a TIME examination of the case , their common account has since been contradicted by forensic evidence gathered by Franklin’s family, who term his death an assassination. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Family members are pressing for crimin...

FOX NEWS: Teacher catches mother bear and cub playing on school playground Even bears like to play.

Teacher catches mother bear and cub playing on school playground Even bears like to play. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3ATd0he

UN chief pitches for making vaccine licenses available to India, Brazil for mass production https://ift.tt/3t08mKW

Calling for international cooperation for massive vaccination to end COVID-19, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday licenses should be made available to countries like India and Brazil that have huge production capacities. He also said every single person, including in poor countries, must be vaccinated to stop the spread of the deadly virus while asserting that humanity is at war with nature and new mutations are making the virus deadlier that may require a new vaccine every year.

New top story from Time: Ban on ‘Soul Cap’ Spotlights Lack of Diversity in Swimming

https://ift.tt/2V0kBej TOKYO — Alice Dearing has an afro, a voluminous puff nearly impossible to protect in most swimming caps. Her hair shrinks if it gets wet. And the chlorine? The chemicals in a pool can cause severe damage that requires substantial time and money to treat. The first Black female swimmer on Britain’s Olympic team uses the the Soul Cap, an extra-large silicone covering designed specifically to protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair. But Dearing has been forbidden from using the cap in her Olympic debut next week in the women’s 10k marathon swi [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] FINA, which oversees international competitions in swimming, rejected the application from the British makers of the Soul Cap for use in the Tokyo Games, citing no previous instance in which swimmers needed “caps of such size and configuration.” It also wondered if the cap could create an advantage by disrupting the flow of water. On social me...

My precise view

Search This Blog