The SFMTA update that was shared today acknowledges the need for “long term solutions” and recommends using the runway to be thoughtful about revenue options in the future. There is some discussion today but we still need to identify all pathways for doing so. There is still a lot of emphasis on capital improvements. These are important but how about reliability and frequency, coverage in transit that is more dependent on operations. SFTR was disappointed that there was not an exhaustive review of SFMTA's hiring and training policies. Though the operator shortage is a national problem, SFMTA needs to better demonstrate that it is doing all it can to get on top of and stay on top of hiring and training — this is the only way they will be able to manage personnel deployment and service restoration. SFTR believes that the postponement of the “2022 service plan” until sometime in 2024 is representative of that, and staff are not forthcoming when information requests are made. We were also disappointed that the financial presentation does not even suggest a strategy by which a “full” level of service might at some point be restored, and what that would require. Riders deserve to know what is happening with line restoration. Due to traffic volumes—and parking revenues—far closer to pre-pandemic levels than transit ridership, SFTR certainly supports the implementation of new parking related revenue streams, such as evening and Sunday metering, and it is encouraging to see a number of such options enumerated in the slide deck. SFMTA has been dancing around this issue for years but still never took steps toward implementation. At a time of depressed ridership in which Muni has lost a large number of its higher income riders, the riders planners used to call “discretionary riders,” and despite moratoria on fare increases in past years, this does not seem the time to impose a fare increase on the greater volume of lower income riders who remain. For example, Meea is a disabled, elderly, and low-income resident of the Northern Cooperative Community, set in the hills of the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. Of the recent changes in the neighborhood, she doesn’t agree with all the changes that were introduced but likes some “the new bus shelters, the fresh bike lanes, street fixtures, improvements in black-owned shops and restaurants”. She relies on the 44 and 15 and takes the 23 and T sometimes, but the hill makes it very difficult for her and other folks to reach the bus stops. “I want the bus lines to run more frequently and be on time, timing is so important because I have to get to work and run errands on a schedule.” San Francisco Transit Riders will be interested in a strategy by which a “full” level of service might at some point be restored, also where expanded service options be explored for residents like Meea. It is also not clear if a future local revenue measure or participation in the regional revenue measure efforts are part of the overall plan. For a couple of years now, the San Francisco Transit Riders, our members and our coalition partners have been focusing on ideas and mechanisms for the much needed revenue shortfall that seems impending once the federal dollars run out. We sincerely urge SFMTA staff and board to work on a fuller strategy for overcoming the shortfall and for meeting the long term needs of our most impacted residents. We are in this with you. Such an effort will only work in writer author Kafui Attoh’s words to foreground concerns in transit justice. “These are concerns with the alienation and isolation of urban life, the political economy of cities, and the tyranny of urban policies that function to both exclude the poor—many of whom ride public buses—and to betray the democratic promise of cities themselves.” | 
