By: Nick Vojdani

Muni Has Lowest On-Time Rate Since 2008

Does it seem like lately you’ve been waiting even longer than normal for your 38 Geary bus to come? Well that’s because you have. According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Muni’s on-time rate for fiscal year 2011 has dropped to its lowest point since 2008. The drop in on-time performance also marks the first time since 2008 that Muni has seen a year-over-year decline in its on-time rate.

Muni’s on-time performance rate for 2011 was 73% – well below the voter mandated 85% on-time rate passed in 1999.

Phil Ting Has Made Fixing Muni A Priority

Reset San Francisco founder Phil Ting has made fixing Muni one of the hallmarks of his campaign for Mayor and even held a town hall last month at San Francisco’s County Fair building specifically to discuss Muni reform.

The town hall included a panel discussion with leading transportation experts as well as questions and discussion from the audience of over 250. As riders interacted with transit experts, one of the key themes was the pressing need to speed up the system by doing the simple things – like all door boarding – that could make Muni run faster.

And that’s why he’s holding smaller Muni town hall conversations this fall, focusing on individual lines. See when there’s an event in your neighborhood, and RSVP on Reset San Francisco or Facebook.

All-Door Boarding Can Speed Up Muni

Studies show that 25% of Muni delays are caused by the boarding process. Encouraging all-door boarding, with the appropriate protections against fare evasion, will cut down on boarding time and help speed up Muni. That’s why Phil Ting and the Reset San Francisco community have called for allowing all-door boarding on Muni.

All-Door Boarding Not Only Saves Time, it Saves a Lot of Money.

According to SFMTA, San Francisco’s busiest Muni lines such as the 1 California, 38 Geary,14 Mission and 30 Stockton spend about twenty percent of their operating time boarding. If we could decrease boarding times and increase the speed of an average Muni bus from the current 8 mph to just 10 mph, SFMTA would save $40 million a year. And that doesn’t even count the money Muni could save in terms of fare evasion with a functional all-door boarding policy.

The SFMTA Board of Directors is reviewing a proposal that would allow all-door boarding on all Muni vehicles including buses and streetcars. SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin told the agency’s Board of Directors that the earliest Muni could implement a system-wide all-door boarding system would be sometime in the first half of next year.

If you agree that all-door boarding will speed up commutes and make Muni faster and more efficient – sign the petition and we will deliver it to the SFMTA.

San Franciscans are speaking out about all-door boarding on Muni. Let’s hope the folks over at SFMTA are listening.