San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
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The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is an agency created by consolidation of the
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable ...
(Muni), the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT), and the Taxicab Commission. The agency oversees
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
,
taxis A taxis (; ) is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stim ...
,
bicycle infrastructure Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except w ...
, pedestrian infrastructure, and
paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...
for the
City and County of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.


Overview

The SFMTA oversees the management of streets and ground transportation in the City and County of San Francisco, delegating its authority to several divisions within the agency. These divisions are tasked with managing specific aspects of the city's transportation such as transit, street design, parking needs, taxis, and so on.


San Francisco Municipal Railway

The SFMTA handles rail, bus, and other public transportation under its Transit division (the San Francisco Municipal Railway, commonly known as "Muni"). The SFMTA handles over 700,000 weekday boardings (707,590 in fiscal year 2017) on its public transit services and serves 90 routes.https://www.sfmta.com/about-sfmta/reports/2015-transportation-fact-sheet (p. 5 of linked pdf) Muni provides transit services with its vehicle fleet of, as of 2015, 1096 service vehicles: buses (both diesel and trolleybus), cable cars, light rail vehicles, and historic streetcars. The agency and its board also set the
fares A fare is the fee paid by a passenger for use of a public transport system: rail, bus, taxi, etc. In the case of air transport, the term airfare is often used. Fare structure is the system set up to determine how much is to be paid by various pa ...
for the system, with the last increase setting the general adult fare to $2.75 in July 2017. As a unified agency managing both the streets and transit system, the SFMTA can use its authority over the city's streets to add
bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway ...
s (the agency maintains of bus lanes) and
transit signal priority Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associat ...
in order to improve service performance for the transit system. Though the SFMTA primarily serves the transit needs of the city of San Francisco, it also participates in regional transit planning efforts. For example, a representative of the SFMTA sits on the board of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board which oversees
Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as far ...
, a regional commuter rail system in the Bay Area.


Streets, Parking, and Taxis

Through its Streets division, the SFMTA is responsible for the planning and design of the streets of San Francisco. This includes responsibility over automobile
parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...
, bicycle infrastructure, bus and transit lanes,
sidewalks A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...
and so on. The agency maintains over 434 bicycle lanes and 4000 bicycle parking racks, and has jurisdiction over 1088 miles of roads. Parking for automobiles is also managed by the agency, with 277,000 on-street parking spaces and with several parking garages around the city maintained by the agency. The SFMTA operates the
SFpark SFpark is San Francisco's system for managing the availability of both on- and off-street parking. Taking effect in April 2011, the program utilizes smart parking meters that change their prices according to location, time of day, and day of the ...
program to dynamically price metered parking spaces on the city's streets in order to regulate parking demand and ensure that parking spaces remain available for use. Some parking spaces managed by the city are dedicated to car-sharing programs such as
Zipcar Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition ...
in order to reduce the necessity of car ownership. The SFMTA's Taxi and Accessible Service division oversees the regulation of taxis and paratransit services in the city. Nearly 2000
taxi medallion A taxi medallion, also known as a CPNC (Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience), is a transferable permit in the United States allowing a taxicab driver to operate. Several major cities in the US use these in their taxi licensing systems, ...
s have been issued by the agency. Private transit services, such as
Chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
, are also regulated by the agency and are required to operate routes that complement the city's transit services rather than compete with them. In addition to regulating private transit operators, the SFMTA has expressed interest in regulating
vehicle for hire A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which th ...
companies including
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
and
Lyft Lyft, Inc. offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dyn ...
, but the regulatory authority for in California lies with the
California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...
.


Funding

Operating and
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
funding for the SFMTA comes from a variety of sources. On the operating side, funding comes from San Francisco's
general fund Fund accounting is an accounting system for recording resources whose use has been limited by the donor, grant authority, governing agency, or other individuals or organisations or by law.Leon E. Hay (1980). ''Accounting for Governmental and Non ...
, transit passenger fares,
fines Fines may refer to: * Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality * Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term *Fines, ore or other products with a s ...
and
fees A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead (business), overhead, wages, costs, and Profit (accounting), markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Repu ...
the agency charges,
grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...
, and revenue from parking facilities. On the capital side, funding comes from at least 38 different sources at the local (San Francisco), regional (Bay Area), state, and federal levels. Funding from the general fund is affected by the 2014 Proposition B
ballot measure A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
, which tied the allocation from the general fund to the population growth in the city. The total operating revenue for 2017 was $1.063 billion, with around $206 million budgeted from transit fares, $293 million from the city's general fund, and $329 million from parking, fines, and fees. The capital budget was $829 million in 2017, with the vast majority of the funds going to the Central Subway project, transit expansion, and vehicle procurement and facility improvements. Specific sources of local and regional funding include the 2003 Proposition K sales tax, 2018's Regional Measure 3, and the 2010 Measure AA vehicle registration fee.


Current capital projects

The SFMTA is managing several large capital projects for improving transportation in San Francisco. These include: * The Central Subway project, which will extend the
T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with the ...
line of the
Muni Metro Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 157 ...
to the
Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
neighborhood via a 1.7 mile subway tunnel. *
Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit is a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, California, United States. The line, which runs between Mission Street and Lombard Street, has dedicated center bus lanes and nine stations. ...
, the first
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
project to start construction in San Francisco. The project adds two miles of bus priority lanes on Van Ness Avenue. *
Geary Bus Rapid Transit The Geary Bus Rapid Transit project added bus rapid transit features to San Francisco Municipal Railway lines along Geary Boulevard. The corridor serves routes , , , which combined to serve 52,900 daily riders in 2019, the most of any corridor i ...
, a project to improve reliability on the heavily used 38-Geary bus line with bus priority lanes. * Better Market Street, a project to rebuild Market Street for improved bicycle, pedestrian, and transit access.


History

The SFMTA was established by the passage of Proposition E in November 1999, a measure which amended San Francisco's charter and established the semi-independent agency to combine and run Muni and DPT. The measure, promoted by the transit riders' group Rescue Muni, among others, established service standards for the agency and made a number of changes to the laws governing it. Prior to the passage of Proposition E, the Muni was governed by the Public Transportation Commission and the Department of Parking and Traffic was governed by the Parking and Traffic Commission. Both bodies were dissolved upon the full implementation of Proposition E. Proposition E established a seven-member board to govern the agency, its members appointed for fixed, staggered terms by the Mayor of San Francisco and subject to confirmation by the city and county's
Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...
. Board members are limited to three terms. The SFMTA Board of Directors is responsible for, among other things, hiring the agency's executive director. At its inception, the SFMTA's Director of Transportation (a position referred to, at various times, in practice and by SFMTA Board policy, as "Executive Director" or "Executive Director/CEO") was Michael T. Burns. On July 15, 2005 he left the SFMTA for a position with Santa Clara VTA. Deputy Executive Director Stuart Sunshine, a former aide to Mayor Frank Jordan and Mayor Willie Brown, and a former head of the Department of Parking and Traffic, served as acting executive director until January 17, 2006, when Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., previously the general manager and CEO of MARTA in Atlanta, took over as the new executive director. On June 15, 2011, the SFMTA announced Ford would be leaving the agency effective June 30, 2011; shortly thereafter the SFMTA Board decided that Director of Administration, Taxis, and Accessible Services Debra A. Johnson would take over as acting executive director until a permanent replacement was selected by the SFMTA Board. The board selected Edward D. Reiskin, the head of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, as the permanent executive director, effective August 15, 2011. The first chair of the SFMTA Board of Directors was H. Welton Flynn; he was succeeded by Cleopatra Vaughns. When Vaughns left the board, James McCray Jr. was elected chairman. Like two of his then-colleagues, McCray previously served on the Parking and Traffic Commission, which was abolished when the department merged into the SFMTA. A majority of the current SFMTA Board was first appointed by Mayor Ed Lee; Tom Nolan, Cheryl Brinkman, and Malcolm Heinecke were initially appointed by
Mayor Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fr ...
and later reappointed by Lee. Only once has the Board of Supervisors exercised its prerogative, under the charter, to reject the mayor's appointees to the SFMTA Board, when then-Mayor Newsom appointed Hunter Stern to a vacant seat. The Board of Supervisors rejected Stern by a 7–4 vote on September 27, 2005. Stern was an official with the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, a ...
. Proposition E also established a 15-member SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council which must review the agency's budget and which makes recommendations on agency policy. The mayor appoints four members of the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council and each member of the Board of Supervisors appoints one. Proposition E allowed for the SFMTA to take over the functions of the Taxicab Commission. In 2009, the agency did so, as a result of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed by the mayor. In November 2005, the voters of San Francisco rejected, by a margin of 35%–65%, a ballot measure which would have allowed the Board of Supervisors to appoint three of the SFMTA Board's seven members. In November 2007, the voters of San Francisco approved, by a vote of 55% to 45%, a charter amendment further expanding the power of the SFMTA Board, granting the agency more flexibility in its labor relations, providing more funding for the agency, and imposing new limits on downtown parking. In November 2016 San Francisco voters rejected by 45%–55% a second ballot measure that would have split appointments between the mayor and the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also have made it easier for the supervisors to reject the SFMTA budget. In November 2016, SFMTA was hit by
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
s, using
ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid off. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, ...
, demanding $70,000 in
bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...
s, with fare machines reading “OUT OF SERVICE”, resulting in passengers riding for free. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
, SFMTA cut their bus service from 68 lines in February 2020 to as low as 17 in April 2020. In July 2020, SFMTA expected to lose over $568 million in revenue over the next four years. Along with increased pension costs and an expected annual $472 million maintenance cost, the transportation chief Jeffrey Tumlin has stated that up to 40 lines would not be reimplemented if the city of San Francisco fails to find new revenue sources.


SFMTA Board of Directors

*Gwyneth Borden, Chair *Amanda Eaken, Vice Chair *Stephanie Cajina * Steve Heminger *Fiona Hinze *Manny Yekutiel Board Secretary: Christine Silva *Policy and Governance Committee: Hinze (chair), Cajina


SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council

*Neil Ballard, Chair *Frank Zepeda, Vice Chair *Dorris Vincent *Susan Vaughan *Stephen Cornell *Queena Chen *Aaron Leifer *Michael Chen *John Lisovsky *Karim Salgado *Obai Rambo *Chris Arvin *Yensing Sihapanya (2 vacancies) Council Secretary: Keka Robinson-Luqman *Engineering, Maintenance, & Safety Committee: Zepeda (chair), Vincent, Cornell, Chen *Administration, Operations & Customer Service Committee: Leifer (chair), Lisovsky, Salgado, Vaughan, Arvin


List of directors of transportation* of the SFMTA

* The city charter refers to this office as the Director of Transportation, though the alternative title "Executive Director" was more commonly used during the first decade of the agency's existence. In February 2006, the MTA Board adopted a resolution adding "CEO" to the title. When Edward D. Reiskin took office in 2011, he opted to use only the position's official title.


List of chairs* of the SFMTA Board of Directors

* Although the city charter specifies that the SFMTA Board shall have a "chair", Flynn, Vaughns, McCray, Nolan, and Brinkman all opted for the style "chairman." Agendas for the full SFMTA Board switched in 2019 to the titles "chair" and "vice chair."


List of vice chairs of the SFMTA Board of Directors


List of chairs of the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council


References


Sources


Collected agendas and minutes of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors


External links


San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
*

*San Francisco Department o

an
Rescue MuniThe N Judah ChroniclesStreet cleaning schedule and map
{{Authority control Municipal Transportation Agency San Francisco Municipal Railway Public transportation in San Francisco 1999 establishments in California