San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, and Supervisor Aaron Peskin today received findings and final recommendations from the Muni Reliability Working Group, which was convened to develop a roadmap for improving Muni service. The findings and 17 recommendations were presented at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors Meeting on January 21^st and the final report was completed by the Controller’s Office. According to the Working Group’s findings, the primary issues that affect Muni service reliability are workforce shortages, traffic congestion, and the state of repair of vehicles and infrastructure.

Mayor Breed assembled the working group with Supervisor Mandelman and Supervisor Peskin in June this year to provide guidance for the next Director of Transportation at the SFMTA. The working group was tasked with reviewing the performance of the City’s current bus and rail system and recommending actionable steps that the City can take to improve service for riders.

“We convened this working group of experts, elected officials, and community stakeholders because we need to work together to ensure Muni is reliable, safe, and efficient for all San Franciscans,” said Mayor London Breed. “The findings in this report highlight the most important things we can do to improve transportation, and that is to hire more operators, reduce congestion on our streets, and ensure that our infrastructure in up to date. I’m looking forward to working with SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin to prioritize addressing these issues over the coming months”

The working group was composed of local elected officials, transit stakeholders, labor representatives, and industry experts who have run transit agencies around the country. The group was co-chaired by Ed Harrington, the City’s former Controller, and Gwyneth Borden, Vice Chair of the SFMTA Board of Directors. The working group was supported by staff from the Controller’s Office, the SFMTA, and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.

“My Muni-riding constituents are beyond frustrated, and I hear their horror stories every day,” said Supervisor Mandelman. “While there are no easy fixes, these working group recommendations provide a roadmap toward addressing core issues of reliability, safety, equity, hiring and management. I look forward to working with the SFMTA, my colleagues and the Mayor to implement these recommendations as quickly as possible, so that we can deliver the 21st century world-class transit system that San Franciscans deserve.”

“Creating a transit network that serves every corner of our dense city has been a passion project for me since I first took office,” said Supervisor Peskin. “Much of that work has focused on funding an accessible and affordable system, but funding alone won’t make the trains run on time. This working group was a truly soup-to-nuts evaluation of how to restructure SFMTA so that it works for everyone, from small reforms to big ones.”

The Working Group was created as the SFMTA Board of Directors was in the process of identifying a new Director of Transportation. After his selection, Jeffrey Tumlin was sworn in by the Mayor on December 16^th. The recommendations will provide important guidance for the organization under Director Tumlin’s leadership. 

“The working group’s expertise and ideas revealed areas where the SFMTA and the City need to step up,” said Ben Rosenfield, City Controller. “We all must marshal leadership, operational expertise, funding, improved planning, and the skill of our workforce to better serve our residents. The recommendations help point the way to a high-performing Muni system and a fuller realization of the City’s Transit First goals.”

“The Muni Reliability Working Group’s findings perfectly match my own observations since my arrival in December. Staff are well aware of and transparent about our agency’s failings,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “Where staff have implemented solutions, like on the 5- Fulton, they’ve been very successful. As an agency, we need to have the courage to pick up the pace of delivering solutions despite the political obstacles that make change hard in San Francisco. We also desperately need to hire more operators and maintenance workers. I’m grateful they’ve provided us with a clear work plan.”

“The people of San Francisco rely on Muni and they deserve a reliable system,” said Ed Harrington, Muni Working Group Co-Chair. “We trust that our recommendations will help us get there.”

“The SFMTA is already moving forward to implement these recommendations and is grateful to the Mayor and Controller's Office for bringing together stakeholders and subject matter experts to delve into the critical issues to be solved to ensure a reliable transit future,” said Gwyneth Borden, Muni Working Group Co-Chair.

During the past six months, the Working Group validated some of SFMTA’s existing processes, while creating numerous recommendations on others. For example, when compared to many national peers, the Working Group found that SFMTA has the right component pieces, with streets, transit, and parking management working in alignment. In addition, the agency’s efforts to provide transit priority through street design has supported reliable and efficient service.

The findings indicate that the main issues causing transit delays and gaps in service are operator shortages and traffic congestion. Workforce shortages, most notably transit operators, significantly affect SFMTA’s ability to deliver transit service reliably. To improve Muni service, the Working Group recommended steps to help accelerate operator hiring to close the shortage by 2021. Specifically, the group recommended supporting existing workforce development programs—like CityDrive—to reduce barriers to becoming a transit operator, and developing additional partnership and apprenticeship programs to build a strong pipeline of future candidates.

To address the issue of street congestion, the Working Group recommended supporting and accelerating implementation of congestion management strategies to improve transit system performance. This includes leveraging existing successful strategies of the Muni Forward program, such as red bus lanes and transit priority signals.

Since being in office, Mayor Breed has outlined numerous areas requiring improvement at the SFMTA, with a priority on ensuring dependable bus and rail service. The Working Group’s recommendations present an opportunity to help resolve the issues that impact Muni riders on a daily basis.

Muni plays a critical role in moving people within San Francisco. The system has over 716,000 daily boardings, the largest of any Bay Area transit operator, and it continues to experience increased demand. Since 2010, Muni ridership has increased by 5%, an outlier compared to transit agencies around the country, which have been on the decline.

To view the final report and recommendations, go to: https://sfcontroller.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Auditing/SFMTA%20Working%20Group%20Final%20Report_0.pdf

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