By Tes Welborn, HANC President
The issue of funding public transit in relation to "transit oriented development" was the main topic of consideration at April's HANC membership meeting. Calvin Welch and Jason Henderson spoke about the lack of funding.
Mr. Welch said that MTA has a $21 billion shortage through 2045, assuming the same levels of service and no population increase. He said that provisions in the proposed SB50 that would increase population density especially targets the Sunset district, although it has poor transit service. The MTA has a poor record of managing big projects, and ridership has been declining, here as well as nationally. Developers are not paying anything to improve transit, and increasing density proposals have ignored added transit needs.
Jason Henderson pointed out that most trips within the city are under three miles. MUNI has a rush hour capacity of about 700,000. To achieve the city's goal of 80% of trips being done by transit, bike, walking, etc., the city would have to double the number of buses and drivers. It's politically easier to fund capital costs, to purchase buses, than to fund operating expenses, the main one being salaries. He feels that automated vehicles are only a remote possibility.
How Could Transportation Be Funded?
Two possible ways mentioned are: 1. Pricing: congestion, gas tax, bridge tolls, TNC fees, parking and license fees, HOT lanes; and 2. Taxing: an assessment district, maybe regional, changing Prop 13 to a split roll.
Mr. Henderson advocates express bus lanes on Oak and Fell, e-commerce deliveries to neighborhood shopping centers where you pick up your packages. Another thought is a regional bus system.
Street Improvements
Dept. of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru and staff spoke on the scope of DPW's work, including street work and street cleaning. They get 15,000 calls a month, most about quality of life issues.
He said the Haight work will take 2 ½ years, including new sidewalks. There were some questions about the confiscation of homeless peoples' property. Mr. Nuru said that it is labeled and stored, and can be reclaimed.