How to Fund SF’s Muni Without Cutting Service

In a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle, Joe DiMento outlines some ways the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) could reduce its massive budget deficit — without cutting service.

It’s a fiscally fraught time. Yet San Franciscans should ask themselves why bus and train service are on the chopping block even as we continue to subsidize the most expensive, inequitable and polluting mode of transportation in the city: the private car.

For DiMento, one of the solutions to the transit agency’s woes lie in the cost of parking. “San Francisco has about 275,500 on-street spaces, but only 10% are metered. The rest are largely free, and permit zones are limited in their geographic coverage.” By adjusting the cost of parking to more closely reflect its actual cost, the agency could significantly reduce its deficit.

Another option for transit funding: congestion pricing. DiMento points to the success of New York City’s program, which despite all the controversy surrounding it has reduced traffic by 13 percent and funded critical MTA projects. 

A third proposed solution: extending the hours for the city’s metered parking spots. “We cannot keep asking transit riders to pay more and get less while car owners enjoy vast subsidies and free rein over public space.”