Opinion: San Francisco Needs a Well-Funded Transit System

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is facing a growing budget gap exacerbated by a drop in parking revenue at city-owned lots, writes Joe Eskenazi for Mission Local, which could lead to massive service cuts.

For Eskenazi, this would be a grave mistake. “When you eviscerate Muni, you eviscerate San Francisco. This will affect your life, even if you haven’t set foot on a bus or light-rail vehicle for years. There will be no downtown recovery without functional transit.”

Eskenazi asserts that San Franciscans depend on transit. “Ridership numbers are at around three-quarters of what they were prior to the pandemic. On a handful of lines, ridership is equal or better to early 2020; in some cases, way better.”

Eskenazi notes that the agency could save money by not funding the city’s iconic — but not entirely useful — cable cars, which ran a $55.2 operating deficit in 2023. “Riders, again, do not hop on buses or trains for a joyride, or out of a sense of transit boosterism. If Muni is not convenient and functional — if it does not go where people need when they need it — it ceases to serve a purpose.”