Challenge to City Hall

Open Letter to Mayor Lurie and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Mr. Mayor, esteemed members of the Board of Supervisors,

Next week the Board will have an opportunity to approve a resolution put forward by your colleague, Supervisor Mahmood of District 5. It is a resolution to recognize March 18th as Transit Operator Appreciation Day. I am grateful to Supervisor Mahmood and his staff for working with me to bring this resolution. 

As a transit operator, I have a difficult job. Navigating a huge vehicle in a busy environment while responsible for the safety of our passengers requires skill, focus, endurance, and patience. Muni’s transit operators provide service 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including holidays. 

As Operators, we must maintain a high degree of alertness and focus for prolonged periods with the requirement to skillfully execute difficult maneuvers safely many times an hour. At all times, we must be ready to initiate an emergency stop without warning. Myriad distractions of behavior by other actors, including the passengers on board, the other drivers on the road, and an ever changing set of obstacles to avoid, are the daily challenges transit operators must overcome in our work. 

If we perform all of this flawlessly, it appears perfectly normal. A bus comes to the curb, kneels to load passengers, and pulls off, and soon another comes and does the same, all day, every day, and the labor of the operator disappears into the background noise and rhythm of the city.

This is why I am particularly grateful for the formal recognition offered by this resolution. I am proud of the service I provide, and humbled to count myself among a brotherhood and sisterhood of operators who’s tradition of dedicated and skilled service stretches back 150 years. I am proud to be a member of Transit Workers Union 250A, and proud to stand in solidarity with the members of ATU 265, at our sister agency VTA in Santa Clara County.

This resolution recognizes that the fiscal outlook for SFMTA is dire, and commits to strong support of public transit service. It is because I am proud of the exceptional service Muni provides, that I am concerned for the future of public transit in San Francisco. SFMTA is forced to consider painful cuts, which will make Muni service worse, operator jobs more difficult, and increase traffic congestion. There is no winner but the bottom line.

Therefore, I am issuing this challenge to each member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Lurie. On March 18th, Transit Operator Appreciation Day, commit to riding Muni to City Hall. Talk to your constituents on the bus or train about what Muni means to them, and how service cuts might impact their lives. Thank your operator as you exit, and if you are pleased with the service you receive, submit a commendation.

As elected representatives of the City, I know that each of you has come to City Hall with a specific set of legislative and policy priorities. Unless I am mistaken, none of you has made public transit your top priority or signature issue. San Francisco is deeply challenged in many ways, and I do not mean to devalue your focus on issues of homelessness, drug addiction and overdose prevention, public health, housing, safety, economic vitality, recovery of downtown, success of small business, redressing historic wrongs in equity and opportunity, the wellbeing of our senior citizens, or any of the other worthy policy goals that you came to office to address. As a citizen of this city, I care deeply about these issues as well. 

Robust, frequent, and reliable public transit is essential to a thriving San Francisco. Without quality service from Muni, mobility in the city would be severely impacted. Anyone who goes anywhere in San Francisco, by any mode, be it on a bus, in a car, on a bike, or by walking, benefits directly from public transit. Our street network relies on the efficient use of street space that is the hallmark of public transit. The alternative is gridlock, and for those who do not or cannot drive, the costs are higher still.

No matter what your policy priority is, robust, frequent and reliable public transit is a value multiplier for investment in public services. 

If your policy priority is addressing the crisis of overdose deaths that result from substance abuse and addiction, robust public transit is essential to connect those who are suffering from these diseases to the service providers and programs that they rely on. Muni plays an essential role in this issue.

If your policy priority is the economic vitality of local businesses, and the recovery of downtown as an engine of employment and civic life, Muni plays an essential role. Such a recovery cannot be sustained without robust, frequent, and reliable public transit.

If your policy priority is to support the wellbeing and independence of our senior citizens, Muni  has long been the backbone of providing mobility and community to this group. Robust public transit connects to senior centers, medical care, parks, shops, and friends, and as people age they come to rely more and more on transit to access these places.

If your policy priority is to address climate change, an existential threat that spans the globe, which our children and future generations will suffer the most, there is no path to ameliorating the harms of this problem without robust, frequent and reliable public transit becoming the dominant mode of transport, in our city and everywhere else. Every dollar spent on public transit is a dollar spent on this problem, and every hour of service cut from public transit makes climate change worse.

If your policy priority is to support equitable access to quality education and schools for San Francisco’s students, robust, frequent, and reliable public transit is integral to thousands of school kids trips every day. 

If your priority is to build housing, I assert that there is no path to abundant housing in San Francisco that does not include robust, frequent, and reliable public transit. Muni plays an essential role in this issue.

If your priority is to support the tourism and hospitality industries of San Francisco, so that people from across the world can experience and enjoy our famous City by the Bay, not only does Muni play an integral role in bringing these visitors to the things they came to see, it is among them. Our Cable Cars are rolling national monuments that daily delight and amaze and attract thousands of tourists.

If your priority is just to go see a San Francisco Giants game, a Golden State Warriors game, or a Valkyries game? That’s right, Muni supports bringing tens of thousands of sports fans to the stadium and arena. Without robust, frequent and reliable public transit, these teams can’t thrive.

However, I cannot see how allowing people to park their cars for free at metered curb spaces on Sundays contributes to any of these policy objectives. Free parking is a subsidy to inefficient and wasteful car dependance. SFMTA staff have estimated rescinding free Sunday parking might provide $15 million dollars in revenue that would support transit service and transit operators. I implore you, our elected representatives, to look at this policy and consider how it is contributing to your top legislative priorities, or not.  

Hundreds of thousands of San Franciscans rely daily on Muni to access services, get to school, work, retail shopping, to our parks, our restaurants, our museums, and the many other wonders of our city. On Transit Operator Day, I urge you to consider how service cuts at Muni will impact your constituents. I encourage you to remember how our work moving San Francisco by bus, by train, by streetcar, and by cable car supports the policy objectives and priorities I’ve outlined above. Investment in public transit is investment in those services, too. 

I hope, on March 18th, you will ride Muni to City Hall to approve the resolution recognizing San Francisco Transit Operator Day. On your way, I hope you hear from other transit riders about how they value the service we provide. I hope you will thank your operator, and even submit a commendation for their hard work and dedication to San Francisco. Most of all, I hope you will support policies that fund a robust, reliable, and frequent transit service to meet the needs of San Francisco, not just on Transit Operator Day, but every day. 

Sincerely, 

Mc Allen

Muni Operator