Transferring In direction of San Francisco’s Transportation Future
Transport is an essential part of a thriving and just community and economy. We plan for a future transportation system to provide the reliable and safe transit that the San Franciscans desire, to accommodate changes in travel patterns and demographics, and to improve safety. We also need to address the historical flaws such as unfair service and long-delayed infrastructure repairs.
We looked at our past and started planning our future. Transportation in San Francisco is on an unsustainable financial path. We are missing $ 50 billion on the transportation system our city will need over the next 30 years. But we can act now to put San Francisco on the road to success. That is what Transportation 2050 is all about.
Over the past 20 years, the demands on San Francisco’s transportation system have increased while revenues have not kept pace. The last decade saw tremendous growth in San Francisco and its economy. This strength led the SFMTA’s operating income to reach the level we forecast. Strong growth in the city’s General Fund compensated for the authority’s declining income from parking fees and public transport. Since the SFMTA’s financial structure is heavily dependent on these falling parking and transit fee revenues, rising costs have led to a budget deficit. COVID came and exacerbated these longstanding budget challenges.
How did we get here? San Francisco has grown and transportation has changed, but the way we finance transit and our transportation infrastructure hasn’t changed. Uber and Lyft have steadily reduced parking revenues in San Francisco, despite increasing paid parking. The cost of maintaining reliable, highly skilled bus and train operators and maintenance personnel has increased due to the exceptionally high cost of living in the Bay Area. Nevertheless, we have been understaffed for years. Our tariff discount programs – critical to keeping Muni affordable – have also resulted in falling fare revenues.
Now the economic shock and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have permanently lowered our sales forecasts. At the start of the pandemic, we immediately tightened our belts and made $ 119 million in cuts in a way that prioritized equity. The current federal aid is a one-time financing that only keeps traffic afloat for a short time.
As expenses increase with the cost of living in the Bay Area and revenues decrease after the federal aid is exhausted, the SFMTA faces a funding gap that cannot be closed. It will take years for corporate revenues to recover and the agency to fall behind on a financial path that it cannot recover from on its own. A new source of funding could get the SFMTA back on track.
Community-driven vision
Transportation 2050 is based on the transportation needs and priorities identified by the community over the past eight years through two Mayoral Transportation Task Forces (T2030 and T2045) and contributions from the Muni Urban Reliability Working Group in 2020, the Transportation Vision developed by ConnectSF, which Infrastructure needs identified in the SFMTA’s 20-year capital plan and highlights the priorities after COVID from the SFMTA’s latest city-wide community survey for 2021.
The top priorities of the community survey include:
- Make our service fair
- Provides quick and easy access to all parts of San Francisco
- Improving access to public transport for people with disabilities
- Repair and maintenance of Muni devices and equipment
- Improving service for communities most dependent on transit
- Make sure trips to all destinations work well
- Improving road safety for walking
This is how we focus on your priorities and visions:
It will take a total of $ 111.3 billion over the next 30 years to meet the demands of San Francisco’s transportation system, but the cost of realizing the Full Vision is much higher than our revenues can support. Over the next 10 years, the gap between fully realizing this vision and the financial reality we face averages $ 1.04 billion per year. We can get part of the way there, but SFMTA cannot do it on its own. We used most of the tools in our toolbox.
Transportation 2050 has identified some new potential revenue streams that could add up to $ 149 million a year and begin the recovery process on which we can build. These include a special tax on transportation, changes to the San Francisco parking tax, a general obligation to repair our infrastructure, standing up for federal and state grants, and income from developing SFMTA real estate, the newest tool in the SFMTA toolbox. Combining these new sources with existing funds would allow us to fund nearly 2/3 of the transportation vision for San Francisco over 30 years and get our transportation system on its way to a more solid financial footing.
Stay tuned for more updates as we work to make this vision a reality while identifying future revenue streams and cost-saving strategies to create an equitable and sustainable transportation system for San Francisco. Learn more on our website SFMTA.com/T2050.
