San Francisco Muni budget cuts service 10%

[marmar]

from the San Francisco Chronicle:




Muni budget cuts service 10%
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 21, 2010


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Muni riders can expect longer waits for more crowded buses over the next 15 months if the lean budget adopted by the Municipal Transportation Agency board on a 4-3 vote Tuesday survives a review by the Board of Supervisors.

The $750 million budget for the year beginning July 1 leans heavily on savings from a 10 percent service cut that takes effect on May 8, as well as $35.9 million in state transit assistance that had originally been expected. City officials had hoped that the state money could be used to reduce the severity of those service reductions, but Nathaniel Ford, the agency's chief executive officer, said that won't be possible until July 2011.

"We are in a situation where we don't have the money coming in to support the level of service we have," he said. "We can better handle and more safely manage a smaller system than we have today."

Three members of the board, which is appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, voted against the budget, saying they could not support further service cuts. The transit system eliminated several routes and restructured service in December to cope with budget gaps.

"I thought I was going to hold my nose and vote for this budget," director Bruce Oka said. "But I don't know if I can do that. We can't afford to make any more budget cuts." ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/21/BAC51D1SMB.DTL&type=newsbayarea