San Francisco Supervisor Says Muni Unprepared For Population Growth
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — A member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors said Muni is not only doing a poor job of serving current riders, but has no plans to meet the demands of a growing population and workforce.
According to Supervisor Scott Wiener, on-time performance is only at 60 percent, there is not enough equipment and that maintenance has been deferred. But the supervisor said the solution could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
SF Supervisor Criticizes Muni's On-Time Performnce, Says It's Unprepared For Population Growth
Wiener said Muni is at a "breaking point" and that nothing is being done to accommodate what he said will eventually be a population increase of around 150,000 people by the year 2035.
"We have a ton of development going on along Market Street right by the subway and the southeastern part of the city's waterfront. We're not doing nearly what we need to do to plan for that population growth," Wiener said.
Muni Spokesperson Paul Rose said the agency and the supervisor are on the same page.
"We certainly have capacity issues that need to be addressed. Part of this comes from not funding the system as much as we should have in the past. We're at a point where we need to have these types of conversations," said Rose.
A special task force put in place by Mayor Ed Lee is currently looking into long-term solutions for Muni.
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