Fix Muni Now

Fix Muni Now was an effort to correct and improve upon problems regarding costs and operating practices with transportation workers in San Francisco, CA. Over the years, the manner in which agreements have been administered has lead to a situation where these Muni drivers receive the 2nd highest salaries in the nation. We’ll discuss a little more about these kinds of problems and some of the solutions being developed.

There have been a lot of problems with municipal transportation in San Francisco and many of its citizenry has said enough is enough. Fix Muni Now is a grass roots effort to fix many of the problems. What are some of these problems?

Well there have been limitations in the number and availability of drivers due to excessive wages which has made it much more difficult to add more drivers. In addition ability of the transportation authority to change and correct this has been all but impossible.

What has resulted is spotty service, late buses, along with the threat of fare hikes and service cuts. The situation with fare hikes and service cuts is especially disturbing given the current state of service. The riders of the San Francisco transit system need more reliable service and response, not less.

What lead to many of these problems was rooted in a City Charter which limits the ability of the Municipal Transportation Agency to properly administers and regulate salaries and other aspects of their operation.

As stated earlier, not only do the bus operators have the second highest salaries in the nation, but the labor agreements restricts MTA’s ability to deploy bus operators as necessary to keep up the level of service.

The MTA cannot negotiate Muni operators wages because they are set by City charter. So these drivers have received raises at the same time the agency has had to deal with cutbacks.

In one year, these drivers were awarded an $8 million raise while the MTA management had to deal with a $50 million deficit by raising fares and reducing services by 10 percent. The riders of this system have had to deal with these problems and a said enough is enough.

Fix Muni Now began an effort to correct this situation by raising awareness of the situation and then lobbying for changes in the way salaries and operating policies are handled.

The grassroots efforts by Fix Muni Now will remove the City Charter reference to Muni operators wages and allow the MTA to negotiate salaries and benefits through collective bargaining agreements. This is the same type of process used by other bargaining groups and will prevent the drivers from receiving huge pay increases when the agency is faced with deficits to help preserve good service and response.

Given the difficulties and cutbacks most agencies face in these trying times of shortfalls and funding limitations, this type of effort is absolutely necessary. Otherwise the citizenry of San Francisco will continue to receive limited and unacceptable service from a municipal transit system which was originally designed to service their users in an efficient and effective manner.