This is a public comment given by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition at the SFMTA Board of Directors Special Budget Hearing in regards to closing the agency’s financial deficit and the SFMTA’s staff proposal to reallocate capital funds for operational use.
“The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s mission is to promote biking and rolling for everyday transportation. We know that a transit-friendly city is a bike friendly city and when Muni is under threat that’ll have negative impacts on the other sustainable modes. We have been vocal supporters of both transportation measures and understand the gravity of what will happen in the event one or both don’t pass.
The Chronicle recently reported that San Francisco, after Honolulu and Los Angeles, is the third most congested City in the US. We should be embarrassed by that. If the measures fail, Muni lines and service will be cut which will mean even more congestion on our streets. Under the “what if” scenarios, the agency should be encouraging people to mode-shift to mitigate this outcome because 60% of households in our City don’t own cars; they likely won’t buy a car and it is in our best interest to provide sustainable alternatives.
It is concerning to us that staff is proposing to dip into the already small bucket of funds for pedestrian safety and bike projects. 3% of the MTA’s budget is spent on street safety projects and even less of that goes to bike and ped projects even though they are cost effective and have proven to increase safety. I’m curious about what bike and ped projects the $40 million flex capital would have gone to and would strongly oppose proposing this again in the future because these are the projects that save lives on our streets.
We know that saving Muni is the top issue this year. Transit and streets advocates have begun gathering signatures and educating people about the regional measure. The City needs us to focus on this effort but we cannot do that if our streets become more dangerous and lives are lost –– that means less capacity for us to focus on these measures.
Please provide clarity on how these capital flex funds are being flexed. We can walk and chew gum at the same time to plan for every possible reality past the November election.”
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