{"id":450809,"date":"2026-09-02T07:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/450809\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T07:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:22:34","slug":"transit-month-kicks-off-amidst-do-or-die-funding-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/450809\/","title":{"rendered":"Transit Month Kicks Off Amidst Do-or-Die Funding Push"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThank you for showing up for something so fundamental,\u201d said Mayor Daniel Lurie on the steps of San Francisco City Hall Tuesday morning to a crowd of some 80 advocates, journalists, lawmakers, and public officials. \u201cA thriving San Francisco needs a thriving Muni.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Lurie talked about how Muni, despite ridership gains that have approached or exceeded pre-COVID numbers, is still facing a $300 million budget gap. That can only be closed by devastating service cuts or the passage of two funding measures: Stronger Muni for All<\/a> and the Regional Transit Measure<\/a>. Each would raise in the neighborhood of $150 million for Muni, and, in the case of the regional measure, more for BART, Caltrain and other Bay Area transit operators.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Lurie flanked by lawmakers and officials at the kickoff event for Transit Month. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us thrive without one another,\u201d said Caltrain\u2019s Executive Director Michelle Bouchard. She talked about how important planning and successful funding measures have been in the past to give the Bay Area the great, electrified Caltrain system it enjoys today<\/a>. \u201c30 years ago we decided to electrify Caltrain,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re now growing in leaps and bounds. We used to be a commuter railroad, now we\u2019re proud to be the Bay Area and the Peninsula\u2019s regional railroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the speakers talked about the importance of taking this month to celebrate transit\u2019s contribution to the region. \u201cWhen we ran transit measures nine or ten years ago, I was nervous about it,\u201d said SFMTA director Julie Kirschbaum. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that today we have a system that is fast and reliable. The entire transit division has spent every dollar on things that matter to our customers.\u201d Muni has also celebrated some of the best customer satisfaction surveys in its history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Advocates Paul Wermer and Carol Brownson. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

As advocates reminded people with flyers handed out at the event, all of that could evaporate if the measures don\u2019t pass. Muni would be forced to cut service by at least 30 percent and eliminate 20 bus routes. BART would be forced to reduce service by 70 percent and end train service at 9 p.m. in addition to closing 15 stations.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

But given the enthusiasm shown by advocates, that nightmare scenario seems increasingly unlikely. The San Francisco Transit Rider\u2019s Dylan Fabris led the crowd in the chant \u201cFund the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Walk SF crew at the event. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

\u201cI represent the set of neighborhoods that has the lowest rates of car ownership,\u201d said District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter, stressing that transit is the lifeblood of the city. \u201cWe do not physically have space for more cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all in for transit,\u201d said Mayor Lurie.<\/p>\n

Check out all 70-plus upcoming Transit Month events here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThank you for showing up for something so fundamental,\u201d said Mayor Daniel Lurie on the steps of San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[109921,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-450809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-promoted","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}