November 8, 2011

This weekend Reset San Francisco founder Phil Ting hosted a community breakfast with over 125 everyday Muni riders to continue organizing for a faster and more reliable Municipal Railway.

The event was the culmination of a round of ten Muni town halls that Reset has hosted focused on improving individual lines, including the 38 Geary, N Judah, L Taraval, 1 California, 30 Stockton, M Ocean View, K Ingleside, T Third and 5 Fulton over the last ten weeks. The town hall series began in August with an expert panel discussion at the Hall of Flowers with Tim Papandreou, Joel Ramos and Greg Dewar attended by over 250 San Franciscans.

From these town halls, Reset has worked to compile all the feedback, solutions and ideas we heard from you. These have become the foundation for our “Citizens’ Response to the TEP” – a crowd-sourced report of Muni rider feedback on the SFMTA’s Transit Effectiveness Project. You can read the report here.

The Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) is a great start. By focusing on the data to fix what’s working and not working, we could start making the Muni run faster and more reliably right now. This is all the more important considering we found that one of the chief frustrations of riders at these many town halls has been the slow pace of Muni reform.

We all need to be advocates for a better Muni

We shouldn’t have to wait years for the city to take action. We just need the community’s help to urge City Hall to make Muni reform a priority. That’s why we ran our own L-Taraval Muni Express Bus from 46th Avenue at Taraval Street to Downtown San Francisco – an idea generated from one Muni rider at our town hall when riders heard about the successful NX-Judah Express pilot program. Our express bus pilot project was designed to show Muni that it is possible to take commuters from the Sunset to Downtown San Francisco quickly and comfortably.

We think riders are experts on their Muni lines – they know what is working and what needs fixing. Thanks for all the great input – we have presented your ideas to Muni. Now let’s stay engaged to make sure they hear, and respond, to what we have to say.