By SHALWAH EVANS
MTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford returned Wednesday to attend a special Board of Supervisors meeting. But after taking a verbal beating in last week’s debate over the Municipal Transport Authority’s fiscal year budget, Ford managed to convince six supervisors to rescue his budget of fare hikes and service changes from being rejected.
Five of the supervisors ,including District 9 Supervisor David Campos, voted to reject the budget.
“We feel good about today but clearly over the next month, the next few months and this entire year we will be talking about our budget almost on a daily basis to balance out maintaining the transit system,” Ford said after the board adjourned.
With a room full of concerned Muni and BART riders, Ford, along with chairman of the MTA Board Tom Nolan, presented their case, promising no more fare increases beyond the 50 cent fare hike that takes effect July 1, no more service cuts, and increased service to the busiest routes—including the Muni 14, which runs through the Mission District.
Moreover, they said, the MTA would hold an all day workshop in July about revenue enhancement.
But Campos wasn’t buying it. Grilling Ford, he fired off a series of questions and comments about the MTA’s failure to fix underlying problems, and he expressed concern that riders of the Bernal Heights 67 Muni line would need to transfer just to get to the supermarket.
Ford said that more important than the transfer was whether riders would have the 67 at all, and under the current proposal they will, he said.
District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, who opened the meeting by asking his fellow board members to reject the proposed budget, agreed with Campos.
“I think since we’re all dissatisfied with this crappy budget, let’s get a crummy budget, let’s get a better budget,” he said.
Though in jest he referred to a “crummy budget” as still better than the one presented, Avalos was serious in his stance against the MTA’s proposal. Ford said Avalos proposed $15 million in changes including a fare increase of only 25 cents rather than 50 cents. He also wants the MTA to revisit charging for Sunday and evening parking downtown. The proposals will be presented to the MTA board on June 2.
Campos and Avalos said they still felt like the proposal put too much of the burden on the riders, and that fare increases would make their way back as soon as the MTA has another huge budget deficit.
“I’m disappointed. I think riders are disappointed in the city. I think we expected something better especially if we’re a transit-first city. We should put our money where our mouth is and make that happen,” said Avalos.
“I talked to Nat Ford and I could tell he was digging his heels in,” said Avalos. “It’s like we’re resistant to making the kind of change necessary to promote a real transit-first city and he was basically given directive not to do that. And essentially he’s not independent.”
Avalos said he’d like to see drivers and transit riders shoulder the burden equally. The MTA officials said they would study parking fees as a possible new revenue source.
Ford said a memo went out on Friday regarding service enhancements such as changes to route 53—which serves public housing—and adding 150 service hours each day of the week. MTA, he said, developed the changes after getting input from the supervisors and different city departments.
Supervisors said they were never consulted on these changes.