Voters narrowly reject SF Muni bond
Transit advocates were disappointed Wednesday after Proposition A, a $400 million general obligation bond for San Francisco's beleaguered public transit agency, was narrowly rejected by voters, while most other ballot measures appeared to be passing, according to unofficial returns.Prop A, the Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond, required a two-thirds majority to pass.
Unofficial returns showed it falling short by 3%, garnering only 63.3% of votes.After plummeting from a high of more than 700,000 riders per weekday in February 2020 to a low of just over 100,000 in April that year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has struggled since the start of the COVID pandemic to lure riders back.
To be sure, they are returning, but it's been slow going and even now, weekday ridership is lower than pre-pandemic levels, reaching a high so far of just under 400,000 riders last April.Prop A, which had the unanimous support of Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors, was intended to help the transit agency get back on its feet by allowing the City and County of San Francisco to issue general obligation bonds to fund improvements such as increasing reliability, safety, and frequency; reducing delays; improving disabled access and equity; increasing subway capacity; and improving pedestrian, bicycle, and traffic safety.
There are many other goals as well, such as improving Muni's deteriorating bus yards and redesigning streets and sidewalks.Transit advocates were upset by the loss although, at press time, Breed — not giving up entirely — is "still waiting for more votes to come in," according to the mayor's communications aide Jordan Wilson."Anyone and any club that went No or No Position on Prop A should be.
