Friday, June 24, 2011

Time to Dismantle the SFMTA?


Here's a good question for everyone to think about... would you dismantle the SF Municipal Transportation Agency? Or as most of us locals call it, the SFMTA or the MTA.

I think it's time to break it apart. Since there's a big shakeup with management with Nat Ford leaving office on June 30th and the number two man (the boss of Muni) resigning, and the arbitrator kicking the union's ass, it's the perfect time.

Back in the good old days, Muni was it's own agency, DPT was under the police department riding three wheel motorcycles around the city, and the taxicab folks was just themselves. It wasn't until Nat Ford came along and combined the three agencies into one big conglomerate umbrella known as the SFMTA with a bloated $300,000+ salary.

We already knew the shit hit the fan with Muni long before the SFMTA was created; the infamous "Muni Meltdown" of 1998 caused the downward spiral did it's job well. But someone had to handle the cleaning of the fans, and who else but Nat Ford?

Yeah... Nat Ford, the man who had to control three agencies under one roof, and things didn't go so great under the SFMTA umbrella:
  1. Muni has been the punching bag for the public for a long time, but these last few years has sucked the most with major pass hikes, cuts in service, a half-ass "restoration" of service, uncontrollable union until us citizens passed Proposition G, and lots more.
  2. DPT just ain't cool anymore. Ever tried calling them to demand a car to be towed? I have, and they hung up on me.
  3. The taxicab commission is just being bombarded by pissed-off cab drivers every single time there's a meeting, from medallions to 5% surcharges for credit cards.
Maybe it's time to split the three agencies and let them be themselves. Split Nat Ford's salary to pay appropriately to have one boss run each agency, and pray to god they won't be a puppet of the Mayor, like how Nat Ford was Newsom's puppet.

What's your thoughts?

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1 comment:

  1. david vartanoffJuly 3, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    Actually the merger of DPT into MTA predates Ford. IF, and it is unlikely, we ever got a genuine "transit first" MTA Board having DPT actually facilitate Muni could be useful--envision a traffic officer forcing LRV priority @ 4th & King. It does make sense to have auto/transit/taxi's under a single agency as long as they are pro transit.

    ReplyDelete

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