ANDREW
RESCUE MUNI, San Francisco's transit riders' association, applauds Mayor
Willie Brown's decision to drop the proposed "Fast Pass Plus," which
would have raised fares 28% for Muni riders who use BART within the
city. Rescue Muni lobbied Muni and BART heavily in an effort to stop
the plan.
"Mayor Brown made the right decision," said Andrew Sullivan, the
organization's chair. "We opposed Fast Pass Plus because it was
unnecessary, and because it was a bad deal for Muni and for riders.
We're glad Mayor Brown agrees that there's a better way."
The proposed new pass, which would have cost $45, was designed for heavy
BART users within the eight San Francisco stations. Muni and BART had
agreed that 73 percent of the revenue from this new pass would go to
BART, regardless of actual usage, while the current $35 Fast Pass would
be available for Muni only. Rescue Muni opposed it because it was a
fare increase without any improvements in service, because Muni would
have incurred significant new financial risk, and because it was
unnecessary as Muni just received the largest budget increase in recent
memory.
"We've proposed lower-risk, more equitable solutions to Muni and BART,"
pointed out David Pilpel, the organization's Fast Pass coordinator. "It
definitely makes sense to revisit the system by which Muni compensates
BART, particularly to reduce Muni's financial risk, but there's no need
to raise fares."
"A fare increase on one group of passengers -- mainly those going
between the four neighborhood stations and downtown -- is unacceptable,"
said Daniel Murphy, the organization's vice chair. "There was no
guarantee passengers would get any improvement in service from the small
amount of money the $45 pass would generate."
The organization held extensive discussions with both agencies in an
effort to find a better alternative that didn't raise fares. "We are
continuing our talks with Muni and BART so an agreement to keep the
single $35 Fast Pass can be hammered out in the next few months. We've
made a lot of progress so far getting the two sides to reconsider their
assumptions, and we think they'll be even more receptive in light of the
mayor's announcement." said Sullivan.
Those interested in helping with this project should call the Rescue
Muni hotline at 415/273-1558 or visit the Rescue Muni web page as
www.rescuemuni.org.
s u l l i . o r g
ANDREW SULLIVAN
NEW email: andrew@sulli.org
NEW web: www.sulli.org
SAME physical address: 1668 Grove St, SF CA 94117
Phone: 415 673 0626