Editor:
I read with some dismay, Mr. Kopp’s commentary calling out the “high cost” of public transit. Now, I personally hold Mr. Kopp in high esteem, yet I found his opinion piece to be not only reactionary, but regressive.
Personally, I get everywhere in the city by foot or by Muni. This is one of the many great things about living in a city like San Francisco. I would like nothing more than my tax dollars to fully subsidize public transit (as well as schools, libraries, our beautiful parks and the arts).
Public transit is a readily available solution to the climate crisis we face – a crisis that Mr. Kopp may have little concern for at this point in his life, but will affect me and my children (and my children’s children) in the worst possible way. Get out of your cars and hop on the bus, the street car or train. You won’t have to worry about the price of petrol or where to park, and you can get pretty much anywhere you might want to go.
Bruce Christian Bennett
Categories: letter to the editor
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
Presently, I am in assisted living and am spared the agonies of MUNI. Before my residency in assisted living, I rode MUNI as my primary means of transportation. Countless times, I missed buses; much of this was due to the long walking distances to the bus. This would not be so bad, except for the long waiting time for the next bus. Crowding was and is frequent with me, a senior citizen, being lucky to have someone kind enough to give up his/her seat. During COVID, there were not enough buses, and, with the crowding, we were forced to violate MTA’s protocol of not sitting next to each other.
What is noticeable is the shrinking of bus lines with the 2 Sutter being an example. First, this bus ran to the Ocean, then it ran to 32nd Avenue, then to Park Presidio Boulevard and now to Park Presidio and California Street. While it used to be called the 2 Clement, it is now the 2 Sutter. There is now no service on Clement Street where there are businesses and places of worship. Can you imagine the difficulty of walking the long blocks to and from Clement Street from Geary and California Streets? The health professionals I have conversed with have stated that the distance is too far and MUNI has never consulted with a physician about the hardship of this distance.
The original aim of the Transit Effectiveness Project, now called MUNI Forward, was to increase the speed of transportation vehicles. One means of doing this would be the net addition of coaches and buses to the fleet with more drivers. These new buses could have been added to the most heavily used runs, leaving the neighborhood buses alone. Instead, buses were stolen from the neighborhoods, forcing individuals, notably seniors and the disabled, to walk long distances. In addition, bus stops were deleted or consolidated. again forced people to walk longer distances.
50 years ago, the transportation map of MUNI covered most of the city. Now, the present map is anemic, resembling the stripped veins of a human body. Surely, an infusion and addition of more vehicles to the fleet is needed to represent the increased population and density of a city second to New York city. MTA may claim that it is without funds to do this. But the amount of six digit salaries of MTA managers dispels this argument.
MTA will plead lack of funding as it has for the last 20 years and there will be a bond measure with no improvement of service.
The philosophy of MUNI is: “If you’re not on the bus, you’re under the wheels.” The least the public can do is not throw themselves under the wheels by voting for any bond measure that MTA puts forward.
MTA is a failed agency.
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