Issue Position: Fighting For Reliable, Safe, Expanded Public Transportation

Issue Position

An efficient and fully-funded transportation system is essential to our region's economy, environment, and quality of life, and improving transportation is a major focus for me. I'm a leading voice in San Francisco and the region for improved public transit, car sharing, taxi and ride share service, biking, and pedestrian access. I've successfully fought to increase funding for transit reliability and capacity, to make our streets safer, including for pedestrians and cyclists, and to increase coordination among city agencies so that we can make these changes efficiently and in a timely manner. I'm a strong advocate for critical regional investments, for example, extending high speed rail and Caltrain to the Transbay Transit Center and building a second transbay tube, to increase BART's capacity and allow for 24-hour service.

Being a "transit first" city doesn't mean torturing people out of their cars. Rather it means giving people so many great choices about how to get around, that for people who want to give up their cars or simply to drive less, they have that option. Many people will always need to drive, whether for work, kids, or other reasons. But, many people who currently drive would drive less or not at all if they had better, more reliable options. Our job is to provide those improved options.

I have the honor of serving as Chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and as a commissioner on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (the Bay Area's regional transportation planning and funding agency) and a member of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation Board of Directors. I work with leaders around the region to improve regional connectivity.

I've authored numerous measures to improve and reform our transportation system:

Subway Master Plan

San Francisco and the Bay Area are growing tremendously, and we have high levels of gridlock on our streets. We need to move more transit underground to provide more efficient transit options to all parts of San Francisco. To address this, I authored legislation requiring the city to create a Subway Master Plan. Currently San Francisco has two subways -- a short subway under Market Street for Muni and a BART subway that runs down Market Street to the Mission and to Daly City. Most of San Francisco has no subway access at all. A second Muni subway tunnel, the Central Subway, is under construction and will be open in 2017. The Subway Master Plan will require that the city come up with an outline for long-term subway expansion throughout the entire city.

Prop B -- Tying Transportation Funding to Population Growth

I authored this charter amendment in 2014, which ties transit funding to population growth. San Francisco is growing, and transit funding hasn't kept up. The system has huge unfunded capital needs, and it's time to ensure that the system grows along with the city. Prop B's funding is largely dedicated to improving Muni's capacity, reliability, and frequency of service, with additional funding dedicated to improving street safety.

Pedestrian Safety: Process Reform and Delivering Projects

Pedestrian safety is a critical goal. Our streets must be safe for all users, including the most vulnerable users. San Francisco policy is to prioritize pedestrian safety. However, even when we have a good proposal, with funding, our City process for approving pedestrian improvements is cumbersome and uncoordinated among city departments. As a result, good projects get watered down or killed. I authored this package of legislation, which improved inter-departmental coordination and removed various statutory impediments to the implementation of good pedestrian projects.

I've also aggressively pursued projects to make our neighborhoods more walkable, including the Castro Street sidewalk widening and streetscape project and pedestrian improvements in Noe Valley, Glen Park, and Mission Dolores.

Improving Late Night Transportation

San Francisco is a 24-hour city. Nightlife is a key part of our culture and economy, and more than 50,000 workers work at night. Our transportation system, however, is not meeting the city's nighttime needs. Nightlife patrons have trouble getting home -- leading, at times, to drunk driving -- and late night workers struggle to get home. I held a hearing on the deficiencies in our late night transportation network and subsequently authored legislation calling for an integrated late night transportation plan. After a broad-based public process, we published a groundbreaking report making short-term and long-term recommendations to improve late night transit. Progress is already being made by several transit operators around late night transit, and I obtained funding in the budget to keep the process moving forward.

Ensuring that Development Pays for Transit Impacts

We're experiencing a major development boom in San Francisco. We need new housing an office spaces, and we also need to ensure that new development pays for transit impacts. I proposed legislation to close significant loopholes in our Transit Impact Development Fee, particularly the blanket exemption for residential development. I've also pushed hard to make sure that specific developments pay their fair share in terms of supporting our transit system.

Treating Owners of Towed Stolen Cars Fairly

People whose cars are stolen are victims of crime. Unfortunately, these owners are, at times, victimized again if their stolen vehicles are dumped in San Francisco and towed. If they don't retrieve their vehicle from the police within 20 minutes, they are required to pay tow fees and, after a four hour grace period, storage fees. These fees can add up and, at times, are greater in value than the value of the car. I held a hearing to highlight this issue and to underline that as the City renegotiates its towing contract, it's important to provide relief for owners of stolen cars. Based on that feedback, the newly negotiated contract provides significant relief to owners of towed stolen vehicles, and I'm now authoring legislation to approve the change.

Car Sharing: Improving Access

Car sharing is key to the future of transportation in our region, and I'm a big supporter of expanded car sharing access. I authored legislation to eliminate restrictions on developers' ability to put publicly accessible car sharing spots in their new developments.

Improved Taxi Service and Support for Ride Sharing

I've been a fierce and vocal advocate for more and better taxi service and for innovative new approaches to transportation, like ride sharing. The riding public needs choices, and both taxis and ride sharing services are key to consumer choice.

Expanding Bike Sharing

Since bike sharing first came to the Bay Area a few years ago, I've been a leading voice locally and regionally to expand bike sharing dramatically. Bike sharing is an important way to increase biking and to address the "last mile" problem -- i.e., how to get people to and from transit hubs. Bike sharing makes it easier for people to access cycling even if they don't own a bike or simply don't want to carry their bike around with them. We recently announced a significant expansion of bike sharing, including 4,500 bikes in San Francisco.

Modernizing Muni's Vehicle Fleet

I've sponsored several pieces of legislation authorizing Muni to purchase more than 100 new buses, including clean-fuel, low-boarding buses as well as electric trolley coaches and hundreds of light rail vehicles. They will replace buses and trains that are at the end of their useful life, thereby improving the system's reliability. I also worked closely with Muni to ensure that future purchases are thoughtful -- for example, addressing the lack of adequate standing room in light rail vehicles. I worked to get MTA to run a pilot program to increase standing room in their light rail vehicles, and now the next generation of LRVs will have expanded standing room to help account for our significant capacity needs.

Improving Muni's Process for Buying Spare Vehicle Parts

Muni has struggled with its spare part inventory management. This has created unnecessary costs for the system and has led to spare parts not always being available when needed. These problems reduce the system's reliability for riders. To address this issues, I sponsored legislation authorizing Muni to implement a new system of procurement and management of vehicle parts.

Parking Tax Reform for Small Property Owners

Unbeknownst to many small property owners, if you rent a residential parking spot to someone who doesn't live in the building, you're required to pay parking tax on the rent you collect. Few, if any, small property owners knew about this obligation, and the tax collector began seeking huge sums in back taxes, penalties, and interest. In addition, the city made it very hard for small property owners to actually pay the tax, since the city treated them as if they were a large commercial garage. They needed to post a bond, get fingerprinted at the Hall of Justice, pay annual fees of about $1,000, and have certain types of equipment. I authored legislation -- which applies to anyone who rents out no more than ten parking spots connected to a residence -- eliminating these onerous requirements, as well as the $1,000 annual fee and allowing people to fill out a simple form and then to pay the tax quarterly. It also provided an amnesty, under which people who came forward and begin complying had to pay no more than two years worth of back taxes, with penalties and interest waived. Although no one likes having to pay taxes, this at least made it much easier for people to comply with this obligation.

Adopting Smart, Urban Street Design Standards

I authored legislation to adopt as San Francisco policy the design standards of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). NACTO is the organization that represents and advocates for the transportation needs of cities. NACTO's design standards take into account the needs of all road users in dense urban areas like San Francisco. I also authored legislation to clarify that bulb-outs and sidewalk extensions are legal and, indeed, a priority in terms of making our streets safer. Bulb-outs play an important role in shortening crossing distance for pedestrians, improving driver/pedestrian sight-lines, and slowing car turning movements.

Fire Truck Size Report

Both street safety and fire safety are critical public safety needs for our city. At times during the approval process for street safety projects, the Fire Department has raised concerns about the ability of its fire trucks to navigate narrow city streets. San Francisco has many narrow streets, and we need to make sure that our fire trucks can navigate them. Over time, the size of our fire trucks has increased. At my request, our Budget and Legislative Analyst surveyed other jurisdictions and available vehicles to determine whether the department can move toward somewhat smaller and more navigable vehicles. The report provides useful guidance for future vehicle design decisions.

Calling for Better Double Parking Enforcement

I've held multiple oversight hearings on the enforcement, or lack thereof, against double parking in San Francisco. Double parking is a significant problem in the city. It causes traffic back-ups, disrupts Muni, and blocks bike lanes. The hearings a remarkable lack of double parking enforcement. We need to do more about enforcing against double parking, especially when these vehicles block transit lines.

Road Work Coordination Hearing

An enormous amount of road work is occurring in San Francisco, including road resurfacing as well as upgrades to our city's sewer, water, and natural gas systems. This is important infrastructure work, but it's highly disruptive and at times not well-coordinated. I held a hearing to learn more about how the various city departments and PG&E coordinate this work, how they communicate with surrounding neighbors and merchants, and how coordination and communication can be improved.

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