The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) Board of Directors has approved the agency’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 and 2026 operating and capital budgets.
The budget allows SFMTA to continue:
- Transit service on 72 Muni routes
- Improvement projects that help make Muni safer, cleaner, faster and more reliable
- Paratransit service for half a million seniors and people with disabilities every year
- Street safety programs and projects such as new street designs
Reducing the budget gap to preserve critical services
In December 2022, the agency projected a $214 million budget gap for the upcoming two-year budget. To reduce the gap, the agency reduced its expenses, made its processes more efficient and limited hiring to key positions. By December 2023, SFMTA had reduced the budget gap to $12.7 million.
To close the remainder of the gap, the SFMTA Board had to make difficult decisions. Its revenues still haven’t recovered from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic so the agency had to raise revenues to avoid cutting programs or services.
Incorporating community feedback
The agency notes community input was crucial as the budget was being developed and it shaped the final version that the board approved.
SFMTA held two citywide listening sessions and 35 meetings with neighborhood groups, merchant associations and community-based organizations and heard from the public at board meetings from January through April.
In response to that input, SFMTA modified the original proposal for generating the $12.7 million needed to close the budget gap. The budget now includes modest increases to Muni fares, fees and fines. The increases will protect vulnerable populations, improve fare equity and support the future financial health of the agency.
Muni fare changes
The cash fare riders pay for Muni will remain the same. SFMTA will also continue providing Free Muni for Youth and a 50 percent discount on monthly passes to riders with low incomes, seniors and riders with disabilities.
The agency originally proposed eliminating the Clipper Card discount during the course of two years. However, concerns from the community about how the elimination of the Clipper Card discount might impact Muni ridership, SFMTA changed its proposal and now plan to reduce the discount but not eliminate it.
Other changes
Parking fines will go up in both years of the budget. By the second year, tickets for street cleaning and parking meter violations will have gone up by $15.
The budget includes funding for 36 additional fare inspectors and reallocated resources to speed up street design changes that protect people who walk, bike and roll.
Next steps
After the Mayor’s Office sends the proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors, the board may allow it to take effect without any action or it may reject the budget.
