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Board urges SFMTA to restore pre‑pandemic service levels; adopts Sept. deadline for written plan
Summary
The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the Municipal Transportation Agency to restore all suspended Muni lines and pre‑pandemic service hours, and to file a written plan (amended to Sept. 30) explaining restoration timing and funding. The vote was 9–2 after debate over feasibility given staffing and budget constraints.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on July 27 passed a resolution urging the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to reinstate all suspended transit lines and restore pre‑pandemic service levels, and directing SFMTA to deliver a written restoration plan. After floor debate the board amended the resolution’s target date for a written plan from Aug. 31 to Sept. 30 and adopted the measure by a 9–2 vote.
Supervisor Dean Preston, who introduced the resolution, said the city had taken an austerity approach toward transit staffing and hiring during the pandemic and urged a change of course so as to avoid a “transit death spiral” where service cuts permanently reduce ridership and revenue. “If you restore service too slowly, you enter what the MTA leadership calls the transit death spiral,” Preston said.
MTA representatives have argued that restoring all suspended lines to pre‑pandemic levels is constrained by operator and maintenance staffing shortages as well as longer‑term fiscal questions. Some supervisors — including Supervisor Mandelmann and Supervisor Stephanie — said they were sympathetic to the operational challenges but wanted the board’s firm policy direction and a specific timeline to measure progress.
Supervisor Stephanie said she did not believe the resolution should demand a result MTA had told the board it could not meet by a given date, and Supervisor Mandelmann voted no, saying he was concerned the board was setting unrealistic expectations. Nevertheless the amended resolution passed 9–2; Supervisors Stephanie and Mandelmann voted no.
The board asked SFMTA to present a written plan by Sept. 30 that lays out restoration milestones, hiring timelines for operators and maintenance personnel, funding sources for operating deficits, and how restoration decisions will be prioritized geographically and operationally. The board also directed MTA to explain how it will avoid permanently eliminating lines during any re‑planning process and requested that the agency and the SFMTA board coordinate public outreach about restoration choices.
Several supervisors and transit advocates said they intend to monitor MTA’s forthcoming plan and to press for both rapid restoration and a long‑term revenue strategy to sustain service once restored.
