SFCTA reallocates $47 million in Prop L for Muni maintenance as Kirkland Yard electrification draws split support

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority on March 11 approved an amendment to the Prop L five‑year prioritization program that reprograms $47,000,000 from placeholders to nine specific Muni maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement projects, including an expanded subway station condition assessment and midlife overhauls for buses and light‑rail vehicles.

The amendment reallocates funds to nine projects the authority said are time‑sensitive. Nick Smith, presenting for the SFMTA, said the change moves $47,000,000 from earlier placeholders into projects that include a condition assessment of nine subway stations (Embarcadero to West Portal), overhauls for 32‑, 40‑ and 60‑foot buses and LRVs, a midlife overhaul for 16 PCC historic streetcars, a cable car restoration placeholder, paratransit vehicle replacements and facility upgrades including a cable car barn power‑system design.

The subway station study will increase the amount programmed for the station condition assessment from $750,000 to $1,500,000, SFMTA officials said. The proposed midlife overhaul for 16 PCC streetcars currently shows a $22,000,000 funding gap; the authority said it will expect a fully funded phase when Muni requests allocation. The Kirkland Yard Electrification Project, intended to prepare the facility to support deployment of 10 battery electric buses by early 2029, remains in the amendment with an outstanding funding plan that the presentation said currently lists roughly $93,000,000 as TBD.

The Community Advisory Committee, which had reviewed the amendment in February, “severed the Kirkland Yard electrification project from the 5 YPP item and failed to adopt a motion of support for it,” CAC representative Kat Siegel told commissioners. Siegel and several CAC members had expressed concerns about cost‑effectiveness and reliability of battery electric buses; the CAC approved the remainder of the amendment unanimously, she said.

SFMTA staff responded that the Kirkland Yard work is needed in any scenario because of recurring power outages at the facility. “The existing bus yard today houses hybrid diesel buses. The current plan would be to convert the yard to full battery electric buses,” said Chris Lazaro of SFMTA’s chief strategy office.

At the same meeting the authority approved an allocation of $2,000,000 in Prop L funds for three requests tied to the amendment. The allocation covers the expanded Muni Metro station condition assessment, a Monterey Boulevard neighborhood quick‑build pedestrian safety project (which includes restriping, painted safety zones, daylighting and a rectangular rapid‑flashing beacon at Acadia Street), and local match funds for an Embarcadero Mobility Resilience Plan to study transportation‑focused coastal resilience measures along the Embarcadero.

Actions taken at the meeting directed SFMTA to present the agency’s 0‑emission transition update later this year; staff said SFMTA will return with a detailed 0‑emission transition plan in the summer. The board approved the 5‑year amendment and the $2,000,000 allocation in separate action votes during the March 11 meeting.

The amendment shifts funding within the city’s Prop L program to address deferred maintenance and fleet reliability while revealing funding gaps for some historic vehicle restorations and leaving key facility‑upgrade plans—most notably at Kirkland Yard—contingent on further design work and a clarified funding plan.