SF Mayor Ed Lee aims at transit

ON S.F.'S TRANSPORTATION MESS

Published 8:04 pm, Friday, February 1, 2013

Muni isn't making its schedules. Anyone who drives knows about potholes and tire-grabbing cracks. Bike riders compete with a wave of new taxis who zoom by double-parked trucks. Parking meters now operate on Sunday, the better to bring in $60 tickets.

San Francisco's transportation world is a uncoordinated, infuriating mess. There are bright ideas such as tech help in hunting for parking and smartphone updates on Muni delays. But there's also aging rolling stock and sardine conditions on major routes with only a handful of riders on others. A string of City Hall reorganizations and work rule changes aren't paying off out on the road.

Mayor Ed Lee, ever judicious and patient, wants to wadeinto this nest of problems. Just as he did in overhauling city taxes and pensions, his solution is to lock the best-and-brightest in a room for several months and wait for a consensus list of solutions to emerge. Then he will turn to voters for a possible car tax and bond measure to pay for the plans.

This project is in baby clothes right now. Lee is throwing out ideas that sound both sensible and far-fetched. The creaking behemoth known as Muni could easily take up the first five or 10 slots on anyone's priority list. But the mayor is talking up an expanded ferry fleet and a BART turnaround somewhere beneath the city to speed up headways.

It might be better, Mr. Mayor, to stick with the big stuff