- San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
-
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) 
Agency overview Formed 1999 Preceding agencies San Francisco Public Transportation Commission
San Francisco Department of Parking and TrafficJurisdiction City and County of San Francisco Headquarters 1 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California Agency executives Edward D. Reiskin, Director of Transportation
Tom Nolan, Chairman, SFMTA Board of DirectorsChild agency San Francisco Municipal Railway Website http://www.sfmta.com The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (also known as SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is an agency created by consolidation of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT), and the Taxicab Commission.
SFMTA was established by the passage of Proposition E in November 1999, a measure which amended San Francisco's charter and established the semi-independent agency to combine and run Muni and DPT. The measure, promoted by the transit riders' group Rescue Muni, among others, established service standards for the agency and made a number of changes to the laws governing it.
Prior to the passage of Proposition E, the Muni was governed by the Public Transportation Commission and the Department of Parking and Traffic was governed by the Parking and Traffic Commission. Both bodies were dissolved upon the full implementation of Proposition E.
Proposition E established a seven-member board to govern the agency, its members appointed for fixed, staggered terms by the Mayor of San Francisco and subject to confirmation by the city and county's Board of Supervisors. Board members are limited to three terms.[1] The SFMTA Board of Directors is responsible for, among other things, hiring the agency's executive director.
At its inception, the SFMTA's Director of Transportation (a position referred to, at various times, in practice and by SFMTA Board policy, as "Executive Director" or "Executive Director/CEO") was Michael T. Burns. On July 15, 2005 he left the SFMTA for a position with Santa Clara VTA. Deputy Executive Director Stuart Sunshine, a former aide to Mayor Frank Jordan and Mayor Willie Brown, and a former head of the Department of Parking and Traffic, served as acting executive director until January 17, 2006, when Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., previously the general manager and CEO of MARTA in Atlanta, took over as the new executive director. On June 15, 2011, the SFMTA announced Ford would be leaving the agency effective June 30, 2011; shortly thereafter the SFMTA Board decided that Director of Administration, Taxis, and Accessible Services Debra A. Johnson would take over as acting executive director until a permanent replacement was selected by the SFMTA Board.[2][3] The board selected Edward D. Reiskin, the head of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, as the permanent executive director, effective August 15, 2011.[4]
The first chair of the SFMTA Board of Directors was H. Welton Flynn; he was succeeded by Cleopatra Vaughns. When Vaughns left the board, James McCray, Jr. was elected chairman. Like two of his then-colleagues, McCray previously served on the Parking and Traffic Commission, which was abolished when the department merged into the SFMTA. All members of the current SFMTA Board were initially appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom[5] except for Director Joél Ramos, initially appointed by Mayor Edwin Lee.[6]
Only once has the Board of Supervisors exercised its prerogative, under the charter, to reject the mayor's appointees to the SFMTA Board, when then-Mayor Newsom appointed Hunter Stern to a vacant seat. The Board of Supervisors rejected Stern by a 7-4 vote on September 27, 2005. Stern was an official with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Proposition E also established a 15-member SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council which must review the agency's budget and which makes recommendations on agency policy. The mayor appoints four members of the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council and each member of the Board of Supervisors appoints one.
Proposition E allowed for the SFMTA to take over the functions of the Taxicab Commission. In 2009, the agency did so, as a result of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed by the mayor.
In November 2005, the voters of San Francisco rejected, by a margin of 35%-65%, a ballot measure which would have allowed the Board of Supervisors to appoint three of the SFMTA Board's seven members. In November 2007, the voters of San Francisco approved, by a vote of 55% to 45%, a charter amendment further expanding the power of the SFMTA Board, granting the agency more flexibility in its labor relations, providing more funding for the agency, and imposing new limits on downtown parking.[7]
Muni Transit Statistics
The SFMTA Tranportation Fact Sheet[8] (2010) gives the following statistics about SFMTA service and equipment:
Statistic Number Avg. Weekday Boardings (FY 2009) 707,459 Regular Weekday Transit Routes 75 Regular Fare $2.00 Regular Fast-Pass Cost $60 Priority Bus Lanes 14.8 Miles No. of Diesel Buses 507 No. of Cable Cars 47 No. of Historic Streetcars 39 No. of Light Rail Vehicles (Metro) 151 No. of Trolley Buses 313 Total Service Vehicles 1,057 Single Track - Light Rail Vehicles (gauge 4' 8.5") 71.5 Miles Cable Car (gauge 3'6") 8.8 Miles SFMTA Board of Directors
- Tom Nolan, Chairman
- Jerry Lee, Vice Chairman
- Malcolm Heinecke
- Bruce Oka
- Cheryl Brinkman
- Leona Bridges
- Joél Ramos
Board Secretary: Roberta Boomer
- Policy & Governance Committee: Lee (Chair), Brinkman, Oka
SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council
- Daniel Murphy, Chair
- Daniel Weaver, Vice Chair
- Art Cimento
- Joan Downey
- Dorris Vincent
- Steve Ferrario
- Mary F. Burns
- Jamison Wieser
- Susan Vaughan
- Katie Haverkamp
- Mark Ballew
- Marc Salomon
(3 vacancies)
Council Secretary: Yvette Torres
- Engineering, Maintenance, & Safety Committee: Weaver (chair), Ferrario, Wieser
- Finance & Administration Committee: Murphy (chair), Vaughan
- Operations & Customer Service Committee: Downey (chair), Murphy, Burns
- Taxicab Committee: Burns (chair), Murphy
List of Directors of Transportation* of the SFMTA
Name Service Began Service Ended Michael T. Burns 7 March 2000 15 July 2005 Stuart Sunshine (acting) 15 July 2005 17 January 2006 Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr. 17 January 2006 30 June 2011 Debra A. Johnson (acting) 1 July 2011 14 August 2011 Edward D. Reiskin 15 August 2011 * The city charter refers to this office as the Director of Transportation, though the alternate title "Executive Director" was more commonly used during the first decade of the agency's existence. In February 2006, the MTA Board adopted a resolution adding "CEO" to the title.[9] When Edward D. Reiskin took office in 2011, he opted to use only the position's official title.[10]
List of Chairmen* of the SFMTA Board of Directors
Name Service Began Service Ended H. Welton Flynn 7 March 2000 20 January 2004 Cleopatra Vaughns 20 January 2004 2 May 2006 Michael Kasolas (acting) 2 May 2006 16 May 2006 James McCray, Jr. 16 May 2006 3 February 2009 Tom Nolan 3 February 2009 * Although the city charter specifies that the MTA Board shall have a "chair," Flynn, Vaughns, McCray, and Nolan have all opted for the style "chairman."
List of Vice Chairmen of the SFMTA Board of Directors
Name Service Began Service Ended Enid Ng Lim 7 March 2000 1 July 2003 vacant 1 July 2003 20 January 2004 Michael Kasolas 20 January 2004 1 March 2007 vacant 1 March 2007 3 April 2007 Tom Nolan 3 April 2007 3 February 2009 James McCray, Jr. 3 February 2009 30 April 2010 vacant 30 April 2010 4 May 2010 Jerry Lee 4 May 2010 List of Chairs of the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council
Name Service Began Service Ended David Pilpel (acting) 6 July 2000 3 August 2000 Linton H. Stables III 3 August 2000 11 July 2002 Daniel Murphy 11 July 2002 Trivia
- Upon the departure of Director Shirley Breyer Black in April 2010, none of the original members of the SFMTA Board remain in office.
- Former SFMTA Board member Shirley Breyer Black is the aunt of United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and United States District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer.
- Muni's Flynn Division is named for former SFMTA Board chair H. Welton Flynn.
- SFMTA Board Chairman Tom Nolan, before moving to San Francisco, was a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and was the first openly gay member of that body.
- SFMTA Board member Bruce Oka is the only SFMTA Board member to have served on both the SFMTA Board and the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council.
- Former SFMTA Board member Leah Shahum is the current Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
- The late Director Cameron Beach was, before joining the SFMTA Board the chief operating officer of the Sacramento Regional Transit District and vice president of the Market Street Railway.
- Former SFMTA Board member José Cisneros was later appointed, and subsequently elected, to the position of city Treasurer & Tax Collector.
External links
- San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
- San Francisco Municipal Railway
- San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic
- SFMTA Board of Directors
- SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council
- Rescue Muni
- The N Judah Chronicles
- Street cleaning schedule and map
Sources
- Collected agendas and minutes of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors
- Proposition E (November 1999), creating the Municipal Transportation Agency
References
- ^ http://www.rescuemuni.org/final-final-amendment.html
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=91900
- ^ http://www.sfmta.com/cms/aexec/indxmtexec.htm
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/22/BA171KDIOJ.DTL
- ^ http://www.sfmta.com/cms/chome/bordindx.htm#aboutsfmtaboard
- ^ http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=414
- ^ November 2007 Proposition A
- ^ http://www.sfmta.com/cms/rfact/factindx.htm (p. 5 of linked pdf)
- ^ http://www.sfmta.com/cms/cmta/MTABoardFebruary212006minutes.htm
- ^ http://www.sfmta.com/cms/aexec/documents/ORGCHART-SFMTA-092911.pdf
Categories:- Government of San Francisco, California
- San Francisco Municipal Railway
- Public transportation in San Francisco, California
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