Muni lines cut as parking meter prices raised. Here’s what to know

The board of the city’s transit agency voted Tuesday to slash bus service for several lines and to hike parking meter fees.

The changes to Muni service and parking costs are part of austerity measures by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to offset a $50 million budget deficit for fiscal 2025-26, which starts in July. The agency is projecting a $320 million budget deficit for fiscal 2026-27. 

The bus service cuts should account for $7.5 million of the $50 million gap, the agency says. Other savings will come from increased bus fares that went into effect in January and cuts to other programs.

The Muni service cuts, which the board approved 5-2, take effect June 21 and affect the 5, 6, 9, 21, and 31 lines. Here’s how those routes will change:

Parking meter fees will increase starting May 15:

San Francisco meters use demand-responsive pricing, meaning those with higher usage cost more. Because of this, the SFMTA did not have a full list of which meters will increase by 25 cents and which will increase by 50 cents. Those that will increase from 50 cents to $1 are the city’s least-used meters, including some on sleepy corridors in the Outer Sunset.

The agency predicts that the meter increases, which are billed partly as an adjustment for inflation, will yield more than $4 million annually. The citywide parking rate increase is the first in a decade; the minimum rate increase is the first in seven years.

During public comment ahead of the vote, Christopher White, executive director of the SF Bicycle Coalition, lambasted the city for the service cuts, saying they go against a policy of prioritizing public transit. White pointed out that the cuts come as the city opens Market Street to Waymos as part of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s downtown revitalization efforts.

“San Francisco’s decision-makers are willing to let ‘transit first’ wither and let privatization reign,” he said.

Public comment before Tuesday’s vote was otherwise paltry, but dozens spoke against the bus service cuts at the board’s April 1 meeting. Many urged the SFMTA to instead dip into reserve funds.

Terry Adams, who recently moved from Austin to San Francisco, said the city should easily be able to scrape together enough money to fill the hole. He’s afraid the cuts will hurt ridership.

“Seven million dollars is like the salary of a tech vice president,” Adams said. “It’s not a lot of money. It can be found.”

Chris Arvin, vice chair of the SFMTA Citizens’ Advisory Council, said the cuts could erode the public’s trust in the agency, pointing out that it raised bus fares by 25 cents in January and is now butchering the 6 line after making a fuss about its post-Covid restoration.

“What does it say to riders when you raise fares and won’t use them to fund service?” Arvin said.

Transit advocate Scott Feeney noted that diminished trust could make it harder to convince voters to pass future taxes and bonds. Next year, voters will decide on a $300 million bond to fund local transit under the city’s bond schedule. Another bill, spearheaded by state Sen. Scott Weiner, would ask voters in San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties to approve a new sales tax to fund BART and Muni.

“When service is cut, people don’t want to fund Muni, and you’re going to be going to voters next year,” Feeney said. “Do the right thing, and don’t make the cuts.”

During the discussion before Tuesday’s vote, board member Stephanie Cajina, in particular, criticized the cuts to the 9 bus line, pointing to SFMTA staff’s report showing that of the lines facing cuts, that route has the highest percentages of low-income riders, people of color, and disabled people.

While she did not make comments alongside Cajina on Tuesday, SFMTA board chair Janet Tarlov said during the April 1 meeting that offsetting cuts now would result in more draconian cuts in summer 2026, when the agency will have to confront a $320 million budget shortfall.

“It’s a difficult situation to maintain voter trust,” Tarlov said.