What Does Proposed Muni Hike Mean? It Means Muni Never Believed Own Rhetoric.

In Muni's defense, there is no easy way to make up the sorts of deficits it is facing. The proposed service cuts and fare hikes it announced on Friday and will present to the Muni board tomorrow are complex and have plenty for everyone to hate. But, for us, two things leap out:

• Muni's staff has refused to even consider the notion of extending parking meter hours -- meaning SF Weekly (and others) were apparently right on the mark when we months ago reported that Mayor Gavin Newsom's vociferous opposition to more meter hours rendered the motion dead on arrival;

• The proposal to jack the prices of the F-Market trolley up to $5 puts the lie to Muni's claim that this is a "normal" line and anything other than a boutique tourist cash-generator in the transit agency's eyes.

Let's start with the first one:    

Muni's dutiful -- but farcical -- formulation of a plan to generate as much as $9 million yearly via extended parking meter hours is actually a microcosm of Muni's larger organizational problems. The agency is far more independent of city government than in the past; former controller Ed Harrington told us about a long-ago Board of Supervisors meeting in which a supe refused to allow a Muni line to make an incredibly minor route change because no one showed up to speak against it. Surely, the supervisor said, this was a sign that the pending change wasn't publicized enough -- so she shot down the motion.

At some point, a government must govern -- and it's a good thing Muni is no longer so micromanaged. And yet, in its current formulation, the agency is still very much under the mayor's thumb. Nowadays the MTA board can approve changes without the Board of Supervisors' input -- but that MTA board is solely appointed by the mayor. So for the mayor to make an unsubtle announcement about where he stands on extending parking meter hours is not an idle matter. It's no coincidence that MTA staff didn't even bother to include extended meter hours in the long list of terrible ways to make up its budget shortfall. They'll be installing slot machines on the N-Judah before they make a policy suggestion that directly contravenes the boss-man's expressly stated wishes.

Muni, by the way, didn't do itself any favors by coming out with an extended meter hours plan that all but required the Rosetta Stone to understand -- and, in the ultimate sin, asked drivers to pay for things they now get for free. That's just not good politics. Too bad the city's already spent millions that were scheduled to have been backfilled by extended parking meter revenue. As we've written before, this is the upshot of the progressive supes seeing fit to shake on a Muni budget "compromise" in which just about the only takeaway was Muni's agreement to "commit to analyzing" extending meter hours. In other words, Muni said they'd think about it -- and they did.

Anyhow, on to the F-Line. Muni officials have always told us that, despite the fact that F-Market trolleys are viscerally cute, they are not toys. This is not a glorified electric railroad or Cable Car system -- which people ride simply for the sake of riding. This, we have always been told, is a bona fide rail line with upwards of 20,000 daily riders to prove it.

Words. All words. Apparently, it's all about getting cash from the tourists, or else Muni would have seen fit to jack up the rates on the 38 Geary.

Last year, we asked Market Street Railway President Rick Laubscher why it was financially viable for Muni to spend $2 million revamping a single historic trolley car. Laubscher, we think, made a pretty valid case that, mile for mile, trolley cars are among the cheapest vehicles in Muni's fleet to maintain. We haven't been able to reach Laubscher today (or Muni, for that matter; it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).

But it seems that Muni has thrown Laubscher under the trolley here. By singling out this line for tourist prices, it seems that Muni had little use for Laubscher's heartfelt and convincing arguments. Money spent toward maintaining the F-Line, apparently, will help augment a means of separating tourists from their American dollars, not moving San Francisco residents across town.

And this is perhaps what rankles the most. By charging outrageous prices for the F-Line or insisting San Franciscans pay for a $70 monthly pass for the privilege of riding the cable car several blocks, Muni has found yet another way to tell San Franciscans that the city's most delightful elements are not meant for them.

There is a solution here -- and it's one many San Franciscans have availed themselves of. Move out of this city. Then come back, visit, and partake in the wondrous elements that make San Francisco a tourists' paradise.