Push to Organize SF Transit Riders Proving Difficult

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Dave Snyder, organizer of transit riders

​Last month's well-publicized service rollbacks at Muni were long anticipated by unhappy bus riders, motorists and regular transit activists, but at least one man has tried to capitalize on the transit agency's woes.

Longtime transit activist Dave Snyder has used Muni's most recent meltdown as an opportunity to organize its riders into the San Francisco Transit Riders Union. We spoke to Dave Snyder--the project coordinator of SFTRU--about the progress of his recent unionizing efforts. They have been slow.
The project is inspired by a similar, albeit more successful, model in L.A. Snyder is determined to make the organization multi-ethnic and inclusive, but recruitment hasn't yielded many volunteers so far. The "first efforts of pulling people together were not successful at crossing those bridges," Snyder said about creating diversity in membership.

They have managed to put together a commission with a great resume, though: there are representatives from SF Planning & Urban Research, SF Youth Commission, the Chinese Progressive Association, and the Senior Action Network, to name a few.

The Transit Riders Union's website advertises that its policy decisions "[rely] on the perspectives of the constituents they represent and surveys and polls of Muni ridership." But Snyder reveals that only one unsatisfying poll has been conducted, in which face-to-face interviews were conducted with Spanish, Chinese, and trilingual speakers in the eight busiest
neighborhoods for buses.

When asked exactly what the union is out to accomplish Snyder said, "We are hoping that one of the two ideas that the supervisors have come up with [to generate] more money for Muni makes it onto the ballot: parking tax and increased set-aside. Muni needs to be more efficient, but there's also no doubt that it needs more money, more buses and drivers, and more frequent service."

Besides the obvious environmental and urban benefits of curbing car use, increasing Muni service is "economically and socially just," Snyder said with the virtuous assertion of, well, a union member. "We need to have a city where cars are optional, because [there are many people who can't afford them]."

The Transit Union is hoping for $28 million to provide full service restorations, which seems unlikely given Muni's ongoing economic malaise. If esoteric policy proposals won't cut it, the union offers a makeshift solution: tack on $2 to purchases of sports tickets, and a free Muni ride to the game.

Doesn't quite seem to add up, as a bus ride costs the same. But a free ride always sounds good in writing, and for those car-goers who feel robbed, Snyder reminds them that more transit users equal more available parking spots.