Let Kids Ride Muni Free, Mathematically Challenged Group Suggests
Categories: Public Transit
An organization composed of the Muni driver's union and a consortium of activist groups of varying degrees of sanity has made the push that kids should ride for free on city buses and trains.
It's a bit funny that the organization in question, Muni Riders and Operators Expanding, is known by the acronym MORE. Asking Muni to do more -- with less -- is what progressive groups do best. As is reiterating the Utopian notion of making Muni free, and, somehow, ignoring the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost fares.
Visiting MORE's website, it seems the group is preoccupied with three things:
The last one would be a bit harder to accomplish if MORE got its way regarding free youth ridership -- being as that would strip Muni of a major source of fare revenue. One supposes the rejoinder to that is that there are plenty of rich people in this city to tax.
Muni officials are, at SF Weekly's behest, "crunching the numbers" regarding how much it would cost to allow everyone who claims to be 18 or younger to ride for free; we'll update the article when we receive that estimate. Sadly, MORE does not have a contact e-mail or phone number on its website.
As well as serving as a conduit for the Transportation Workers United, MORE also boasts activist groups such as International Answer, POWER, and the Gray Panthers.
Fare for a minor currently stands at 75 cents; a monthly Youth Pass is $20.
"Hey, I'd like to see all of Muni be free," says Supervisor John Avalos, when queried about the feasibility of MORE's demands. "But until we figure out how to pay for it, it's a pipe dream."
It's a bit funny that the organization in question, Muni Riders and Operators Expanding, is known by the acronym MORE. Asking Muni to do more -- with less -- is what progressive groups do best. As is reiterating the Utopian notion of making Muni free, and, somehow, ignoring the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost fares.
Visiting MORE's website, it seems the group is preoccupied with three things:
- Taxing the rich;
- "Defending" Muni drivers from Prop. G;
- Staving off fare hikes and route cuts.
The last one would be a bit harder to accomplish if MORE got its way regarding free youth ridership -- being as that would strip Muni of a major source of fare revenue. One supposes the rejoinder to that is that there are plenty of rich people in this city to tax.
Muni officials are, at SF Weekly's behest, "crunching the numbers" regarding how much it would cost to allow everyone who claims to be 18 or younger to ride for free; we'll update the article when we receive that estimate. Sadly, MORE does not have a contact e-mail or phone number on its website.
As well as serving as a conduit for the Transportation Workers United, MORE also boasts activist groups such as International Answer, POWER, and the Gray Panthers.
Fare for a minor currently stands at 75 cents; a monthly Youth Pass is $20.
"Hey, I'd like to see all of Muni be free," says Supervisor John Avalos, when queried about the feasibility of MORE's demands. "But until we figure out how to pay for it, it's a pipe dream."
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