Quote of the Week

An excellent article on the difficulties of managing transit in San Francisco comes back to the role of the public, and the dangers of seeing “transit riders” as an interest group:

And yet no one is holding Muni management accountable to make the big
changes to reverse [Muni’s downward spiral].  The agency can neglect its riders’
long-term needs because of the fragmented nature of its ridership.  At a
recent “Muni summit,” transit experts — some of whom have decades of
experience working with Muni — shared time with speakers who saw the
consolidation of bus lines or even bus stops as a plot against minority
communities; wild-eyed revolutionaries whose worldview began and ended
with seizing funds from downtown and St. Francis Wood taxpayers to pay
for Muni; and, naturally, people comparing the members of the MTA board
to “Hitlers.” Transit activists’ aversion to allowing anyone into the
room not dead-set against the Central Subway cuts them off from
Chinatown residents — a bastion of Muni riders.  And organizers’
insistence on labeling transit reform a progressive issue needlessly
invites hostility from other political factions.  A functioning transit
system benefits everyone, even car users and Republicans.

— Joe Eskenazy and Greg Dewar, SF Weekly

Read the whole thing.  Its story may be that of your city as well.