According San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Authority (MTA), Muni service in the city is nearly out of gas. Deeply in dept by a reported $57 million, MTA officials voted 4-2 on Monday to approve a 25 cent increase to jump-start the agencies' ailing finances and public transportation running in the city.

However, even with the proposed fare increase, which is slated to go into effect this September, Muni officials make no promises about maintaining existing routes or services. The deal for Muni customers seems simple, if bizarre – riders pay more for using public transportation while getting less for every dollar spent.

If MTA officials expect Muni riders to accept that deal, I’d like to know what they’ve been smoking.
As I and many other Muni riders see it, a multi-million dollar deficit is the least of MTA's worries. Just keeping the buses and trains running on time seems a far more difficult challenge than the current management appears capable of handling. If MTA’s board members ever tried riding the system they oversee, I think they’d quickly understand my point.

The Muni Metro system that thousands of SF State students now use is a badly broken disaster ride that’s more often late than not, staffed by drivers, conductors and station agents so rude that they collectively make Judge Judy look like look like the princess of politeness.

If the system at least worked as advertised, I could forgive the occasional fare increase. What I can't forgive is a trip from campus to my downtown apartment, just three blocks from Union Square, that took an hour a half last week via Muni. It shouldn’t take that long to cross the city at 8 p.m. in the evening. Sadly, it does.

Historically, we all know that transit fare increases tend to impact those who can least afford them. Peter Mezey, one of MTA's six directors, appears to agree.

According to Charlie Goodyear, a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mezey said earlier this week that, "The fare changes, I believe, are going to cause hardships in the community." The MTA board rejected a proposal from Director Wil Din that would have tied any future fare hikes to Muni's on-time performance. Muni, it seems, will get more money, no matter how poorly the agency functions.

What Mezey and other MTA directors fail to see is that students at SF State are already reeling from rising tuition costs and sky-high housing rates. Spending more money just to get around in the city is an additional burden students don’t need and shouldn't accept. If Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approve the MTA's budget later in the year, students won't have any choice but to pay more for the privilege of waiting for the next train or bus.

Let’s not forget that no one rides Muni for the thrill or the adventure of the trip. Recently, I’ve heard more than one female friend complain to me about groping hands on the Muni M-line. It's easy to find Muni's fare cops hanging around at the downtown stations, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a Muni security officer on a train. While I don’t think anyone expects Muni security to police every bus or train on every trip, I’d like to see them swing by at least every once in awhile. I know I’d feel safer, and so would my female friends.

That MTA officials expect students and other San Francisco residents to dig a little deeper in our pockets and pull out yet more change for less service than what we’re now getting is, I believe, shortsighted and laughable. At this rate, SF State will soon need to offer courses in panhandling, as I don’t know where I or other students are going to find yet more money for Muni.

If MTA’s managers feel they must pass on higher operating costs to Muni riders, than I’d like to suggest they provide something in return – a metro transit system that gets me where I want to go safely, efficiently and with a minimum of hassle. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Until I see improvements in the current system, I say students should tell MTA’s bosses where they should stick their fare increase proposals – right up their tailpipes.