By Stephen Dorian Miner

February 27, 2008

Muni got a potential shot in the arm Tuesday with Mayor Gavin Newsom’s announcement of plans to implement recommendations from a San Francisco Transit Effectiveness Project (SFTEP) study.

SFTEP commissioned a $2 million study recommending sweeping changes to the beleaguered transit system that carries as many as 700,000 passengers per day.

Key aspects of the plan changes include route alterations and the eliminations of some bus lines.

The proposed changes, to begin in July 2009, include the killing of the number 2 Clement line and the re-routing of the number 52 Excelsior line while offering service line changes to include BART stations on some routes.

SFTEP is a partnership between the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) – which runs Muni and the Department of Parking and Traffic – and the city Controller’s Office, a partnership created “to increase the effectiveness of the City’s Muni transit system,” according to the SFTEP web site.

The proposal’s changes provides some hope to Muni riders who have been plagued with everything from long wait times to over-crowded buses and trains.

Muni was considered by many of its riders to be completely unreliable early last year following the launch of the new T-Third street line which caused delays in both directions in the subway below Market Street.

Although service has improved since then, Muni is still considered unreliable and continues to fall short of meeting an 85 percent on-time performance benchmark mandated by voters in 1999.

Though the report and its proposed recommendations comes as welcome news to Muni riders, it remains to be seen whether the various efforts will improve on-time performance.

Details of the plan changes can be found at http://www.sftep.com.