San Francisco Mayoral Race Transit Scorecard

The 2024 race for San Francisco Mayor is critical for transit, not only for the City, but for the region as a whole. 

We used candidate responses from the San Francisco Transit Riders’ questionnaire and other public records to create a concise scorecard highlighting candidates’ positions and records on a few key transit issues, focusing on candidates garnering at least 4% in polling.  Read the full responses here.

The table summarizes our assessment, grading candidates using traffic light colors. Green indicates strong responses aligned with Seamless Bay Area goals; Red indicates where a candidate has expressed a position opposed to a key policy issue; and yellow indicates a weak, incomplete, or vague response.

The five issue areas we looked at included: 

  • Overall transit funding strategy. San Francisco’s strategy and leadership on transit funding is essential because it is served by agencies with the greatest post-pandemic financial challenges - Muni, BART, Caltrain, and Golden Gate.  If the region does not come together on a regional approach to funding, San Francisco would be forced to hold separate ballot measures for different agencies - creating major risks of failure to Muni, BART, and/or Caltrain, with reduced service across the regional network, impacting all the local service connecting to BART, and increasing traffic congestion impacting the region as a whole. Strong answers mention local, regional, state and federal funding; state and federal funding helpful but can’t be counted on in the near term.  Fare enforcement generates incremental revenue; fare increases and service reductions would lead to a death spiral with decreased ridership.

  • Support for SB1031, Senator Weiner’s initial effort in early 2024 at regional transit funding authorizing legislation

  • Support for Prop L - Fund Muni. Prop L is a measure on the November 2024 ballot that would bring in $25 million per year to help preserve Muni service. Additional funding and other strategies will be needed to save and improve Muni, but this is a key step.

  • Support for Transit Priority. San Francisco has been a leader in rolling out bus rapid transit, red lanes, and other transit priority strategies which make buses faster and more reliable, and have increased ridership on the faster lines (see below). Candidates differ significantly in their records and stated support for transit priority. 

  • Support for Geary Bus Lanes were approved in August, 2023, and have resulted in significant ridership growth (see below)

The Mayor also appoints the members of the SFMTA board members, who are then confirmed by the Board of Supervisors, and also appoints a representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 

Please consider public transportation in ranking your choices for San Francisco Mayor, and share with friends who care about these issues.

Adina Levin