SAN FRANCISC0 (KRON) — San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the Board of Supervisors Monday announced new investments in the city’s transportation initiatives including an additional $48.1 million in funding in San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2015-16.
The Mayor’s office said the funding will lead to the most significant series of service improvements in decades. Under the plan, the money will go toward the hiring of 244 frontline positions. More than half of those positions are slated for bus and train drivers and the remaining are positions for mechanics, janitors and cleaning crews.
The proposed budget also includes $26 million for the purchase of new hybrid buses and light rail vehicles and calls for $5.9 million in street and pedestrian safety enhancements.
“Our investment in our City’s public transportation system is an investment that will make Muni more reliable, safer, cleaner, easier to maintain, and ready to meet the demands of a growing City and growing ridership,” said Mayor Lee.
Last year, San Francisco voters passed Propositions A and B, which dedicate bond funds and additional annual funding for improvements to Muni and the city’s transportation network.
The Mayor’s office said the result is a historic investment into the city’s transit infrastructure with the SFMTA’s first-ever $1 billion operating budget.
The SFMTA operates the nation’s eighth largest public transit system, with more than 700,000 average daily boardings on 75 transit lines in every city neighborhood.