Chron LTE: Central Subway Hurts Citywide Muni

Regarding “Ambitious BART let nuts, bolts go ignored” (March 20): San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency did even worse, cutting Muni service throughout the city while taking $1.12 billion of state and local matching funds for the Central Subway. The Central Subway is inefficient and irresponsible when higher priorities go begging, like five-car trains in Muni Metro, Caltrain’s extension to downtown, bus rapid networks and state-of-the-art transit to the western neighborhoods. Any $2 billion northern subway will take $1 billion more of state and local matching funds for a one-mile route that hurts Muni’s other 500 miles of transit lines. The Central Subway is a real estate scheme, not a citywide transit solution. Pro-development lobbyists covet the lush properties of the northeast quadrant at the expense of the overall Muni system. Stop eliminating bus lines, shortening routes and cutting service in other neighborhoods.

Howard Wong, San Francisco