Muni driver shortage causes trip cuts S.F. TRANSIT Agency cancels trips - passengers wait longer

Line of commuters waiting for the 31 Balboa Express after work on Davis St. between California and Market streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 11, 2012. Line of commuters waiting for the 31 Balboa Express after work on Davis St. between California and Market streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 11, 2012. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Muni driver shortage causes trip cuts 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Muni, exhausting its monthly allowance of overtime, is canceling 650 trips per day, forcing thousands of riders to wait longer for more crowded buses, streetcars and cable cars.

A shortage of operators combined with a strict limit on overtime is putting the squeeze on the transit agency as is an aging fleet of transit vehicles - including one of the nation's oldest bus fleets. The biggest problem is a shortage of operators to drive buses or run streetcars and cable cars.

Muni needs about 160 more operators, said John Haley, the Municipal Transportation Agency's transit director. Transit Workers Union 250A, which represents Muni operators says the shortage could be as high as 300. The shortage is caused by too few operators on staff due to turnover and too few being trained, as well as a high absentee rate.

"The availability of operators just doesn't match our scheduled service," Haley said.

Bus riders are being hit the hardest by the canceled trips, which amount to about 5 percent of Muni's daily service. In July, Muni operated 98.5 percent of scheduled Metro light-rail service but just 94.9 percent of bus service. Historic streetcars ran 92.4 percent of the time they were supposed to, with cable cars making 92.9 percent of their trips.

"The impact has been greater on the rubber-tire side," Haley said, explaining that most of the available overtime has been used on Muni Metro. "There is real pain, and there is real impact on different lines."

Rather than improvising a daily solution to shortages, Haley said, Muni has established a policy that prioritizes busier routes and tries to avoid skipping consecutive trips on routes. But since absentee rates vary from day to day and between Muni's different bus and rail yards, some lines have more canceled trips than others.

Avoiding overtime

Last week, on weekdays, those routes included the 16X Noriega Express, which saw 20 percent of its service cut; the 31-Balboa and 71-Haight-Noriega, 16 percent; 23-Monterey, 14 percent; and 49-Van Ness-Mission, 12 percent. On weekends, the F line of historic streetcars saw a 20 percent loss of service, with the California Street cable car line missing 13 percent of its scheduled departures.

"These are really shadow cutbacks," said Ben Kaufman, spokesman for the San Francisco Transit Riders Union. "It doesn't show up on the radar as a budget cut but it still affects the people who ride Muni. There's an expectation of reliable service in this city, and often it is not met."

In the past, Muni has relied more heavily on overtime to keep the buses running. But after years of busting its budget with overtime - last year, the agency exceeded its overtime budget by $60 million - Muni promised to stay within its limits. Haley said that amounts to $3 million a month, including special events such as Giants and 49ers games and events such as this weekend's Outside Lands concert.

Also contributing to Muni's missed-trips trouble is its aging equipment, which needs frequent maintenance, and should be retired, Haley said. The agency expects to replace 45 of its diesel buses - about 8 percent of the diesel fleet - in late 2013, and 60 trolley buses - 18 percent of the trolley fleet - in 2014.

Hard to keep drivers

But even if all the buses were running, Muni would need more people to drive them. Haley said the number of operators leaving Muni each month often exceeds the number completing training programs. Ed Reiskin, the agency's transportation director, said Friday he is looking at how to improve training.

Ron Austin, a spokesman for the operators' union, said the missed trips are tough on drivers, too, since they're hauling fuller buses packed with crankier commuters.

"A lot of the operators who come to work have to go out on stress leave or disability," he said. "People are getting fried."

Haley and Austin said the union and the agency are cooperating in an attempt to relieve the situation. But Austin said he considers the problem systemic, and that it will take time to resolve.

"What is mystifying to us," he said, "is that, at a time when everyone is looking for work, the agency can't get and keep people."