Activists could make SF Uber riders pay a 4.5% tax per trip to staunch the bleeding for MUNI
Image by harry_nl on Flickr
To buy more time for SF’s flagging MUNI system, a November ballot measure will ask San Franciscans for yet another lifeline from ride-hail services. But even the so-called ComMUNIty Transit Act’s proponents admit that it’s a tourniquet for the SFMTA, the agency that runs MUNI. After two massive infusions of cash from state and local governments, SFMTA still faces a fiscal cliff in less than a year. SF Chronicle’s Ricardo Cano reports.
The measure, which would go into effect next year if it passes, would tax the profits that Waymo, Uber, Lyft and other “transportation network companies” earn while operating in San Francisco.
But the measure’s leaders say they recognize the likelihood that the ride-hail tax could act more as a financial tourniquet for the struggling transportation agency if it passes.
The SFMTA faces a $214 million budget deficit beginning in fiscal 2026, which starts July 2025. That’s when the agency will encounter its fiscal cliff and the start of annual nine-figure operating shortfalls without any more planned federal or state funding to cover the balance.
It’s possible that ride-hail companies could elect to pass those costs down to riders, which would mean a 45-cent surcharge on a ride costing $10, according to the campaign’s estimates.
Uber spokesperson Zahid Arab said the company wouldn’t comment on the measure until it officially makes the ballot. Arab noted that Uber supported and funded Proposition D, a 2019 measure that created a per-ride fee for ride-hail and robotaxi trips. Prop D generated about $22 million last year for street safety projects and public transit.
Last summer, as it appeared that an effort to acquire a state subsidy for transit was on the ropes, activists swarmed public meetings and held a mock funeral for BART and Muni. Gov. Gavin Newsom eventually signed a budget that included $1.1 billion for the state’s transit operators — funding that delayed the two agencies’ shortfalls by a year.
Read the whole thing here.
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