Muni going Big Brother with more cameras

Like all my fellow Muni-travelers out there: I am all for SFMTA trying to bump up its revenue in any way other than hiking Muni fares any higher.

So, my reaction at hearing SFMTA is looking to pull in funds by installing more traffic cameras on their buses and hand out more citations? Hey, if it eventually leads to Muni fares being under two bucks a ride, I’ll say yes to anything.

According to SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose, the 800+ Muni bus fleet currently has just 30 cameras in place to catch cocky drivers who choose to drive or park in transit-only lanes.

You know those people: The ones that insist on driving super slow in front of your Muni bus or train when you’re already late to work. Hate those crazy people!

Rose told the Ex that SFMTA wants 300 cameras by the end of the year. And that the agency expects the number of citations to rise as SFMTA moves to outfit more and eventually all Muni vehicles with cameras.

Which is impressive, when you consider that driving in a transit lane costs $60 a pop, and parking in a transit-only lane will snag about $115 from your wallet.

Adding cameras won’t be the only way that SFMTA will raise the number of citations, which has already been steadily climbing over the last three years. There are also efforts to add more transit-only lanes — like along Mission Street — with hopes of raising efficiency on all of Muni’s routes.

According to an SFMTA report from 2010:

” If Muni speeds were increased by 1 mph systemwide, it would save $76 million in operational efficiencies.”

And as long as that $76 million isn’t coming out of my skinny little wallet, cheers to that.