San Francisco is taking a rain check on making its bus fleet more eco-friendly, in an effort to conserve $452 million as it faces an ugly fiscal picture and asks taxpayers to rescue its budget.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board voted Sept. 1 to delay a state mandate requiring it to buy 378 battery-electric buses for five years, opting instead for the same number of diesel-hybrid models.
The austerity measure comes amid a fiscal crisis for the agency, which projects an operating deficit of $307 million this fiscal year that will grow to $434 million within five years, driven by rising labor costs and fare and parking revenue that hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
To close the budget gap, the agency is counting on voters to approve two new taxes for transit operations. A parcel tax, Stronger Muni for All, and a sales tax, Connect Bay Area, would together generate $307 million for Muni annually. Should either measure fail, Muni could cut up to 20 lines and run fewer buses on the rest.
The requirement to buy electric buses comes from the California Air Resources Board, which mandates that transit agencies cut greenhouse gas emissions. Agencies can seek an exemption for financial hardship, as the SFMTA has. The agency maintains that its goal is to run a zero-emissions fleet by 2040.
If approved by CARB, the SFMTA would buy 132 40-foot buses, 224 60-foot accordion buses, and 100 gasoline-powered paratransit vans by 2031. The agency currently runs 856 buses, 278 of which are electric trolleybuses, which are powered via antennae that touch overhead wires.
The SFMTA operates 12 battery-electric buses from a 2020 pilot program and has ordered 18 more. It has also ordered 94 new 40-foot hybrid-electric buses; 20 have been delivered, and the rest are due by mid-2027. The new buses have USB charging ports and lower floors for easier boarding.
The savings come not just from cheaper buses but from eliminating the need for infrastructure to charge electric buses: $229 million to upgrade two Muni depots by 2031, as part of $5.1 billion in planned spending on electrification infrastructure over the next two decades.
“This request does not change our commitment to achieving a full zero emission fleet. Instead it provides flexibility while we continue advancing toward the zero emission goal in a financially responsible way,” Bhavin Khatri, manager of Muni’s zero emissions program, said during the board meeting.
The SFMTA has for years lacked federal funding for fleet electrification, receiving only $179 million of the $473 million in grants it has applied for since 2019.
CARB voted in May to allow fossil fuel companies to pollute without paying into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which funds local transit agencies. The SFMTA stands to lose more than $200 million as a result.
The SFMTA’s fleet is already eco-friendly. Its trolleybuses, light rail, street cars, and cable cars run on hydropower generated by a dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. In 2019, Muni accounted for 25% of all recorded trips in San Francisco but only 0.03% of transportation greenhouse gas emissions, according to Mission Local (opens in new tab).
Before the vote, SFMTA Director Steve Heminger floated expanding Muni’s electric trolleybus network as a cheaper path to zero emissions. Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum didn’t shoot down the idea but said the agency can “rethink trolley expansion” only after overhauling the Potrero yard, which would become a hub for electric trolleybuses.
“It’d be nice to know sooner rather than later,” Heminger said.