More San Francisco voters approved a tax on rideshare companies to fund Muni than rejected it, but a small provision in a separate ballot measure means it won’t go into effect.
Muni’s financial situation is dire: The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s $227 million budget deficit threatens future Muni service, the measure’s proponents worry. Riders and drivers are already getting hit. In May, the SFMTA announced it would reduce discounts for Muni riders and increase parking fines to lessen the deficit.
Prop. L would have enacted a gross receipts tax on ride-hail companies like Uber and Lyft to raise a projected $25 million annually for Muni and fare discount programs.
But another ballot measure, Proposition M, a tax reform measure backed by a broad swath of city officials, features a poison pill that would nullify any gross-receipts tax that gets fewer votes.
Prop. M has tens of thousands more votes than Prop. L and the Standard projects that the later’s tax to fund public transit will not go into effect.
Volunteers raised funding and gathered signatures to place Prop. L on the ballot, making it one of the few grassroots measures in San Francisco this election season.
In late October, the SFMTA reported its highest Muni ridership since the beginning of the pandemic, a milestone proponents said shows the need for Prop. L to pass. Muni is closer than ever to closing its funding gap, the agency said.
