San Franciscans receive daily reminders that their transit system consistently ranks among the worst in the nation. If the city is serious about improvement, it needs to stop pumping resources into a failing system and consider private alternatives.

Rescue Muni has advanced a petition to force Muni to compete with private operators. Only this kind of competition would motivate the transit agency’s management to finally reduce costs and improve the quality of transit services.

Since 1991, Muni’s already sky-high income per person in its service area has increased by twice the rate of inflation and is still among the highest in the nation. If Mayor Willie Brown has his way, the agency will receive a $24 million raise next year to a grand total of $373 million. But as Muni riders know, the problem is not limited to fiscal issues.

The average age of a Muni transit vehicle (excluding cable cars) is 15 years. Not surprisingly, these vehicles often break down in the middle of service runs, and employees appear unresponsive to customer concerns. Poor service not only inconveniences passengers but also endangers both them and others.

According to a recent report, 236 of Muni’s 1,900 drivers crashed their transit vehicles at least twice in the past two and a half years in accidents they could have avoided. Further, more than half of the city’s total liability insurance coverage went to pay for the agency’s legal settlements and judgments.

Most of these Muni drivers are members of the local Transport Workers’ Union – the group most vehemently opposed to privatization or any other reform measure besides feeding more tax dollars into the agency’s bloated budget. This comes as no surprise given the lavish compensation many of these employees enjoy under the current system. Earning an average compensation package worth $68,000 a year, Muni workers can be late for runs or miss shifts several times a year without giving a reason and receive pay increases that are not linked to performance.

Union leaders played an integral role in writing the charter amendment scheduled for a vote this November. The amendment would remove Muni from under the direct control of the Board of Supervisors and place it under a separate public agency, whose members would be appointed by the mayor. By keeping Muni’s ownership public, this amendment does little to fix the structural problems that plague the transit agency. And while San Francisco’s system deteriorates, privatization of transit services is proving successful in other U.S. cities and abroad.

After complete privatization in 1996, the Indianapolis METRO transit system saw a significant increase in both revenues and measures of their efficient use. Employee performance improved rapidly, and the accident rate was nearly cut in half.

Even partial privatization could go a long way to improve Muni’s services. After Los Angeles contracted out financially troubled bus routes in the early 1990s, both costs and passenger complaints on those routes dropped dramatically, and buses arrived on time four times more frequently.

The Muni itself is witnessing the benefits that private management can bring. Management of the metro branch of Muni services was turned over to Booz-Allen & Hamilton, a private consulting firm, after implementation of the computerized Automatic Train Control System last August caused severe breakdowns in metro service. Six months later, almost half of surveyed metro riders are waiting less time for trains and experiencing fewer delays in the tunnel. But Booz-Allen & Hamilton’s contract ends at the end of this year.

Rather than simply handing the Muni over to another government body, San Francisco should pursue expanded privatization and competition as proven ways to fix the system for good. That would make for a Municipal Railway that is a matter of civic pride rather than embarrassment.

Rachel Duncan is a summer intern at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. She is an entering senior Economics major at Trinity University in Texas.