San Francisco Public Transit Boss Jeffrey Tumlin to Resign

San Francisco’s transportation director, Jeffrey Tumlin, is stepping down from the position he’s held for five years, leaving another key position open for Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie to fill in his quest to reshape the city’s government.

Tumlin, the executive director of the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency, plans to announce his resignation at the agency’s next meeting on Tuesday.

“One of the responsibilities of any leader is knowing when it is time to wrap up and hand the keys over to the next generation. And we’re leaving at a high point. Muni is faster and more frequent and more reliable than it has been in decades,” Tumlin told KQED. “I have such an incredible crew at the MTA who’s ready to step it up.”

Tumlin stepped into the role in 2019 and has steered the public transportation agency through one of its worst fiscal crises in recent history. Despite recent improvements in ridership after a steep drop-off during the pandemic, SFMTA is facing a nearly $300 million deficit starting in 2026 after state and federal relief is exhausted — leaving a major problem in the lap of Tumlin’s successor.

“Every single one of Muni’s main sources of revenue has declined as a result of work from home, particularly our downtown parking garage revenue,” Tumlin said of what’s driving the fiscal crisis. “I would argue there is no path for economic recovery in San Francisco without a strong Muni.”

SFMTA is working on a regional ballot measure for 2026 to fund public transit across the nine Bay Area counties. But the ballot measure alone won’t pull SFMTA out of its looming deficit, Tumlin said, and the agency is also working with the city controller to identify areas for potential service cuts and new revenue streams.

One of the possible cuts Muni has floated is winding down the city’s historic cable cars. That idea did not sit well with Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie, who immediately shot it down.

“Even amidst an unprecedented budget deficit, some things are untouchable,” Lurie said in a post last week on social media platform X. He added that the cable cars are too important to the city’s tourist economy to take them off the streets and vowed the 151-year-old system is “here to stay.”

Lurie made no comment on the other measures under discussion at the SFMTA, including shutting down more than 20 bus lines and reducing the frequency of service systemwide.

Two further meetings of the Muni Funding Working Group have been canceled since Lurie’s comments on the cable cars.

Tumlin, meanwhile, has said his ultimate goal is to avoid service cuts and continue to rebuild and improve Muni’s service, which was scaled back during the pandemic.

“Jeff has been a leader in building infrastructure, improving Muni operations, and making the hard decisions when necessary for our city as we grow,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement on Thursday night. “MTA is a challenging department to run, and I want to thank Jeff for leading this Department and serving our city through the difficult years of the pandemic and after to get us where we are today.”

Tumlin plans to appoint Julie Kirschbaum, the agency’s director of transit, to take over as interim director after his contract expires on Dec. 31.

Lurie will be tasked with naming a permanent replacement for Tumlin, who found himself a target in the mayoral campaign when Mark Farrell and Ahsha Safaí said they would fire the SFMTA boss if elected. They blamed him for controversial projects like the ill-fated center bike lane on Valencia Street in the Mission District, which prompted one local business owner to go on a hunger strike and several others to launch an online petition before the SFMTA board voted to nix the pilot project last month.

He also became a frequent target of autonomous vehicle evangelists, like Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, who posted on X that Tumlin should be fired.

Supporters of Tumlin, who ardently backed alternatives to private vehicles such as public transit and bicycling infrastructure, celebrated his five-year term after his announcement on Thursday.

“I’ve been a daily Muni rider for 27 years, and under Jeff’s leadership, Muni is better than it’s ever been during that time period,” said State Sen. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco). “Service is faster and more reliable due to Jeff’s focus on making Muni work, and as a result, Muni rider satisfaction surveys are at historic highs.”

KQED’s Dan Brekke contributed reporting.