By TIM JUE
Beat Staff Writer

Come Dec. 5, you’ll have to squint a little harder to see your MUNI bus barreling down the street.

A litany of reroutes, line changes and truncations will take place that day on over half of the transit agency’s 80 routes. Those changes are poised to usher in a new era of transit service in San Francisco — altering a network of bus, rail and cable car lines that have remained relatively unchanged since the 1980s.

Many of the changes are cuts to service — done to stave off a $129 million operating deficit in the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority’s budget. Low sales tax revenues and the weak economy is forcing MUNI, like many city agencies, to cut costs across the board.

• MORE FROM SFMTA.com: Full list of Dec. 5 MUNI service changes

A fare hike implemented on July 1 brought the base Adult cash fare to $2 to fill MUNI’s coffers. FastPass prices are slated to rise to $70 in January of the new year.

There is some good news for riders on the agency’s busy “trunk” lines: bolstered service and expanded hours of operation for limited stop and express routes will greet passengers who rely on some of MUNI’s most heavily used transit lines.

Some of the service cutbacks come Dec. 5:

• Elimination of low-ridership lines: The 4-Sutter, 7-Haight, 20-Columbus, 26-Valencia, 53-Southern Heights, and 89-Laguna Honda routes will be eliminated because of poor ridership.
• Portions of existing routes will be eliminated: The N-Judah, 1-California, 10-Townsend, 12-Pacific, 16AX and 16BX Noriega Expresses, 18-46th Avenue, 21-Hayes, 29-Sunset, 36-Teresita, 38-Geary, 48-Quintara/24th Avenue, 67-Bernal Heights, 88-BART Shuttle and 108-Treasure Island will all see portions of the existing routes eliminated
• Service hours of operations will be reduced on other lines: Some lines, including the 1-California, 47-Van Ness, 30-Stockton, 29-Sunset and 45-Union/Stockton, will have their last trip(s) eliminated, thus reducing the span of service.
• Route numbers will change: The busy 9X-9AX-9BX San Bruno Expresses will be renumbered to the 8X-8AX-8BX, respectively. Service frequency will increase, and the routing has been altered on each line. The 16AX-16BX Noriega Expresses will be consolidated into one line, the 16X-Noriega Express, providing service to portions of each route.

Improvements to those trunk routes are also included in the changes:

• Bolstered service on some lines: The 5-Fulton, 6-Parnassus, 14L-Mission Limited, 14X-Mission Express, 38L-Geary Limited and 82X-Levi Plaza Express will see more frequent service and service hours expanded. Much of this is being done to compensate for eliminated routes on some corridors.
• New service on corridors: MUNI will introduce a new limited stop route serving the Potrero-San Bruno Ave. corridor with the 9L-San Bruno Limited. It will supplement existing local 9-San Bruno service serving major stops from the Ferry Terminal to Arleta & San Bruno.

Many of these changes were recommended by the San Francisco Transit Effectiveness Project study performed last year to assess the efficiency of MUNI service. Because of budgetary issues, a majority of the improvements proposed in the study won’t be implemented during this round of service changes, and aren’t likely to be seen soon as the agency grapples with a funding problem.

The changes also come at a time when San Franciscans are paying more for MUNI service that passengers complain is consistently degrading.

Frequent late buses, disruptions in MUNI Metro service and a rash of highly-publicized violent crime have plagued the system in recent weeks.

Few riders are welcoming the December changes.

“You’re really paying more for less,” said 14-Mission passenger Yolanda Aceves, 39. “Everyday there seems to be some crisis on MUNI that just causes me to be later and later. It’s unacceptable in my book.”

A full list, descriptions and maps of the service change can be found on MUNI’s website.

E-mail Tim Jue at californiabeat@gmail.com. Join the California Beat on Facebook, and get breaking news headlines, story alerts and previews when you follow us on Twitter.