I. INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

By this Order, the Commission institutes a formal investigation to determine whether the named Respondent, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency ("SFMTA" or "Muni") repeatedly violated the Commission's General Orders, including 143-B, 164-D and 127, violated state and federal codes, violated SFMTA's own internal procedures, neglected system maintenance, and repeatedly failed to respond to the California Public Utilities Commission's ("Commission") Consumer Protection and Safety Division's ("CPSD") Rail Transit Safety Section ("RTSS") staff ("Staff") requests and its report recommendations, resulting in unsafe operations and endangering Muni's passengers.

The Respondent is SFMTA, a municipal transportation agency subject to the oversight of the Commission. The Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over rail transit safety in the state of California, including safety oversight of Rail Fixed Guideway Systems and Light-Rail Transit pursuant to Public Utilities Code § 99152 and 49 C.F.R. Part 659 et al.

The Commission has been regulating SFMTA's light rail and rail fixed guideways systems (light rail vehicles and cable cars) since 1996¹. As a part of this oversight authority, Staff conducts regular inspections of SFMTA's light rail systems, including mechanical, track, signal, and operations. Over the past several years, Staff has documented repeated safety violations and areas of needed safety improvement in SFMTA's light rail systems. In addition to the individual alleged safety violations and recommendations, Staff has observed a lack of responsiveness by SFMTA to Staff's findings and recommendations.

Of particular concern to Staff is SFMTA's inadequate and delayed responses to Staff's incident reports, investigations, corrective action recommendations some of which are over 13 months late. These delays in responding to Staff Reports and recommendations endanger public safety and corrections must be made immediately.

By initiating this formal investigation, the Commission seeks to address alleged past violations, which may have resulted in unsafe operations and endangered Muni's passengers and employees. The Commission seeks to remedy these alleged pervasive safety concerns to ensure that SFMTA's operations and policies comply with the law as well as SFMTA's own internal procedures to ensure the safety of passengers and employees.

¹ D.96-09-081, 68 CPUC2d 156.