There are multiple reasons, not just one. Each of them, like drops in a bucket, contributed to fill the bucket. As has been alluded by the OP, till the 1940s S

There are multiple reasons, not just one. Each of them, like drops in a bucket, contributed to fill the bucket. As has been alluded by the OP, till the 1940s SF actually had competing train operators. They would advertise their performance ("shortest time to inner sunset!"), for example, and riders voted with their dollars. Then all but 1 got consolidated/wiped-out, and we ended up with the MUNI (aka SFMTA). The problem is: as a monopoly, and a government-subsidised one to boot, they have absolutely no incentive to improve service. Regardless of how badly they fail, they know that the public can do A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y. nothing! In 1999, the voters gave more resources to SFMTA, in return asking for a modest 85% on-time performance. 15 years later, we're still waiting for it[1]. I am not an anti-union guy, and I strongly believe that unions have been a huge boon to society as a whole. But even I feel that the various MUNI unions are an impediment to performance. The slightest change in working conditions must be approved by the union. And if you piss off the union people, there's hell to pay[2]. The MUNI drivers, with barely any qualifications other than having a drivers license, make as much as starting teachers in SF _excluding_ overtime. At one time, they got language into the City's Charter (basically, the constitution of the City) that they would be guaranteed to be at least the second-highest-paid operators in the country! Thankfully, this was repealed in 2012. And let's not get started about BART. Their latest bargaining debacle with the unions[3] shows how inept the management is. But the bigger question is: why are these agencies not accountable? The answer to that is: elections. Elections for the posts of politicians who are supposed to provide oversight are heavily influenced by the unions, who are a massive voting bloc. Every politician seeks out the unions' endorsement, and would not dare oppose them if s/he stands any chance of being re-elected. It's the fox guarding the chicken coop. The solution, IMHO, is privatization (and again: I'm no libertarian or "small ogvernment" nut). But I see the service I get at the local grocery store by employees making minimal wage, and compare with the shitty attitude from the overpaid MUNI employees, and wonder if privatization is the answer? [1] http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-11/muni-in-elusive-quest-for-85-on-time-performance-computers-are-displacing-eyes-on-the-s http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-11/muni-in-elusive-quest-... [2] http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2009/02/18/waiting-for-the-bus-and-waiting-and-waiting/ http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2009/02/18/waiting-for-th... [3] http://www.contracostatimes.com/editorial/ci_25564767/contra-costa-times-editorial-bart-directors-have-no http://www.contracostatimes.com/editorial/ci_25564767/contra...