Limit to preying on city drivers?

A surprise: On Monday new Muni boss and bike guy Ed Reiskin told Matier and Ross that he's not going to raise bus fares or parking ticket fines: "I think we've pretty much hit the limit both on tickets and fare increases."

A few days later bike guy/Supervisor David Chiu tells the Chronicle's Rachel Gordon that he's asked the City Attorney to draft legislation to require the MTA to create a system to notify people of the danger of getting their cars towed: "We need to find smart and affordable ways to use technology to help people follow the rules in San Francisco's difficult parking environment."

Good to hear a city official acknowledging that City Hall has created a "difficult parking environment" for everyone who has to drive in the city, even as the city prepares to take away all the street parking on Masonic Avenue between Geary and Fell to make bike lanes, which Chiu thinks is a great idea.

Maybe City Hall is beginning to realize that they've gone overboard in soaking city drivers, since they already extract more than $180 million a year from drivers from parking meters, parking tickets, and parking fees, not to mention the $70-80 million a year the city gets in sales taxes for transportation projects (page 14 in this document).

Even with all that transportation income, Muni has a $24 million deficit, and the city is asking voters to okay a $248 million bond on the November ballot to pave our streets!