Do they really have that much money? Public transit has been chronically underfunded in most of the US, including progressive metro areas. Boston has billions of dollars of backlogged maintenance, which contributes a lot to reliability problems.
The Proposed Operating Budget for FY 2017 totals to $1,154.7 million[0]
The Proposed MTA FY 2015 and FY 2016 Capital Budget includes an appropriation of $562.9 million in FY 2015 and $669.0 million in FY 2016. [1]
Is that underfunded? SFMTA has massive basic accountability and prioritization problems, tons of more money wouldn't make those better.
[0] - https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/agendaitems/2016/4...
[1] - https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/agendaitems/4-15-1...