The service standards reports (pdf) are out, and once again the J-Church has the lowest on-time performance of any rail line in San Francisco (64.9% in FY 2009). Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the area served by the J, has requested a Controller’s audit.
Overall on-time performance was up the last quarter, to 72.7% (page 4 of pdf). Muni has never come close to the 85% on-time service mandated by Proposition E in 1999.
As all T-Third riders know, despite the City spending over $600 million on the T-Third line, it runs far slower than it could and is no faster than the buses it replaced, according to an editorial in today’s Examiner. The Examiner calls for MTA to apply common-sense changes to the service to allow it to run faster.
One obvious change would be to reverse the design decision to put the section around Oakdale into mixed traffic, and instead mark a dedicated mass transit lane on the whole length of Third Street. Also, several areas with very low speed limits (e.g. the Islais Creek bridge) need to be looked at again. And if/when the Central Subway is ever built (it’s delayed AGAIN) the Fourth and King intersection absolutely must be redesigned to reduce the massive delays that every T and N rider experiences today.
Kavai Muao-Harris could face dismissal for blocking the Woods division bus yard gate for an hour over a seniority rights and job assignment issue. About 70 buses were delayed for the early morning rush hour.
Irwin Lum, president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 250-A, appologised to Muni riders over the inconvenience. Lum cites the issue of growing resentment of lack of employee respect from Muni management, and that morale is plummeting due to the agency’s budgeting woes.
Afternoon 21-Hayes commuters stuck in outbound traffic, and morning commuters annoyed with the one block detour by City Hall: help may be on the way. The Planning Department and MTA are looking at the option of restoring Hayes Street to two-way operation, with a rush hour bus-only lane for the evening commute. If this is done, it should save a few minutes on every outbound trip – which would be a huge improvement for long-suffering riders.
If this is done, however, it is vital that the bus lane be included. Ideally an inbound bus lane should also be included for the morning rush (e.g. between Gough and Market). The Chronicle discussed possible opposition to the bus lane due to lost parking as a reason it might not be done – if this were to happen, service would most likely be slower than it is today, which would be unacceptable in a transit-first city.
The proposal to ban or restrict cars on Market Street is being considered again, this time by the SF County Transportation Authority at the request of Supervisor Chris Daly. (See also results of a previous study.) This has been considered many times before but was always rejected – Rescue Muni participated in a Transit First Market Street Alliance way back in 1996, if memory serves properly.
Whether or not cars are banned entirely, we have long supported extending the existing bus lane the full length of Market Street, or at least from Van Ness to the Embarcadero. This would be a good first step towards improving the currently glacial speed of mass transit on this important corridor.