Rescue Muni

Today’s Chronicle discusses the downside of increasing service on the proposed Rapid Network, as proposed by the Transit Effectiveness Project: service reductions on some of SF’s least used lines, as well as on lines that are redundant to other service.

The SFTEP will be presented in detail at today’s MTA Board meeting (2 pm, City Hall, room 400), but if you can’t make that there will be many opportunities to get a detailed presentation, ask questions, and provide feedback. Rescue Muni is planning to host a General Meeting on the subject in early April.

Today Mayor Newsom, MTA Director Nat Ford, SFTEP head Julie Kirschbaum, and others unveiled a highly detailed plan to revise Muni service citywide, to improve service quality and better match service to customer demand. This is easily the most extensive revision to Muni service proposed in a generation, since the crosstown routes were created in the 1970s. Highlights include:

The best way to review this is to look at the 8 page proposal summary (pdf) and service policy framework (pdf) and then go straight to the list of proposals by line.

Many of us at Rescue Muni have been participating in the SFTEP Citizen Advisory Committee, and the detailed proposal is quite consistent with the policy proposals discussed in these meetings. It’s very good news to see the MTA thinking about service as a whole and not just about specific point changes that can be made – after all, most riders use more than one line on a regular basis, so a faster, more reliable system is what is needed to increase ridership and get more San Franciscans out of their cars. And it’s also quite refreshing to see these proposals being made based on real world data on ridership and customer input, instead of just drawing lines on a map.

Of course we will have specific comments about many of the specific proposals, which we’ll post here soon, but we’re delighted to see Muni focusing here on what really matters – faster and more reliable service.
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Muni is making two service changes beginning February 23 on the 44-O’Shaughnessy and 108-Treasure Island lines. Both are designed to make transfers easier – on the 44 to the T-Third at Evans, and on the 108 to Caltrain. Treasure Island riders will get service direct to the Caltrain station (and ball park) from 2-10 pm every day, which should save quite a bit of walking for commuters to the south bay and Giants fans. 44 riders from the Bayview will get an easier transfer to the T and direct access to the shopping center at Evans and Third.

Thanks to David on the Yahoo Group for the tip!

Update: Riders have good things to say about the 108 extension, not just to Caltrain but also to shopping in SOMA.

The Examiner reports that after one month, only one warning has been issued for double parking in bus lanes (warnings will be issued until March 1, after which tickets will go out).

However, the claim in the article that the program “has yet to produce results” is not really fair, because the correct measure of the program is whether buses get through traffic faster. To make this happen, Muni needs to implement the program in full, and publicize it so drivers know that if they block the bus lane they will get ticketed. Rescue Muni strongly supports bus lane cameras and urges the MTA to get these signs up asap!

The SFTEP has been working on proposed changes for the entire Muni system, but one corridor in particular that has gotten a lot of attention is Mission Street, where the 14-Mission local bus currently averages only 8.2 miles per hour end to end. Muni will soon propose major changes including a big expansion in limited stop service, some stop consolidation, transit only lanes, and signal pre-empts, in an attempt to speed up this service and make it more competitive to driving. (Several Rescue Muni board members are on the SFTEP citizens’ advisory committee – meetings are open to the public and well worth a visit.)

For the serious transit geek, very extensive data on all Muni lines (used to come up with these service proposals) are available at the SFMTA’s website.