Rescue Muni

Want to influence the proposed Bus Rapid Transit project for Geary Boulevard? The SFCTA and MTA are holding meetings this week to get your input. Attend one and voice your support for this project – and for a rail-ready plan! This is part of the EIS/EIR “scoping comment period” required for environmental review.

Thursday, December 4, 2008, 6-8 pm: Self Help for the Elderly / Jackie Chan Activity Center, 408 22nd Avenue (at Geary)
Saturday, December 6, 2008, 10 am – 12 noon: Tenderloin Community School, 627 Turk Street (at Polk)

Both locations are served by the (non-rapid) 38 Geary bus.

From our friends at the N Judah Chronicles: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and MTA Director Nat Ford will be holding a town hall on Muni, parking, pedestrian safety, and related transportation issues on Wednesday, December 3, from 7-9 pm, at the SF County Fair Building at 9th and Lincoln (71 Haight/Noriega, N Judah, 44 O’Shaughnessy).

Bring your tough questions, recommendations, advice, compliments, complaints, etc. – this is a good chance to advise your Supervisor and MTA Director on issues that matter to you.

Want to help SF reduce congestion downtown? Participate in an upcoming meeting about the confusingly named Mobility, Access and Pricing Study that is evaluating options for congestion pricing and downtown parking fees as well as other means to improve traffic flow and speed up mass transit downtown. Meeting times and locations:

Tuesday, December 2, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street at Grove
Monday, December 8, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, San Francisco Ferry Building, Port Commission Hearing Room, 2nd Floor

You can also comment online – follow the SFCTA link for details on how.

Update: The SFCTA Board (aka the Board of Supervisors) will hear about the proposal this week.

After months of public input, the SF Transit Effectiveness Project is presenting its updated proposal for route changes to the MTA Board tomorrow. This proposal would make the most dramatic changes to Muni lines in a generation, adding buses and streetcars and speeding up service on the most important lines while keeping essential community service lines running. Staff estimates that this proposal will allow Muni to add 70,000 new riders every day – a 10% increase in ridership at a time when gasoline prices are rising and demand for transit is growing rapidly.

Rescue Muni supports this proposal as revised. We were very pleased that the TEP staff and CAC took our suggestions into account when the updated proposal was written, but we also want to reiterate our support for the concept of the TEP, which is to use modern measurement techniques to learn where passengers actually want to ride the system and align routes to this demand, and also to design routes to make service much faster and more reliable. If you have been stuck on a slow, unreliable line thinking that there has to be a better way, the SFTEP is designed specifically to solve this problem!

(If you haven’t already reviewed the detailed proposal for the lines you ride and the system as a whole (pdf), please take a look now.)

These will be considered at the MTA Board on Tuesday, September 16. If you agree with us that this proposal will make service much faster and more reliable both on YOUR line and citywide, please come to the meeting and speak in favor! Details:

SFMTA Board Meeting and Public Hearing on SFTEP
City Hall Room 400 (1 Carlton B. Goodlett Street)
Public Comment at 3:30 pm and again at 5:30 pm

Thanks!

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (who brought us Translink) is looking for your input on their Regional Transportation Plan. They update this every three years, so once again we have a chance to comment on what projects are the top priority – this time stretching out to 2035. (The last one was adopted in 2005, with projects extending to 2030.) Details:

Transportation 2035: Public Input Sought in SF on May 22nd
MTC is seeking input on the next phase of the development of the Transportation 2035 Plan after extensive outreach last fall about the trade-offs among various options for investing the regions limited transportation resources. A series of nine workshops – one in each of the nine Bay Area counties – is scheduled for the public to participate in the debate. The new plan – due for adoption in early 2009 – will detail a comprehensive strategy to not only protect our existing transportation assets but also to accommodate future growth, alleviate congestion, reduce pollution and ensure mobility for all Bay Area residents, regardless of income.

There will be one session in San Francisco – come and join the discussion. Refreshments will be provided.

Thursday, May 22, 2008, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

City and County of San Francisco Transportation 2035 Workshop
San Francisco State Downtown Campus, Room E673
835 Market Street, San Francisco