Rescue Muni

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 SF Transit Effectiveness Project has published an updated proposal for route changes, based in part on public and Citizens Advisory Council input. If you haven’t already reviewed the detailed proposal for the lines you ride and the system as a whole (pdf), take a look now.

These will be considered at the MTA Board on Tuesday, September 16.

If you live in the upper Haight, Cole Valley, or Parnassus Heights, or if you haven’t come to a SFTEP briefing yet, come to this community meeting to hear about SFTEP proposals with a particular focus on this area and the lines that serve it.

Community Meeting: Thursday, May 29, 2008, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Grattan School, 165 Grattan between Cole & Shrader
Near Muni routes N, 6, 37, & 43; parking entrance on Alma between Cole & Shrader

Muni Route Changes: N-Judah, 6-Parnassus, 7-Haight, 22-Fillmore, 24-Divisidero, 33-Stanyan, 35-Eureka, 37-Corbett, 43-Masonic, and 71L Haight/Noriega Limited

Join your neighbors to hear from the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) team about the evaluation process, goals, and findings – and details of the proposed route changes that impact our neighborhood.

If you haven’t been able to make the public meetings on the SF Transit Effectiveness Project, you can submit your comments online. SFTEP / MTA staff are particularly interested in your comments on the proposed service policy framework (standards for frequency, speed, and reliability), the proposed Rapid network (red lines on the map) as well as changes in local service.

Comment online here!

In our opinion the most important changes here are the expansions to Limited service on the proposed Rapid network. Riders on key lines like the 38-Geary, 14-Mission, 49-Van Ness, N-Judah, 5-Fulton, 28-19th Avenue, and others who are suffering today from crowded and extremely slow service should see big improvements if these proposals are adopted. The areas of the proposal that have gotten the most criticism (cuts in lightly used local lines) will probably see some changes in the next draft – we would encourage the TEP staff to focus on ways to maintain citywide coverage of the Muni system while not losing focus on the main purpose of the TEP, which is to make transit faster and more reliable, and therefore more attractive to SF commuters who are today choosing to drive.

Again, don’t miss your chance to have your voice heard on this proposal.

If you haven’t had a chance to comment on the SF Transit Effectiveness Project at a public meeting, this week is your last chance (at least for the initial proposal). The SFTEP is holding three more public meetings this week where you can hear the detailed proposals and provide your feedback.

Some of the specifics that Rescue Muni is excited about include:
– a citywide Rapid network providing much faster service on key lines;
– increased service to meet demand on overcrowded lines;
– ticket machines, transit lanes, signal priority and bus bulbs to improve pedestrian safety and speed boarding; and
– improved wayfinding and marketing to make the system easier to use.

To comment or hear more, please mark your calendar for one of these meetings!

Monday, May 12 at 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
West Bay Conference Center
1290 Fillmore St. at Eddy St.
Nearby Muni routes: 5, 22, 31, 38 & 38L

Wednesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Bessie Carmichael Elementary
375 Seventh St. at Harrison St.
Nearby Muni routes: 9X, 12, 14X, 19 & 47

Saturday, May 17 at 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Mission YMCA
4080 Mission Street at Bosworth St.
Nearby Muni routes: 14, 23, 49 & 67

The TEP is the biggest effort to revise and improve Muni service in a generation. Don’t miss your chance to hear about it and comment!