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Release date: April 18, 2012

*** Press Release ***

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees all transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), today announced the proposals for the three corridors to be covered at the TEP workshops on Thursday, April 19 and Saturday, April 21. On April 19, staff will present proposals for the J Church Line from Church Street and Duboce Avenue to Balboa Park Station and the 14 Mission corridor south of Cesar Chavez to San Jose Avenue, both previously presented at the April 10 workshop. At both the April 19 and April 21 workshops, staff will present the proposals for the 8x Bayshore Express Route from San Bruno and Silver avenues to Geneva and Phelan at Ocean avenues, which was previously presented at the April 7 workshop.

The SFMTA is hosting a total of 10 outreach workshops for the next phase of the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP), a joint effort by the SFMTA and the City Controller’s Office that aims to transform Muni so that people can get where they want to go more quickly, reliably and safely. The SFMTA will host the community workshops to review the TEP travel time reduction proposals, facilitate future community involvement and inform the final recommendations. Input from community stakeholders will also shape the TEP environmental review currently underway.

“The TEP has been and will continue to be a powerful prioritizing tool for improving Muni,” said Tom Nolan, Chairman of the SFMTA Board of Directors. “Public input will be vital to this process as the TEP provides a road map for Muni’s transformation during the coming decade.”

“The good work underlying the TEP provides us with the first opportunity in a generation to systematically improve Muni service,” said Edward D. Reiskin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “As a Transit First city, we need to be smart about how we improve transit to make it an attractive, reliable choice for San Franciscans. The TEP is a significant part of how we’ll get there.”

The TEP travel time reduction proposals that will be covered in the workshops include various traffic engineering and transit stop treatments. When combined with other initiatives such as new and ongoing Muni Operations improvements (e.g. all-door boarding) and transit signal priority, these proposals are expected to reduce Muni travel times by 15 to 30 percent and improve service reliability.

J Church Line from Church Street and Duboce Avenue to Balboa Park Station

The J Church line serves more than 14,000 daily customers on an average weekday. Within the four mile stretch between Church Street and Duboce Avenue to its terminal at the Balboa Park Station, the average speed is eight miles per hour. The main causes of delay are due to traffic signal delays, traffic congestion and frequent stops due to closely spaced transit stops.

Several proposals to improve travel time and reliability as listed below will be reviewed with workshop attendees at small group roundtable discussions:

  • Replacing all-way STOP controlled intersections with traffic signals or traffic calming measures at four intersections
  • Optimizing transit stop locations at three intersections
  • Creating more consistent stop spacing
  • Adding transit bulbs at seven intersections
  • Extending boarding islands at two intersections

These proposals are anticipated to reduce the travel time of the J Church within the study area by about 6.5 minutes total in both directions (12% reduction), resulting in an average operating speed of nine miles per hour and improving service reliability. Other changes such as transit signal priority improvements, operational improvements and network enhancements would further improve travel times along the corridor and add valuable customer amenities such as NextBus displays. The travel time savings would also reduce operating costs on the line and allow for service to be cost effectively increased.

14 Mission from Steuart Street to San Jose Avenue

Outer Mission segment from south of Cesar Chavez to San Jose Avenue

The seven and a half mile stretch of the 14 Mission corridor from Steuart Street to San Jose Avenue, serves more than 46,000 customers per average weekday with an additional 12,000 served by the 49 Van Ness-Mission on Mission Street. The main causes of transit delay along the corridor are traffic congestion due to double-parked vehicles, buses getting stuck behind right-turning cars, narrow lanes and areas of closely spaced transit stops

Several proposals to improve travel time and reliability as listed below will be reviewed with workshop attendees at small group roundtable discussions:

  • Reconfiguring the roadway
  • Creating right-turn pocket at key intersections
  • Converting side running transit-only lanes to center-running transit only lanes between 1st and 6th streets
  • Adding transit boarding islands at six intersections
  • Creating transit signal priority at three locations
  • Increasing bus stop spacing from one to two blocks
  • Optimizing transit stops locations at six intersections
  • Adding transit bulbs at six intersections
  • Extending existing transit stops at two locations
  • Replacing all-way STOP controlled intersections with traffic signals at two intersections
  • Turn restrictions at 14 intersections

Together, the proposed changes are anticipated to reduce the travel time of the 14 Mission by about 8-10 minutes in each direction (16-20 minutes total) within the study area (12-14 percent reduction), improving the average operating speed to 7-8 miles per hour and improving service reliability. Transit signal priority improvements are anticipated to save an additional four minutes in each direction. Other changes such as operational improvements and network enhancements would further improve travel times along the corridor and add valuable customer amenities such as NextBus displays. The travel time savings would also reduce operating costs on the line and allow for service to be more cost effective.

8x Bayshore Express from San Bruno and Silver to Geneva and Ocean

The 5 mile 8x Bayshore Express corridor between San Bruno and Silver and Ocean and Phelan carries over 50 percent of the daily ridership of this route and has a travel speed of less than 8 miles per hour.

Several proposals to improve travel time and reliability as listed below, will be reviewed with workshop attendees at small group roundtable discussions:

  • Replacing all-way STOP controlled intersections with traffic signals or traffic calming measures at five intersections
  • Optimizing transit stop locations at seven intersections
  • Establishing one mile of transit-only lanes
  • Increasing bus stop spacing on average from two to two and a half blocks
  • Adding turn pockets at up to eight intersections
  • Adding transit bulbs at seven intersections
  • Extending transit stops at six intersections

These proposals are anticipated to reduce the travel time of the 8X Bayshore Express bus route by about seven minutes in each direction (14 minutes total) within the study area (18% reduction), improving the average operating speed to 9.4 miles per hour and improving service reliability. Transit signal priority improvements are anticipated to save an additional 1.5 minutes in each direction. Other changes such as operational improvements and network enhancements would further improve travel times along the corridors. The travel time savings would also reduce operating costs on the route and allow for service to be more cost effective.

The details of these proposals can be found at sfmta.com/tep and are attached.

For updates and additional information, please visit sfmta.com/tep.

Updated TEP Workshop Schedule

Proposals

Date

Time

Location

8X Bayshore Express, J Church & 14 Mission (Outer Mission)

April 19

6 – 8 p.m.

City College of SF

MUB 140, 50 Phelan at Ocean

8X Bayshore Express

April 21

10 a.m.-noon

Visitacion Valley Community Center, 50 Raymond at Bayshore

28 19th Avenue

April 24

6 – 8 p.m.

Lakeside Presbyterian

Church, 201 Eucalyptus at 19th Ave.

5 Fulton & 22 Fillmore (16th Street)

April 28

10 a.m.-noon

Ella Hill Hutch,

1050 McAllister at Webster

14 Mission (Downtown) & 30 Stockton

May 1

6 – 8 p.m.

Bayanihan Center, 1010 Mission. at 6th.

All corridors

May 5

10 a.m.-noon.

SFMTA, 2nd Floor, One South Van Ness Ave at Market St.

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