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Mission from Steuart Street to San Jose Avenue (14, 14L, 14X, 49)
Corridor Overview
 The 14 Mission local service is complimented by the 14L and the 14X routes which carry more than 46,000 total customers on an average weekday. The 49 Van Ness-Mission carries more than 24,600 customers per average weekday, approximately half of which are boarding on Mission Street. The project study area is the approximately seven and a half mile stretch of Mission Street between Steuart Street near the Ferry Building and San Jose Avenue in Daly City.
Within the study area, the 14 Mission operates at an average speed of six miles per hour. There are 50 transit stops in the inbound direction and 52 transit stops in the outbound direction. The average transit stop spacing along the route is 791 feet, with stops located about every one or two blocks. The 14L limited stops are spaced approximately 1880 feet apart, and allow customers to travel through the corridor while stopping less frequently.
The main causes of delay to the 14 Mission include long passenger boarding and alighting times, friction between parking and loading vehicles, double-parked vehicles, getting stuck behind right-turning cars, narrow lanes, and areas of closely spaced transit stops.
Travel Time Reduction Proposal Overview
In order to reduce transit travel times and improve reliability, the SFMTA proposes a toolkit of measures within the study area. The proposals include:
- Reconfiguring roadway:
- Segment 2 Moderate Variant 1: Create wider travel lanes through peak-hour tow-away and create transit-only lanes in both directions (Duboce to Cesar Chavez). In the Inner Mission district, peak-hour tow-away lanes can reduce delay by providing wider lanes for buses to travel through the corridor and removing the friction between buses and parked cars and loading vehicles. This proposal is similar to the existing peak-hour tow-away restrictions and transit-only lanes on Mission Street in the Downtown area.
- Segment 2 Moderate Variant 2: Create transit-only lanes through parking removal (Duboce to Cesar Chavez). In the Inner Mission district, removing parking on one side of the street can reduce delay by providing wider lanes for buses to travel. With wider lanes, transit-only lanes can be created in both directions to save significant travel time for the 14 Mission by giving the bus its own exclusive lane.
- Segment 2 Expanded Variant: Create transit-only lanes through lane reduction (Duboce to Cesar Chavez). In the Inner Mission District, reducing the northbound direction from two to one general traffic lanes can reduce delay by providing wider lanes for buses to travel. With wider lanes, a southbound transit-only lane can be created to save significant travel time for the 14 Mission by giving the bus its own exclusive lane.
- Segment 3 Moderate Variant: Create peak-hour tow-away lanes to reduce parking friction (Cesar Chavez to Randall and Silver to Geneva). South of Cesar Chavez, peak-hour tow-away lanes can reduce delay by providing wider lanes for buses to travel through the corridor and removing the friction between buses and parked cars and loading vehicles. This proposal is similar to the existing peak-hour tow-away restrictions and transit-only lanes on Mission Street in the Downtown area
- Segment 3 Expanded Variant: Create transit-only lanes through lane conversion (Cesar Chavez to Randall and Silver to Geneva). South of Cesar Chavez Street, Mission Street is six feet wider than in the northern portion of the corridor. Transit-only lanes can be created by converting a general traffic lane to transit-only in order to save significant travel time for the 14 Mission by giving the bus its own exclusive lane.
- Create right-turn pockets at key intersections. Right-turn pockets can reduce delay by giving turning vehicles their own lane to wait for pedestrians to cross before completing their right turns, allowing buses to pass through the intersection without missing the green light. This proposal is not compatible with Segment 2 Moderate Variant 2.
- Convert side-running transit-only lanes to center-running transit-only lanes between 1st and 6th streets. In areas of high traffic congestion, center-running transit-only lanes can save significant travel time for the 14 Mission by giving the bus its own exclusive lane in the center of the road. This would allow the bus to avoid the delay caused by right-turning vehicles, cars trying to park and wide delivery trucks. This proposal is compatible with the Transit Center District Plan.
- Adding transit boarding islands at six intersections. Transit boarding islands would be installed at six intersections where center-running transit-only lanes are proposed in order to allow the buses in the center lanes to serve bus stops without having to return to the curbside lanes.
- Creating signalized transit queue jumps at two locations. Signalized queue jumps allow a transit vehicle to proceed through an intersection during its own green-light phase, ahead of the lines of auto traffic waiting at a red light.
- Increasing bus stop spacing from one to two blocks. Currently, the 14 Mission stops at almost every block in many portions of the Mission corridor. This proposal moves towards at least a two-block spacing. By stopping fewer times, the bus would take less time to move through the corridor.
- Optimizing transit stop locations at six intersections. Relocating bus stops from the near-side to the far-side of intersections would allow buses to take advantage of planned transit signal priority improvements.
- Adding transit bulbs at seven intersections. Transit bulbs are sidewalk extensions alongside bus stops that allow buses to pick-up and drop-off customers without having to pull out of the travel lane into a bus stop and then wait for a gap to merge back into traffic. Transit bulbs enhance the ability of buses to take advantage of planned all-door boarding and provide space for transit shelters and other customer amenities.
- Extending existing transit stops at two locations. Some Limited transit stops on Mission Street are currently sized for one articulated 60’ bus. Often times due to the high frequency of transit service in this corridor, two or more buses will arrive at a stop at the same time, delaying the second vehicle as it waits to service the stop. With a longer transit stop, up to two articulated 60’ buses would be able to serve the stop at the same time, reducing delays.
- Replacing all-way STOP-controlled intersections with traffic signals at two intersections. Installing traffic signals at locations that currently have stop signs would allow buses to take advantage of planned transit signal priority improvements.
- Turn Restrictions at 14 intersections. Extending the hours of existing left-turn restrictions can reduce traffic delay by ensuring that auto traffic does not block intersections while waiting to turn left. A right-turn-only lane on Mission and 1st streets would allow the northbound center-running transit-only lane to continue to the future Transbay Terminal area.
Summary
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 cost effectively increased.
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