Rescue Muni

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.

Stuck in your bus waiting for a break in traffic? The SFMTA and various city officials have a proposed fix: a law requiring cars to yield to buses pulling out of a bus stop. This is the law in Ontario as well as Quebec, British Columbia, Oregon, Florida and New Jersey. According to SFTEP studies, 6 percent of running time is wasted by buses waiting to pull out into traffic.

Of course, for this to be effective, it would require far stricter enforcement of transit related moving violations than has ever been done in SF, as anyone who rides a bus in our transit only lanes knows. And it’s no substitute for expanding transit lanes and adding bus rapid transit citywide. But it certainly could help.

Don’t stop renewing your Fast Pass just yet. Tuesday’s Chronicle reports that Muni has done a study of the costs and benefits of eliminating the fare, and the results aren’t pretty: to save $8 million in fare collection costs, Muni would be giving up $112 million in fares and also increasing operating costs by $69 million.

Update: Here is the study. (long pdf)