The following comes from our friends at Transportation and Land Use Coalition. Well worth a call to save mass transit funding:
Please call your state legislators TODAY and register your opposition to the latest redirection of public transit funds!
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.
The State Senate approved a bill that would allow SF and other municipalities to mount bus lane cameras on vehicles to crack down on double parkers. In London, such a system has led to a 92 percent drop in double parking violations that block buses. Rescue Muni urges the Governor to sign the bill immediately, and urges Muni and other transit systems to install such cameras asap!
The State Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday on proposed changes to state law allowing photo enforcement of bus lane and parking violations. Mayor Newsom and Muni officials testified in favor. This proposal (AB 101) has already passed the Assembly but needs Senate approval and a signature from Governor Schwarzenegger to become law.
Rescue Muni strongly supports this proposal. Write your state senator and the Governor to urge approval! Special thanks to Livable City head Tom Radulovich and Assemblymember Fiona Ma for pushing so hard for this.