Improving Safety and Access to Golden Gate Park

Improving Safety and Access to Golden Gate Park
By Chava Kronenberg

Today, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (RPD) and the SFMTA are jointly launching the Golden Gate Park Access and Safety Program, an effort to consider a post-pandemic set of closed or restricted access streets and mobility choices in San Francisco’s most iconic park.

During the first weeks of the pandemic, RPD closed JFK Drive on the east side of the park to drivers, following up with additional segments on the west side including Middle Drive and MLK. Closing these streets in 2020 was a step in decades of reducing the number of streets for cars in the park, and furthered a long conversation about opening JFK Drive to people walking, biking, scooting, rolling, dancing, and skating.

We’ve been monitoring and learning from the current car-free streets in the park. Since the closure, we’ve seen almost 7 million walking, biking, and rolling trips on JFK Drive, representing a 36% increase in people visiting the Park on the car-free route (compared to pre-pandemic visits).  With the elimination of cut-through traffic there have been no serious injury collisions on the car-free route (there were more than 50 such collisions over the 5 years prior). We have also seen faster transit service on the 44 O’Shaughnessy Muni line, which travels through the Music Concourse and serves the Bayview & Excelsior neighborhoods.

However, in addition to these successes, there have been access challenges for popular destinations and for park visitors in the disability community. The purpose of the Golden Gate Park Access and Safety Program is to bring a broad array of project proposals that can make access to the park even better than before the COVID closure while still retaining the traffic safety and park experience improvements we’ve experienced.

So now we’re ready to ask you:

• Which streets should be closed to cars post-pandemic in Golden Gate Park?
• What new or improved mobility options can be implemented to make these closures work for everyone?

Today, we’re launching our public outreach process through the GGP Access and Safety Online Open House, and with scheduled virtual information sessions and in-park tours. The proposals include potential street closures within Golden Gate Park, improved access to mobility services like the park shuttle, taxis, bikeshare, scootershare, pedicabs and more.

The upcoming public events include:

• Virtual information sessions on September 30 and October 2, where you can hear a public presentation from program staff and ask questions;
• Pop-up tabling in Golden Gate Park every Sunday in the Park this October and at neighborhood markets;
• Walking/rolling and biking tours on the current car-free route; and
• More to be scheduled!

You can also contact us at GGPAccess@sfmta.com if you’d like a presentation for your organization, or to give us direct feedback. More information about how to engage in the program and the overall effort is on our webpage. We look forward to working with you to make Golden Gate Park safe and accessible for everyone.

 

 

 

Published September 22, 2021 at 07:19AM
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SFMTA Resumes Peak Hour Tow-Away Zone Enforcement

SFMTA Resumes Peak Hour Tow-Away Zone Enforcement
By Jessie Liang

The SFMTA’s towing programs were temporarily suspended in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the city has reopened and traffic has returned, the SFMTA will resume enforcement of peak hour commuter tow-away zones starting September 20.

Vehicles parked at tow-away zones during restricted peak hours will be subject to citation and towing. 

We’re bringing back the enforcement of peak hour tow-away zones under the SFMTA Transportation Recovery Plan (TRP) as the economy reopens. Tows help the SFMTA facilitate the flow and safety of transit and traffic, support economic activity and maintain safe streets.

The reinstated tow-away enforcement will accommodate changing conditions on city streets. For example, enforcement will not apply to Shared Spaces that allow merchants to use sidewalks, full or partial streets and other nearby outdoor spaces under San Francisco’s Public Health Orders.

In addition to tows at peak hour tow-away zones, towing for all other violations will continue. These include but are not limited to, tows for violations of 72-hour overtime parking limits, vehicles with expired registrations over six months and vehicles with five or more delinquent parking citations.

 

For more information, please visit the Parking and Driving section of SFMTA’s COVID-19 Developments & Response.

Published September 17, 2021 at 05:34AM
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Long-awaited crosswalk on Geary helps rebuild community connections

Long-awaited crosswalk on Geary helps rebuild community connections
By Amy Fowler

The Geary Rapid Project just met another major milestone with the completion of a long-awaited crosswalk connecting the Japantown Peace Plaza to the southside of Geary Boulevard. The new crossing at Geary and Buchanan Street serves as a physical reconnection to help bridge the gap between divided communities. But it’s also a symbolic one, exemplified by the decorative panels installed in the center median that were inspired and designed by the communities it now serves—the Fillmore, Japantown and St. Francis Square Cooperative.

A new crosswalk was installed at Geary and Buchanan, with decorative panels representing the surrounding communities.

The significance of the crosswalk is tied to the history of the neighborhood.

In the 1960s, the two neighborhoods were specifically targeted by urban planners, the vibrant Fillmore neighborhood --known as “the Harlem of the West” for its phenomenal jazz scene—and Japantown, still struggling after the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps. San Francisco, like the rest of the country, had experienced a boom in private automobile ownership, leading many families to leave the urban core and move to more suburban settings. Under the name of "urban renewal," city planners proposed replacing homes in older neighborhoods with bigger, newer buildings, while promising to raise living standards.

In San Francisco, the result of this policy was to force people of color from their homes and shatter communities. In the Western Addition, Black and Japanese-American homes and businesses were torn down and the neighborhoods ripped apart with the construction of the Geary Expressway. This new eight-lane thoroughfare cut communities in half and encouraged motorists to speed past the Western Addition altogether on their way to the western half of the city. 

The effects were devastating and have echoed into the present, creating highway-like conditions along Geary that have led to vehicle-pedestrian collision rates eight times higher than the average San Francisco street. While we can never undo the harm that was created by urban renewal and the Geary Expressway, improvements like the new crosswalk at Buchanan, along with other transit and safety improvements, will help to make the neighborhood more safe, walkable and connected.

In addition to the new crossing at Buchanan, four other intersections at Webster, Steiner, Cook and Commonwealth/Beaumont streets have received new signalized crosswalks, along with improved median refuges and Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) as part of the Geary Rapid Project.

Another way we can “calm the Expressway” is through a road diet. The number of lanes on Geary was reduced from eight lanes to six, with two general-purpose and one bus lane in each direction. And traffic lanes have been restriped to be visually narrower, which encourages drivers to slow down.

These efforts weren’t created in vacuum. Many elements of the Geary Rapid Project design were developed in partnership with neighboring communities. For example, the 31 new cherry, London plane and Canary Island pine trees that were recently planted between Gough and Divisadero streets were chosen with community input for their cultural significance and suitability for a major thoroughfare. And some proposals, like removing the Webster pedestrian bridge, were abandoned after Japantown advocated to retain the bridge due to its importance both culturally and as a conduit to and from Peace Plaza.

Community input informed the dimensions of the Buchanan crosswalk, which needed to have a large enough median refuge to accommodate groups of Rosa Parks elementary school children.

The new crosswalk at Buchanan marks the completion of all Geary Rapid Project work West of Van Ness Avenue. The remaining work between Van Ness Avenue and Market Street is expected to be substantially completed within the next month.  

 

Published September 16, 2021 at 11:20AM
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Bikeshare Station Expansion and e-Bike Price Changes

Bikeshare Station Expansion and e-Bike Price Changes
By Adrian Leung

As San Francisco's Bikeshare program administrator, the SFMTA recently approved a price increase for Bay Wheels stationless e-bike trips that will take effect September 22, 2021.

Bikesharing systems have been an important contribution to the rise in popularity of bicycling in San Francisco over the past decade. Bikeshare programs lower barriers to bicycling by overcoming the challenges of owning, storing and securing one’s own vehicle. Shared bicycles also offer a solution for the "last mile" connections that allow for more effective travel by transit so that one can complete their so-called “last mile” to their destination by bicycle.

The SFMTA regulates bikeshare service in order to provide equitable access to shared bicycles for all San Franciscans, as well as ensuring proper placement of stations or unstationed vehicles.  Before and throughout the pandemic, bicycling has increased, and our bikeshare program is part of that trend.

Per minute e-bike fees will increase from $0.15 to $0.20 per minute for members and from $0.20 to $0.30 per minute for non-members. And overage fees for all users will switch from a per-15-minute fee to a per-minute fee.

The SFMTA’s agreement with Bay Wheels allows for e-bike pricing to be reasonably set to sustain service. This includes raising revenue to support the system during heavy losses from ridership declines during COVID-19, and theft and vandalism.

Bay Wheels Commitments

In exchange for the pricing increase, Bay Wheels has committed to expanding access to both e-bikes and regular bicycles. They have agreed to install 35 additional stations by March 2022 for a total of 290 total stations citywide. In addition, they will provide up to 2,000 free Bike Share for All (low-income) memberships, to be distributed via community partners. Bay Wheels will provide promotional pricing including reduced prices in conjunction with Bike to Work month in May 2022, free e-bike unlocks for up to 5,000 trips for new users, and a 20% discount on annual memberships for over 2,000 new members.

The agreement with Bay Wheels also calls for eliminating any additional price changes for at least ten months and committing to increased social media promotion of the Adaptive Bikeshare program.

There is no price change for regular pedal bikes ridden by members over the 45-minute base period.  ($159 annual, $25/month). Additionally, there is no change to pricing for Bike Share for All, the low-income membership program.

Other stationless pricing discounts remain the same. There is still no parking fee for stationless e-Bikes ending trips at stations, or in specific zones without stations. Trips to and from specific areas will continue to have capped per-minute fees.

Published September 15, 2021 at 10:03AM
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Cable Car Shutdown Update

Cable Car Shutdown Update
By

Last Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m., the fire suppression system in the electrical room at the Cable Car Barn at Mason and Washington streets discharged. This caused the electrical room to fill with fire retardant material resembling smoke, which prompted a response from SFFD as a safety precaution. Upon the discharge of the fire suppression system, other automated safety systems were activated resulting in a loss of electrical power to the entire facility, including the propulsion system for the cable cars.

As the cable cars only recently came back to full service on Sept. 4, we share the public’s disappointment to now be without these essentially San Francisco features on our streets. Our electrical, operations, safety and facilities teams are working hard to ensure that we do thorough inspections across related systems, rigorous testing and careful resumption of service to avoid further disruption. We are grateful for the quick response and support from SFFD. Since this incident we have also been working in close collaboration with PG&E to inspect our electrical systems and prepare to bring them back safely.

Last week’s discharge of the suppression system was due to the failure of an aged release valve which has been in service since the last cable car renovation in the 1980's. Regular inspections by outside fire safety experts of the fire suppression system have not shown any signs of defect, but the system is almost four decades old and is not considered current best practice. The wider loss of electric power at the facility was the outcome of the systems shutting down safely. Due to the age of related safety and electrical equipment, we are thoroughly inspecting this equipment for any resulting damage, stress or fatigue it may have undergone.

The fire suppression system did not sustain damage, but purchasing and retrieving necessary replacement parts for this aged system along with the inspections and testing once repairs have been made will take time. A 305-lb canister of the fire suppression system’s halon material will need to be assembled over the next week, and then delivered by truck from Ohio, followed by installation and testing. We are also researching possible alternatives to repair or replace the obsolete system in the near term. While we do not expect to have the cable cars return to service before the end of next week, we will continue to provide updates on our plans and schedule.

These are some of the many challenges that the SFMTA faces keeping the one of the oldest transportation systems operating in San Francisco.

The Cable Car system has not undergone a complete system renovation since the 1980s. More than a year ago, the SFMTA began planning for a complete system renovation, which would include modernization of the Cable Car Barn, including critical seismic upgrades, replacement of the Cable Car electrical system, propulsion and long-term system resilience. A complete system renovation today would cost approximately $625 million.

The project delivery of this program is designed around complete system renovation. The central project is the renovation of the Cable Car Barn, which requires a full upgrade of the existing 12KV electrical system, which triggered last week’s safe shutdown of the cable car electrical systems, plus structural and seismic upgrades.

The project would also seek to renovate the on-street infrastructure, including the tracks and turntables, as well as the continued rehabilitation of 27 Powell-style cable cars and 13 California-style cable cars.

A nationally recognized landmark, the Cable Car system is an iconic emblem of San Francisco beloved by locals and visitors alike. During the 1982 renovation of the Cable Car System, the federal government, noting the national significance of the system, provided 80% of the renovation costs through the Federal Department of Transportation over multiple years. In total, that federal contribution today would be $500 million, with the city, through the SFMTA, raising the funds necessary for the local match of $100 million. 

The renovation of this U.S. icon represents a project of national significance and an opportunity for innovation in transportation project delivery and historic preservation. The Cable Car System has not undergone a complete system renovation in nearly four decades. The time has come to build a program to ensure that cable cars are available into the next century.

Published September 13, 2021 at 03:25PM
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How Youth Can Shape Muni Moving Forward

How Youth Can Shape Muni Moving Forward
By Kharima Mohamed

MTA’s 2022 Muni Service Network survey is currently underway and we want to be sure that young people’s voices are heard. Youth now have an opportunity to vote on what type of Muni service they want to see in 2022. 

As part of our 2022 Muni Service Network virtual open house and office hours series, we will be holding youth-centered virtual office hours on Thursday, September 23 at 6 p.m. Youth are encouraged to join to find out how the three proposed scenarios for winter 2022 Muni service would change how they get to school and to activities around San Francisco. Youth will be able to ask questions and get answers from SFMTA staff about what matters to them most about Muni service in 2022.

Three alternatives have been developed to help us determine what Muni service should look like in 2022: the Familiar alternative, the Frequent alternative and the Hybrid alternative.

The Familiar alternative brings back the all-day Muni routes that have yet to be restored at their pre-pandemic frequencies: the 2 Clement, 3 Jackson, 6 Haight/Parnassus, 21 Hayes, and 47 Van Ness (in addition to the 10 Townsend and 28R 19th Avenue Rapid, which will be restored under all of the scenarios).  

The Frequent alternative increases service on high ridership Muni lines, improving reliability and connections to grocery stores, hospitals, schools and diverse workplaces, while decreasing wait times and crowding, made possible by restoring just two of the seven pre-pandemic Muni routes that we suspended in 2020.

The Hybrid alternative aims to balance the Familiar and the Frequent scenarios and restores five of the seven pre-pandemic routes.

A StoryMap has been developed to explain these scenarios in more detail. Any questions about the StoryMap or the different scenarios can be asked during the open houses or office hours. Youth can also take the survey online or by phone at 415.646.2005 to provide their feedback.

Youth have always been a big focus for the SFMTA. This year we expanded the Free Muni for All Youth program to include all youth 18 and under, regardless of household income level. Last month, we added Muni service in time for the start of the school year. We look forward to talking with youth across San Francisco in the coming weeks to hear what Muni service will serve San Francisco best in 2022.

Published September 13, 2021 at 01:39PM
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How Youth Can Shape Muni Moving Forward

How Youth Can Shape Muni Moving Forward
By Shalon Rogers

MTA’s 2022 Muni Service Network survey is currently underway and we want to be sure that young people’s voices are heard. Youth now have an opportunity to vote on what type of Muni service they want to see in 2022. 

As part of our 2022 Muni Service Network virtual open house and office hours series, we will be holding youth-centered virtual office hours on Thursday, September 23 at 6 p.m. Youth are encouraged to join to find out how the three proposed scenarios for winter 2022 Muni service would change how they get to school and to activities around San Francisco. Youth will be able to ask questions and get answers from SFMTA staff about what matters to them most about Muni service in 2022.

Three alternatives have been developed to help us determine what Muni service should look like in 2022: the Familiar alternative, the Frequent alternative and the Hybrid alternative.

The Familiar alternative brings back the all-day Muni routes that have yet to be restored at their pre-pandemic frequencies: the 2 Clement, 3 Jackson, 6 Haight/Parnassus, 21 Hayes, and 47 Van Ness (in addition to the 10 Townsend and 28R 19th Avenue Rapid, which will be restored under all of the scenarios).  

The Frequent alternative increases service on high ridership Muni lines, improving reliability and connections to grocery stores, hospitals, schools and diverse workplaces, while decreasing wait times and crowding, made possible by restoring just two of the seven pre-pandemic Muni routes that we suspended in 2020.

The Hybrid alternative aims to balance the Familiar and the Frequent scenarios and restores five of the seven pre-pandemic routes.

A StoryMap has been developed to explain these scenarios in more detail. Any questions about the StoryMap or the different scenarios can be asked during the open houses or office hours. Youth can also take the survey online or by phone at 415.646.2005 to provide their feedback.

Youth have always been a big focus for the SFMTA. This year we expanded the Free Muni for All Youth program to include all youth 18 and under, regardless of household income level. Last month, we added Muni service in time for the start of the school year. We look forward to talking with youth across San Francisco in the coming weeks to hear what Muni service will serve San Francisco best in 2022.

Published September 13, 2021 at 01:39PM
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