This Weekend: Japanese New Year's Festival

This Weekend: Japanese New Year's Festival
By Schad Dalton

Muni Holiday Schedule Change Reminder:
Muni will operate on a weekday, non-school schedule for the remainder of this week, January 2nd and 3rd. Additionally, some express and specialized routes will remain discontinued until the start of service on Monday, January 6th. Read more about the affected routes on our holiday service schedule page.

Events: There will be several unique events taking place around the city this weekend to help kick off the new year. On Saturday in Japantown, the 48th annual Japanese New Year's Festival will celebrate the Year of the Rat. Check out one of the West Coast's largest collections of postcards, trading cards, photographs and more at the Vintage Paper Fair on Saturday and Sunday in Golden Gate Park. For those who want the holiday season to last just a little longer, head up to Fisherman's Wharf for Pier 39's final tree lighting shows Saturday and Sunday beginning at 5 p.m. Read more about our featured event below.

The 2 Sutter/Clement Route is a convenient option for those heading to the Japanese New Year's Festival this Saturday. Photo: SFMTA Archive

Japanese New Year's Festival

Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Japantown

The 49th annual Oshogatsu Matsuri Celebration will usher in the Year of the Rat at the Japanese Cultural Center in Japantown this Saturday. The celebration will include cultural arts and crafts, a children's art contest, food and live entertainment. This event is free to the public.

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How to Get There on Muni: Riders may take the 2 Sutter/Clement, 3 Jackson, 22 Fillmore, 38 Geary or the 38R Geary Rapid routes to near the event at 1840 Sutter Street.

Muni Service Notes: There are no planned service changes for this event.

Remember that you can take Muni for the entire day for a single $5 fare. The new $5 Day Pass, available on MuniMobile®, is part of Muni’s recent fare changes. The pass is intended to encourage a safe, convenient way to pay your fare and quickly board Muni vehicles, which reduces overall travel time for everyone. The $5 Day Pass is Muni bus, rail and historic streetcars only.

“On Tap” gives you a heads up about the big events in town and what Muni routes and lines will get you to the party. Look for this feature to be posted usually on Thursdays for a look ahead to the weekend. Check out our Weekend Traffic & Transit Advisory for more details.

Published January 02, 2020 at 02:07PM
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Car-Free Market Street starts January 29

Car-Free Market Street starts January 29
By Phillip Pierce

Better Market Street is set to transform our city’s busiest street for people walking, biking and riding transit over the next few years, but we don’t need to wait for construction to make it safer and improve Muni.

Starting on January 29th through our Quick-build program, Market Street will become car-free eastbound from 10th to Main and westbound from Steuart to Van Ness. In addition to restricting private vehicles, the quick-build includes extending Muni only lanes, new loading zones and much-needed intersection safety improvements.

Figure 1: Map of changes coming late January 2020. Figure 4: Rendering including Better Market Street’s sidewalk level bike lane, new trees and improved streetscape elements.

 

These changes can’t come soon enough because unfortunately, Market Street is home to half of the top 10 intersections for pedestrian and bicycle collisions. In fact, each year since 2014 the area-averaged over 100 injury collisions per year -- 75 percent of them involving people walking or biking. By reducing conflicts with proven safety measures like turn restrictions, painted safety zones and safe-hit posts, we can get closer to our city’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on San Francisco roads.

Figure 2: Share of injury collisions by travel mode on Market Street since 2014

In addition to safety benefits, going car-free on Market will prioritize transit on a street that sees upwards of 200 buses per hour during peak times. With bus lines branching throughout San Francisco, boosting Muni's reliability on Market street will positively affect the whole city!

Figure 3: Map showing all surface Muni routes that use Market Street for a portion of their route. Improving the functionality of Market will help enhance transit to many parts of the City.

Quick-build Elements starting in January: Full Details

While Market Street officially becomes car-free on January 29th, other changes listed below are set to be implemented over the first few months of 2020.

Vehicle Changes

• No private vehicles allowed on Market Street eastbound from 10th to Main and westbound from Steuart to Van Ness -- including app-based ride hail companies like Uber/Lyft.  
• All traffic can continue to cross Market street at intersections.
• Vehicles with commercial plates, taxis, emergency vehicles and paratransit will still be able to use Market Street. 
• Vehicle direction changes for sections of Ellis, Jones, Second and Steuart streets to improve safety and vehicle circulation (see map in Figure 1 for details).
• Right turns onto Valencia from eastbound Market Street will no longer be allowed, Page Street will become a bike-only connection to and from Market Street.

Transit Enhancements

• Extending existing transit-only lane east from Third to Main Street, the segment of Market with the most transit service, and making it Muni-only (taxis and non-Muni buses will no longer be allowed in center lane)
• Converting the existing red transit-only lane to Muni-only between 9th and Third streets
• Converting the existing red transit-only lane to Muni & taxi only between 12th and 9th streets
• Buses in the curb lane will benefit from the car-free restrictions as well

Loading Changes

• 100 new cross-street passenger and commercial loading zones to accommodate safe loading
• Peak hour loading restrictions on Market Street to reduce conflicts between people on bicycles, transit and commercial vehicles:
  
  • No southside loading in the eastbound direction (towards the Ferry Building) on weekdays 6:00 am to 9:30 am.
  • No northside loading in the westbound direction (towards Twin Peaks) on weekdays between 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm. 

Additional Safety Improvements

• Installing painted safety zones at eight intersections to make crossing the street safer and shorter

• New bicycle intersection improvements at Eighth, Page, Battery, and Valencia streets.

Project Information

Quick-build is just the first step in implementing Better Market Street, the City’s multi-agency project to transform 2.2 miles of Market Street from Octavia Boulevard to Steuart Street. The project’s goal is to enhance safety and accessibility, improve transit performance, replace aging infrastructure, and revitalize the corridor’s streetscape.

Construction on the full project will be managed by Public Works and is expected to start in late 2020 or early 2021. For project details, please visit bettermarketstreetSF.org

Figure 4: Rendering including Better Market Street’s sidewalk level bike lane, new trees and improved streetscape elements.

Published December 31, 2019 at 10:24AM
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Year-End Highlights from the SFMTA Photo Archive

Year-End Highlights from the SFMTA Photo Archive
By Jeremy Menzies

As we approach the close of 2019, here's a short "year in review" of our favorite history blog posts of the year. So climb aboard and have your ticket to the past ready, 'cause this trip back in time is about to depart!

First on this year's list is our celebration of the 80th anniversary of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island. We unveiled dozens of beautiful large-format photos of the GGIE in our February post.

A view of Treasure Island and the Golden Gate International Exposition from Yerba Buena Island circa 1939. The "Tower of the Sun" and other fairground buildings were transformed at night into canvases for intensely colorful light displays.

Following the GGIE up in March was our post on historic Muni women in celebration of Women's History Month.

Muni's first female inspector, Evelyn Wells, monitors a bus line in this 1979 shot.

April brought a big anniversary with the 100th birthday of the L Taraval Line, which opened on April 12, 1919.

An L Taraval streetcar ("magic carpet" car 1005) passes by 24th Avenue in this 1940 shot.

August marked a slightly smaller milestone of the 35th year of Muni's articulated buses-- extra long buses put into service on our heaviest lines for extra capacity.

One of Muni's first articulated trolley coaches is in testing on the 24 Divisadero route in this 1994 shot.

In September we announced the return of Sacramento-Clay Cable Car 19 ("Big 19") to passenger service, ending the cars 75-year hiatus from the hills of San Francisco.

Cable Car 19, or "Big 19" to distinguish it from Powell Street car 19, heads down Washington Street on a test run in August 2019. Check out Archive photo U01684 for a 1908 view of the car at this same location.

And to wrap up October this year, we rolled out a spooky post on the long-buried history of San Francisco's funeral streetcar services.

United Railroads Co. Funeral Car 3 rolls into Olivet Memorial Park in this 1905 shot.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at the history we revealed in 2019, more photos and more history is on its way in 2020 and always plenty to look at on the SFMTA Photo Archive and Instagram. As you celebrate the close of 2019 and the start of a new decade, don't forget that all Muni lines are FREE on the night of New Years Eve, from 8pm to 5am New Years Day.

Published December 30, 2019 at 02:15PM
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Season's Greetings and Schedule

Season's Greetings and Schedule
By

As the festive season is now upon us and the new year is fast approaching, we wish you and yours a festive and safe holiday.

In 2019 we realized some significant milestones, from expanding our light-rail fleet to greatly improving our bicycle network. And we continue to work on implementing improvements to our service.

Our blog strives to help you get the information you need to be involved and to make your voices heard. Each year, we take this opportunity to thank our readers and commenters for their support. Thank you!

Over the next couple of weeks, Moving SF will publish on a lighter schedule. Muni will also adjust its schedule around the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Christmas and New Year's days are two of the three days of the year when meters are not enforced. (The third is Thanksgiving Day.) Note: parking meters and seven-day street sweeping restrictions will be enforced on Tuesday, Dec. 24 and Tuesday, Dec. 31. For further information on the holiday parking enforcement schedule, please check the SFMTA holiday parking enforcement page and the Port of San Francisco website.

Don’t forget, Muni wants to be your New Year’s Eve designated driver. Starting at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 31, Muni will be free to get you to or from your NYE revelry.

Published December 23, 2019 at 02:05PM
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Shopping Downtown This Holiday Season?

Shopping Downtown This Holiday Season?
By Pamela Johnson

To improve your shopping experience and enhance safety, the Ellis-O’Farrell and Union Square garages have recently completed significant operational upgrades…just in time for the holiday rush!

These garages are two of the 22 City-owned parking facilities slated to receive the Parking Access Revenue Control Systems (PARCS) upgrades.  This program is replacing 16-year old parking equipment with modern-day parking technology. The upgrades include new arms and barrier gates, with flashing lights and audible alarms, as vehicles exit the garage, and a license plate recognition system (LPR) that will resolve issues with lost tickets.

As a transit-first city, the SFMTA always encourages people to ride public transit, walk or bike to their destination. However, we know that sometimes this isn’t practical and that some people will choose to drive. To accommodate this, we would like to remind holiday shoppers about their parking options in the downtown area.

The Union Square Garage (which sits under Union Square Plaza), and  Ellis O’Farrell Garage (located at 123 O’Farrell Street, between Powell and Stockton streets), are close to many of the San Francisco’s favorite holiday destinations and entertainment hotspots, including Westfield San Francisco Centre, the Apple Store; restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory and the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus; and entertainment hot spots such as the Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square and the Curran Theatre.

Parking in a city-owned garage may be the way to go. And parking rates City-owned garage is typically 50 to 60 percent less expensive than parking in privately-owned garages. The SFMTA’s dynamic pricing strategy encourages drivers to use garage spaces first and reserve on street parking for shorter stays. This is how we keep parking rates in city-owned garages more affordable.

Here is a complete list of city-owned garages and lots.

To learn more about PARCS visit the PARCS Project Webpage.

Happy Holidays from the SFMTA

Published December 20, 2019 at 09:30AM
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Ride Muni Free on New Year’s Eve

Ride Muni Free on New Year’s Eve
By

2019 marks the 20th consecutive year that we will offer free rides on New Year’s Eve. Starting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31 and going through 5 a.m. on Wednesday, January 1 all trips on Muni are free.

This program supports San Francisco’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic fatalities.

Ride Muni Free New Year’s Eve includes all Muni lines and routes. All information, including schedules and stops, will be posted on our webpage. Clipper Card customers should NOT tap their cards to make sure they don’t get charged a fare. Muni Mobile passes will not be necessary. Metro fare gates will be open that night.

Don’t drink and drive, let Muni do the driving.

New Year’s Eve Muni Service:

• Complimentary Muni service from 8 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31 to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, January 1.
• Owl service frequency is doubled on the 5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 25 Treasure Island, 38 Geary, 44 O’Shaughnessy, 48 Quintara-24th, 90 Owl, 91 Owl, L Owl and N Owl routes.
• Extra LRV Metro shuttles will run from West Portal to 4th and King until 2:15 a.m.
• Extra LRV Metro service between Embarcadero and West Portal will run until 5 a.m.
• Service on cable cars will be provided by buses after approximately 6 p.m.
• Service on the F Market & Wharves will be provided by buses all day.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a city-sponsored fireworks show from a barge off of The Embarcadero, south of the Ferry Building will take place. Motorists should anticipate delays in the area from approximately 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. No closures or re-routes are planned. SFPD and SFMTA will monitor for any necessary re-routes. For details, please visit our webpage.

BART will provide additional service until approximately 3 a.m., January 1. After 8 p.m. BART service to and from the East Bay will be split between Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. Antioch and Richmond line trains heading into San Francisco will not stop at Embarcadero Station. Exit at Montgomery Street Station for the fireworks show. Dublin/Pleasanton and So. Fremont/Warm Springs line trains will not stop at Montgomery Street Station. After the fireworks, Dublin/Pleasanton and So. Fremont/Warm Springs trains will not stop at West Oakland. The first East Bay stop is Lake Merritt Station. Millbrae and Daly City passengers should use Montgomery Street Station. Full fare pricing will be in effect. For more details, please visit www.bart.gov.

Caltrain service will be free after 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and continue until 5 a.m. For more details, please visit www.caltrain.com.

SamTrans will offer free rides on all buses beginning at 8 p.m. on December 31 until 5 a.m. on January 1. For more details, please visit http://www.samtrans.com

Published December 19, 2019 at 11:52AM
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Holiday Weekend: Russian Bells and Salesforce Winterfest

Holiday Weekend: Russian Bells and Salesforce Winterfest
By Schad Dalton

Holiday Parking and Street Sweeping Enforcement Schedule Reminder:
Parking Enforcement will not be issuing parking tickets for hour limits in residential permit areas, M-F daytime and 7-day night street sweeping or tow cars in commuter tow-away zones on Christmas Day or on New Year's Day. Christmas and New Year's Day begin on midnight of December 25 and January 1 respectively.

Muni Holiday Schedule Change Reminder:
Beginning December 24th through the 29th, with the exception of the 8AX-Bayshore Express, 8BX-Bayshore Express, and 76X Marin Headlands Express routes there will be no Express service. Muni will operate on a Sunday schedule Wednesday, December 25th and Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

Head over to Salesforce Park atop the eponymous Transit Center this weekend for a holiday celebration. Photo: SFMTA Archive

Russian Holiday Bells

Saturday, 12 to 2 p.m.
Civic Center/SF Public Library Main Branch

Ring in the holidays with the annual Russian bells performance by San Francisco Symphony's guest percussionist Victor Avdienko. Mr. Avdienko will play a peal of six Russian bells in a concert program that will include several traditional chimes, a handful of contemporary pieces and some improvisational works. This event, like all others at the library, is free to the public.

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How to Get There on Muni: Riders may take any Muni Metro line to Civic Center Station, the F Market and Wharves Line, as well as the 5 Fulton, 6 Haight/Parnassus, 7 Haight/Noriega, 9 San Bruno, 14 Mission/14R Mission Rapid, 19 Polk, or 21 Hayes routes to the event.

Muni Service Notes: There are no planned service changes for this event, though there could be minor delays and some crowding on those Muni routes listed above due to possible increased ridership.

Salesforce Winterfest

Thursday through Saturday, various times
Salesforce Park

Live music, holiday carolers, photos with Santa and a silent disco are just some of the festive activities planned for Salesforce Park's three-day Winterfest this Thursday, December 19, through Saturday. This event is free and open to the public and will also feature arts and crafts, face painting, and a performance by the Velocity Arts & Entertainment circus troupe.

How to Get There on Muni: Riders may take the 5 Fulton, 7 Haight/Noriega, 14 Mission, 14R Mission Rapid, 25 Treasure Island, 38 Geary or the 38R Geary Rapid routes to or near the Salesforce Transit Center.

Muni Service Notes: There are no planned service changes for this event, though there could be minor delays and some crowding on those Muni routes listed above due to possible increased ridership.

Remember that you can take Muni for the entire day for a single $5 fare. The new $5 Day Pass, available on MuniMobile®, is part of Muni’s recent fare changes. The pass is intended to encourage a safe, convenient way to pay your fare and quickly board Muni vehicles, which reduces overall travel time for everyone. The $5 Day Pass is Muni bus, rail and historic streetcars only.

“On Tap” gives you a heads up about the big events in town and what Muni routes and lines will get you to the party. Look for this feature to be posted usually on Thursdays for a look ahead to the weekend. Check out our Weekend Traffic & Transit Advisory for more details.

Published December 18, 2019 at 03:14PM
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