SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[homebucket]

Nothing flashy (ie Geary/19th Ave Subway and Marina/Presidio extension) but still much needed.

SFMTA releases the Muni Metro Modernization program
May 4, 2022

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released the Muni Metro Modernization program, an overarching framework for how SFMTA can achieve it's ideal vision for transit service.

The program
The program uses a multifaceted approach. As a foundation, making state of good repair upgrades and replacing aging systems through the Subway Renewal Program are already underway. San Francisco's Muni Metro subway system moves the highest volumes of customers through the core of the city.  And it operates on infrastructure that was constructed between 50 to 100 years ago, much of it original.

SFMTA says it is well-documented that Muni Metro has been plagued with service reliability problems for decades. The Subway Renewal Program lays out a systematic approach to capital upgrades over the next 10 years, targeting strategic repairs, replacing and enhancing the most critical systems. This work will improve the subway’s resilience and prepare it for the demands of the future. Much of this work over the next 10 years include things that customers never see, but are essential to keeping the system safe, efficient and reliable.

Another major project that will increase the Muni Metro network’s capacity, and reduce wait times and crowding on Muni Metro trips is the Train Control Upgrade Project (TCUP). SFMTA says TCUP possesses the greatest potential of any single investment to significantly improve system efficiency. The outdated centralized train control system is under constant pressure and is increasingly operating beyond the capacity for which it was designed nearly three decades ago.

While SFMTA says it has learned operational and service lessons throughout the pandemic, it is continuing to improve its ability to measure the health of the subway. Using data dashboards to monitor subway travel time, queuing, average daily subway delay and maximum trains per hour, SFMTA is improving its ability to make informed decisions about subway operations and service. Following the successful pilot of the J Church surface-only route, SFMTA is looking for ways to increase adaptability and improve responsiveness to changing travel patterns.

In addition to improving subway infrastructure and performance, the Muni Forward program will focus on improving surface rail through capital improvements that will increase the reliability and performance of the line segments operating outside of the subway. Customers will continue to feel the positive impacts from the Muni Forward program with more reliable surface rail service that translates into a more reliable subway.

https://www.masstransitmag.com/manag...zation-program

[Pedestrian]

^^Ballot initiative coming to give them more money they swear will be spent on infrastructure and not raises for staff. But I'm pretty sure I've been hearing about the Train Control Upgrade Project for decades now.

Sorry, but the first thing I want to see them do is collect a fare from every passenger.

[homebucket]

This to me has always been a no brainer. It's time to get it done.

S.F. could one day have a Geary subway. Here’s what it would mean for the west side
Ricardo Cano
May 11, 2022

Rail on Geary has been a dream since before BART’s inception.

BART originally planned to build a line from downtown San Francisco through most of the Richmond and up north to Marin County through a lower deck added to the Golden Gate Bridge, but the idea never materialized. Decades later, San Francisco planners highlighted the Geary corridor in the 1995 Four Corridors Plan that called for surface rail on Geary and expansions on three other major roadways.

Now, the possibility of rail on Geary has again been revived, if only faintly, with a new study by the County Transportation Authority that will examine a potential subway that runs east-west on a portion of Geary and north-south on 19th Avenue.

The study, expected to be finalized by the middle or end of 2023, will be the launching point of what will likely be a decades-long attempt to bring rail to two of the west side’s oft-congested corridors and could coincide with other ambitious Bay Area transit projects under the planning pipeline, such as a second Transbay Tube.

City leaders view a Geary subway as a transformational project that could link riders to major city job centers and attractions, such as UCSF and Golden Gate Park, and connect San Francisco’s west side neighborhoods to the rest of the Bay Area’s rail network while adding more housing density.

A conceptual rendering by the CTA illustrates a potential alignment that would connect the subway from Salesforce Transit Center in Transbay and cover part of Geary Boulevard from Van Ness Avenue to the Inner Richmond before snaking under Golden Gate Park and down the 19th Avenue corridor to BART’s Daly City station.



Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who requested the study, said building a subway would aid plans to transform Stonestown Galleria’s parking lot into 2,900 residential units and allow San Francisco State to expand its campus and build more student housing. She envisions a subway that would host a Stonestown station where riders could directly access the development through an underground concourse similar to the one at the Powell Street station that connects to Westfield Mall.

“Imagine our conversations around access to Golden Gate Park if we had a subway stop there under the (music) concourse. It would be completely different,” Melgar said at a recent CTA meeting in reference to the car-free JFK Drive debate that city supervisors settled last month. “I am excited about this.”

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a proponent of building more rail in San Francisco, said the project would have to come with more housing development on the corridors and surrounding blocks of the subway to justify the investment — likely costing billions of dollars and several years of construction.

...

Now is the time to study a Geary subway with BART and Amtrak planning for a second Transbay rail crossing, said Tilly Chang, executive director of the County Transportation Authority.

“One of the reasons why we need to look at the Geary/19th Avenue subway is because if it is a BART Transbay link, the BART link cannot go right into the existing BART corridor in San Francisco because it’s already at capacity,” Chang said. “So it has to go into a new line.”

If realized, the project would give San Francisco’s west side its first north-south rail line and make public transit more appealing, said Supervisor Gordon Mar, who represents the Sunset. The city’s Muni system is oriented around downtown travel, and Richmond and Sunset residents looking to travel to the Peninsula by transit must first take a bus or train eastward to a connecting BART station.

More than 75% of the 345,000 trips originating or ending in the Sunset District are taken by car, according to a recent study, with transit making up only 11% of trips.

“It’s become clear that there’s a need to provide more convenient and affordable transportation options for residents as really the best way to get them to move away from driving their cars, especially driving alone,” Mar said.

Planners are adamant the Geary corridor will need rail transit to keep up with future demand, even as the pandemic depressed transit ridership and changed travel patterns in San Francisco.

Before COVID, Muni’s 38-Geary lines transported more than 55,000 riders each weekday — similar to Caltrain’s total pre-pandemic daily ridership — and were bursting at the seams. They remain among the Muni system’s most popular lines.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...y-17163707.php

[homebucket]

https://www.vta.org/projects/bart-sv/phase-ii

VTA approves 1st major contract of Downtown San Jose BART extension
MAY 6, 2022 / 11:16 AM / CBS/BAY CITY NEWS SERVICE

SAN JOSE – BART took a step farther to reaching downtown San Jose and Santa Clara Thursday when the Board of Directors of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority unanimously approved the first major contract to building a BART extension into the heart of Silicon Valley.

VTA spokesperson Bernice Alaniz said Thursday the first contract package for the tunnel and trackwork, in the amount of $235 million, has been awarded to Kiewit Shea Traylor, a joint venture. It is a progressive design-build contract.

VTA is building the BART extension to Santa Clara County. The first phase of the extension brought trains to Milpitas and San Jose's Berryessa neighborhood in late 2019.

The second phase is a six-mile-long extension from the Berryessa BART Station to downtown San Jose and, ultimately, Santa Clara.

The contract approved Thursday will be carried out in stages, Alaniz said. It will include investigation of innovations, engineering and design, open book cost estimates and the work schedule.

The first stage of activities is anticipated to begin this month and last through approximately December 2023, setting the stage for major construction which includes boring the tunnel under downtown San Jose.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco...art-extension/

[homebucket]

Nice progress here. With hybrid WFH here to stay for the foreseeable future, investing in lines that service essential workers seems to be the way to go.

Muni Ridership Hits 67% of Pre-Pandemic Levels on Weekends, 54% on Weekdays
4 MAY 2022/SF NEWS/JAY BARMANN

Much as BART has seen a return of riders a bit moreso on weekends than during commuting hours on weekdays, the SFMTA is reporting a similar pattern on Muni buses and trains — though one bus line is now at 133% of its pre-pandemic riders.

The recovery of public transit use has been especially slow, in the Bay Area and other metropolitan areas. Though now a full two years and change into this global pandemic, with much of daily life similar — though not completely the same — as it was in the first two months of 2020, our buses and trains are looking a little more normal again, plus a lot of masks.

SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin tweeted some figures on Tuesday — what appears to be a slide-deck presentation, perhaps for the SFMTA board — showing how ridership is recovering now that we are a full year after the revival of many Muni lines — and nine months since the M trains restarted up and most of the light-rail Muni Metro system came back alive. (Some bus lines only just restarted this spring, and the J-Church only returned to downtown tunnel service in February.)

Through the first two weeks of April, the SFMTA reports ridership steadily rising to 67% of pre-pandemic levels on weekends as of mid-April, and 54% of pre-pandemic levels on weekdays. The trajectory of the graph suggests that bus and light-rail ridership will potentially be fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels by year-end.

"COVID rearranged SF's travel patterns, revealing [the] geography of Essential Workers," Tumlin writes, referring to the ways in which the SFMTA has tried to respond by beefing up frequencies of buses particularly on lines serving essential workers.

One line that received such expansion is the 22-Fillmore, though a project making the expansion of that line a major agency priority dates back to the middle of the 2010s. Starting in January 2022, the 22-Fillmore started servicing Mission Bay — letting off its last passengers not far from the Chase Center. And the SFMTA simultaneously launched the new 55-Dogpatch line, which overlaps part of the 22-Fillmore route along 16th Street, but now services the Dogpatch neighborhood near the discontinued 22-Fillmore route.

And as a result of increased frequency on the route, the 22-Fillmore now has surpassed the rest of the Muni system in terms of ridership recovery, showing 133% of pre-pandemic levels as of April.

And other "workhorse" bus lines, including the 14-Mission and the 5-Fulton, are showing decent ridership recovery as well, particularly on weekends.

Tumlin says that this is in part due to investments made during the pandemic in frequency and reliability on these lines, and in creating more transit-only lanes.

https://sfist.com/2022/05/04/muni-ri...4-on-weekdays/

[homebucket]

Funding influx for ferry projects in the USA
Strategic Partnerships’ Mary Scott Nabers outlines how cities, public transportation agencies and other organisations are improving ferry services across the USA with the help of federal funding



By Mary Scott Nabers
13 May 2022

Not everyone knows that the USA federal government’s infrastructure bill includes a $1.6 billion funding allocation for projects related to ferry services. Private-sector contractors should take a moment to check out some of the upcoming projects designed to amplify ferry services throughout the USA.

In California, public officials are pursuing well-funded initiatives to improve ferry operations along the Pacific Coast. Recently, the city of Berkeley and California’s Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) completed a joint feasibility study related to local ferry services. The study examined a $93 million project with the objective of building new pier and ferry facilities in Berkeley. The project is moving into the design and permitting stages, and solicitation documents are soon to be made publicly available.

Nearby, WETA is partnering with the Port of San Francisco and other local agencies to carry out work on the joint Mission Bay Ferry Landing project. The first phase of this project included marine clean-up work, which is now completed. The second phase carries a budget of $58.8 million for design and construction work.

https://www.cruiseandferry.net/artic...s-in-the-usa-1

[homebucket]

^ Some info on the Mission Bay Ferry Landing.

The Mission Bay Ferry Landing will provide critical regional ferry service to and from the fast-growing Mission Bay neighborhood and surrounding Central Waterfront communities. It will also connect communities across the Bay to water recreation and maritime activity on the San Francisco waterfront.

The new ferry landing is within a half mile of approximately 11,000 new housing units, 7 million square feet of new office and commercial space, over 1 million square feet of new retail space and 70 acres of public open space. Additionally, the terminal is planned within one block from the T-Third line and Central Subway, which is underway for extension to San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood. The terminal will be an easy walk to the Golden State Warriors Chase Center, the UCSF Mission Bay hospital and campus, and to San Francisco’s related life sciences community.

Mission Bay Ferry Landing will provide capability to berth two ferry boats simultaneously and it is estimated that the ferry landing will have the capacity to handle up to 6,000 passengers per day. The ferry landing is essential to alleviate current regional transportation overcrowding and provide transportation resiliency in the event of an earthquake, BART or Bay Bridge failure, or other unplanned events. Ferry service will reduce our community’s carbon footprint and the landing is designed to accommodate the expected sea level rise.

The Port of San Francisco and Water Emergency Transit Authority (WETA) are leading the project with the support of other City and regional agencies.

https://sfport.com/projects-programs...-ferry-landing

[homebucket]

Nice project here.

Construction to begin on 16th Street bus lanes
Riders are excited, but business owners are concerned
By Benjamin Schneider Examiner staff writer • May 5, 2022 3:30 pm

The most transformative — and potentially disruptive — transit project since the opening of the Van Ness bus rapid transit line is set to begin construction.

On May 9, construction crews will break ground on the second phase of the 16th St. Improvement Project, adding bus-only lanes and other transit improvements between Church Street and Potrero Avenue, with the goal of speeding travel on the 22 Fillmore and other lines by 25%.

Business owners along the popular restaurant and nightlife corridor are wary, especially in light of the long and arduous Van Ness project about a mile north. But bus riders are excited to experience improved service on one of Muni’s busiest lines.

“I think it’ll be great,” said Travis Perry, who commutes on the 22 from the Mission to Harmonic Brewing at the Chase Center. “Whatever makes it quicker to get to work, I’m fond of.”

The $16 million construction project, scheduled to last through the summer of 2023, will see a westbound bus only lane installed between Potrero and Church, and a short eastbound bus only lane between Bryant and Potrero. Other measures to improve bus speeds include the elimination of stops at Harrison and Guerrero, new “bus bulbs” for quicker boarding and additional traffic signals.

Other aspects of the project include the improvement of the overhead traction wires that power the 22 bus, new street trees and minor underground sewer upgrades. The red bus lanes will be one of the final elements to be installed, an SFMTA spokesperson said. The project will benefit the 22, 33 and 55 buses, as well as UCSF shuttles.

The 22 has seen the strongest post-pandemic recovery of all of Muni’s lines, linking essential workers to booming employment hubs like UCSF’s Mission Bay campus and Chase Center. On weekends, the bus carries a whopping 130% of its pre-pandemic passenger load.

But business owners, who are still recovering from the pandemic, are worried about how construction will affect incoming deliveries, as well as delivery workers picking up food orders.

“The main concern is deliveries,” said Art Herzallah, owner of Freekeh and the Pork Store restaurants on 16th Street. “Uber drivers aren’t going to want to come to pick up food, and Costco drivers aren’t going to want to come drop off.”

...

Herzallah has attended several community meetings related to the project. He said SFMTA told them that construction would proceed in block by block increments, with each section taking about six-to-eight weeks.

SFMTA and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development have convened a working group to develop a marketing campaign for the 16th Street merchants, and to provide technical assistance to businesses. The agency said not every block along the affected corridor will see significant construction, and on those that do, it’s working hard to ensure no outdoor dining parklets are removed.

Several people waiting for the 22 at 16th and Valencia said they hadn’t heard of the construction project. When the project was described to her, Mullane Luigi replied, “Dope… I’d like to see more bus and bike lanes throughout The City.”

https://www.sfexaminer.com/fixes/con...eet-bus-lanes/


https://www.sfmta.com/projects/16th-...roject-phase-2

[creamcityleo79]

My husband and I were in San Francisco last weekend and we rode MUNI the whole time. Our hotel was on Van Ness and we were able to use the new Van Ness BRT quite a bit. The service is wonderful. It's very very quick and you never have to wait long before another bus comes. Even though, it was on the weekend, we never had to wait long for any bus/train the whole weekend...and we went all over the city during that time. For someone who doesn't use public transit often (except when visiting Chicago or NYC), the system was easy to navigate and it was really convenient. Just some thoughts from a first-time MUNI user.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by creamcityleo79

My husband and I were in San Francisco last weekend and we rode MUNI the whole time. Our hotel was on Van Ness and we were able to use the new Van Ness BRT quite a bit. The service is wonderful. It's very very quick and you never have to wait long before another bus comes. Even though, it was on the weekend, we never had to wait long for any bus/train the whole weekend...and we went all over the city during that time. For someone who doesn't use public transit often (except when visiting Chicago or NYC), the system was easy to navigate and it was really convenient. Just some thoughts from a first-time MUNI user.

Good feedback. Glad to hear it's operating smoothly! And was easy to use for a first time rider/tourist or others unfamiliar with the system. User friendliness is always important for retention of riders and encouraging high ridership.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by homebucket

https://www.vta.org/projects/bart-sv/phase-ii



https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco...art-extension/

I wonder how feasible it would be to just make a BART loop to Millbrae or SFO? It would be going through notorious NIMBY territory though...

[Busy Bee]

You're describing ring-the-bay BART which was likely to happen had San Mateo County back in the 1960s not bailed on being a BART county partner after determining they didn't want to pay the taxes and the existing SP service was "sufficient" for their needs at the time. That led us to the current Caltrain service and the future corridor also being shared by high speed trains in and out of SF. Even if BART was to extend down the peninsula to SJ I don't know where it would go as you obviously can't use the Caltrain/HSR tracks or even have room in the right-of-way for that matter.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by TWAK

I wonder how feasible it would be to just make a BART loop to Millbrae or SFO? It would be going through notorious NIMBY territory though...

Probably not gonna happen at this point especially with Caltrain going electric, which will allow their trains to accelerate and decelerate more quickly than diesel-powered trains, and provide more frequent and/or faster train service.

A one seat BART ride looping around the Bay would be cool but for economical reasons, it doesn't make that much sense since you could just transfer at Diridon. It would be nice if they could somehow extend a BART subway down Stevens Creek to Cupertino and build that up as a transit oriented high density corridor, a la LA's Wilshire Blvd.

[homebucket]

Here's the concept connecting to Valley Fair/Santana Row, with future expansion to De Anza College. Would be a worthwhile Phase III to improve connectivity throughout the South Bay.


http://thinkbiggersanjose.com/2015/1...p-santa-clara/


https://twitter.com/alfred_twu/statu...34528540221442

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Probably not gonna happen at this point especially with Caltrain going electric, which will allow their trains to accelerate and decelerate more quickly than diesel-powered trains, and provide more frequent and/or faster train service.

A one seat BART ride looping around the Bay would be cool but for economical reasons, it doesn't make that much sense since you could just transfer at Diridon. It would be nice if they could somehow extend a BART subway down Stevens Creek to Cupertino and build that up as a transit oriented high density corridor, a la LA's Wilshire Blvd.

Using the Amtrak ROW till 101 or 237? BART knows how to build things in the median for highways and it's more of a fantasy route if the state had a huge surplus...
It would not be feasible, because everybody knows that the peninsula is hardcore NIMBY.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by TWAK

Using the Amtrak ROW till 101 or 237? BART knows how to build things in the median for highways and it's more of a fantasy route if the state had a huge surplus...
It would not be feasible, because everybody knows that the peninsula is hardcore NIMBY.

San Mateo County belatedly accepted the need to help support BART in order to get the line extended to Milbrae so they aren't as NIMBY as you think. I suspect they would not be the block to such a plan. The other BART counties would rightly question the utility of duplicating electrified CalTrain service and argue there are better ways to spend the money such as extending the TriValleys line to Livermore.

San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties are the original trio that all pay a half-cent sales tax, something San Mateo County declined to adopt after voters approved the first Peninsula BART extension in 1985. To keep operating costs in check for stations in the county, riders boarding from Daly City Station are subject to a $1.15 fare surcharge to get to San Francisco. (There is a $1.44 surcharge to ride BART within San Mateo County, which sends two percent of its 2012 voter-approved half-cent sales tax to BART.)

https://www.sfweekly.com/news/for-ba...hout-taxation/

[homebucket]

Another interesting concept for the South Bay:

City leaders voted unanimously on Aug. 25 to advance projects connecting Diridon Station, Stevens Creek Corridor and the Mineta San Jose International Airport. Councilmember Maya Esparza was absent.

...

Connecting Stevens Creek Corridor in Cupertino and the airport to Diridon Station in the heart of downtown San Jose would provide travelers with easier access to BART and Caltrain services, according to the city’s transportation department.

...

The cost of creating these new systems could range from $60 million to $4.3 billion, according to Madou’s report to the City Council.

Liccardo and councilmembers agreed the city’s current travel lines, including light rail and bus service, are not up to par.

“We’re talking about these state of the art transportation solutions connecting an area like Cupertino into downtown San Jose, and meanwhile, as the mayor pointed out, we have an outdated and not very well-functioning transit system connecting South and North San Jose,” Councilmember Raul Peralez said. “Unfortunately the connection to East San Jose is still lacking in one portion and that is actually where the (Bus Rapid Transit) is.”

Peralez also expressed concerns that access is still limited because residents in San Jose would have to take other busses and light rail to the airport connector instead of riding a direct line.

Alex Shoor, executive director of Catalyze SV, remains optimistic.

“Although VTA has some great options for bus transit along Stevens Creek, we know we can do better and we need to do better to allow that growth in District 6,” Shoor said. “We are excited that the city is considering these options.”

https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jos...portation-hub/

[homebucket]

Some cool historic shots.

50 years of service: A look back at BART’s electric opening day




In celebration of BART’s 50th Anniversary this year, we’re looking back at the transit system’s five decades of service and innovation in a new series of stories.

BART’s Opening Day by the Numbers
Fifteen years of planning. Eight years of construction. More than $1 billion. On September 11, 1972, BART finally opened for service.

The day was electric. Estimates suggest that more than 15,000 people showed up to test out the new, plushy-cushioned seats on the state-of-the-art trains. The attendance figures may sound low; when BART opened, only 18 two- and three-car trains ran the first day along the first 28-mile section of track, from MacArthur Station to Fremont. More than half the stations would open in the coming weeks, months, and years. The Transbay Tube – one of the technological jewels of the project – opened two years later, in 1974.

...

At each station between Fremont and MacArthur stations, BART hosted a ribbon-cutting, with dignitaries from each city in attendance. Following each ceremony, the trains began moving northbound from Fremont and southbound from MacArthur amid shouts and cheers

Newspapers from the time reported packed, standing-room-only cars with upwards of 100 passengers. Within five days, more than 100,000 passengers ditched their cars and tried the trains.

“This is the end of the automobile for me,” Shirley Fisk is quoted as saying in the Long Beach Press-Telegram on opening day.



“It’s just like Disneyland,” “sighed” Margie Benson, a BART employee, to the Los Angeles Times.

The San Francisco Examiner didn’t mince words when it proclaimed, “BART Passes Its First Rush Hour Test.”

The theme of the newspaper reports from the day: BART, the first new regional transit system built in the U.S. in 65 years, nailed its first trial.

https://bartable.bart.gov/featured/5...ic-opening-day

[Busy Bee]

_

Everybody's thinking, "gee wiz those wheels are loud... Is that normal?"

[homebucket]

Pretty cool shot of the Powell-Mason cable car line.



https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd7Vh6xOZz-/