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Slow Streets: A Path to Permanence By Shannon Hake In locations throughout San Francisco, the Slow Streets Program has shown that minimizing traffic on residential streets allows them to be more safely used as a space for people traveling by foot and by bicycle. Due to the program’s success, the SFMTA is now exploring the possibility of making some of the current temporary Slow Streets permanent, extending their use beyond the COVID-19 emergency.   Slow Streets discourage non-local vehicle access through barricades and signage. Reducing the number of vehicles on Slow Streets provides more space for physically-distanced essential travel and exercise during the COVID-19 emergency. Because of their popularity, community members have indicated a strong interest in a longer-term future for these streets. As such, we are planning ahead so that some Slow Streets can be maintained beyond the public health emergency. In the coming months we’ll be implementing our “Path to Permanence” on t

Fiona Hinze Fills Final Seat on SFMTA Board of Directors By Lori Phelan Fiona Hinze, transit accessibility advocate and resident of the Outer Richmond, has joined the SFMTA Board of Directors as the seventh member on the board, filling the final vacancy. Nominated by Mayor Breed in late October, Hinze brings a lifetime of experience advocating for transit access for people with disabilities such as herself. Hinze lives with cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair for mobility. "It is important we have a member on the SFMTA Board who understands the needs of our disability community and the challenges people face getting around our City, whether that's riding Muni or navigating our streets and sidewalks," said Mayor Breed in a press release. "Fiona is a respected and trusted community member and knows how to listen to the needs of people living with disabilities and advocate for change. She will bring an important perspective to the SFMTA Board and I'm

Meet Manny Yekutiel, New Addition to the SFMTA Board of Directors By Lori Phelan On Tuesday, January 14, Mayor London Breed officially welcomed small-business owner Manny Yekutiel as one of two new members of the SFMTA Board of Directors. The appointment fills the sixth of the seven SFMTA board positions. Yekutiel is currently the owner of  Manny's , a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, political bookstore and civic social gathering space built at the corner of 16th and Valencia in the Mission district. He is also a member of the city's Small Business Commission and board member of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. "I'm excited to nominate Manny Yekutiel to serve on the SFMTA Board of Directors," said Mayor Breed in a tweet. "He knows how to bring people together, and I am confident in his ability to bring a fresh perspective to the Board and represent the needs of SF small businesses and residents." In  Mayor Breed's press release  he wa

Southeast San Francisco Residents Speak Up for More Mobility By Adrienne Heim The start of the 15 Bayview line on January 23 signals the SFMTA’s strengthening commitment to the diverse neighborhoods in southeast San Francisco, which have for too long seen disinvestment and a lack of sufficient transportation infrastructure. This commitment  extends to neighborhoods from Mission Bay to Visitacion Valley that have seen a surge in infill development such as the Chase Cente r, Visitacion Valley/Schlage Lock Plan and Candlestick Point and Hunters Point Shipyard . To begin to correct historical inequities and support this new growth, the SFMTA has been steadily engaged in bringing transportation improvements to residents, merchants, businesses and visitors to this important area. Voice of the Community From 2017 to 2019, the  Southeast Muni Expansion  project partnered with the Muni Service Equity Strategy, the Bayview Community Based Transportation Plan, and The San Francisco Coun

San Francisco Launches Safety - It’s Your Turn Campaign By Christine Osorio In San Francisco, left turns are one of the top three crash factors in severe injuries and fatal collisions for people walking and biking. SFMTA is kicking off the new year with a city-wide education campaign designed to encourage safer driving behavior around left turns. The Safety - It’s Your Turn campaign will use multiple strategies, including grants to community organizations, to engage the public at different times and raise awareness about unsafe left turns. Drivers especially will see the Safety - It’s Your Turn messaging on billboards and buses, hear about it on the radio, and read about it on social media and in newspapers. This community education program also accompanies the SFMTA’s Left-Turn Traffic Calming Project .  Under that project, launched in October 2020, the SFMTA installed safety infrastructure at 7 intersections on the High Injury Network. Community Grant Awardees After a competi

Muni Expands Service, Access for Equity Neighborhoods in January By Mariana Maguire On Saturday, January 23, the SFMTA will restart T Third Muni Metro rail service and increase Muni bus service, including adding several routes based on community feedback. Graphic: New C ore Service map, effective January 23, showing new and returning Muni lines. Temporarily modified T Third rail service will resume between Sunnydale and Embarcadero Station. This frees up the buses currently providing the temporary T Third Street Bus service to increase bus service elsewhere. This change also brings more of our rail operators back to operating Muni Metro rail service. Temporary changes to bus service include the return of the 27 Bryant and two new lines: the 55 Dogpatch and the 15 Bayview-Hunters Point Express . The full 33 Ashbury-18th Street line will also resume to provide another vital cross-town connection. All of these changes are the direct result of community engagement and feedback. I

Twin Peaks: A New Vision for All By Benjamin Barnett SFMTA staff are recommending a proposal for Twin Peaks access aimed at balancing the diverse needs of the community, which they selected based on park usage data, feedback from neighbors and other stakeholders, as well as a public survey with over 1,700 responses. Map showing the proposed configuration of Twin Peaks Boulevard. See our website for a more detailed map or to read our report . Recommendation: Open Portola Drive Gate at All Times, Close Burnett Avenue Gate The proposal includes opening the gate at Portola Drive to traffic at all times and keeping the gate at Burnett Avenue closed. This option (also called Option 2) provides the best combination of safety and access, and addresses the negative impacts affecting neighbors. This preferred option closes the northern Burnett Avenue gate to vehicles at all times, creating dedicated space for people walking, rolling and biking all the way to Christmas Tree Point Road. T

Twin Peaks: A New Vision for All By Phillip Pierce SFMTA staff are recommending a proposal for Twin Peaks access aimed at balancing the diverse needs of the community, which they selected based on park usage data, feedback from neighbors and other stakeholders, as well as a public survey with over 1,700 responses. Map showing the proposed configuration of Twin Peaks Boulevard. See our website for a more detailed map or to read our report . Recommendation: Open Portola Drive Gate at All Times, Close Burnett Avenue Gate The proposal includes opening the gate at Portola Drive to traffic at all times and keeping the gate at Burnett Avenue closed. This option (also called Option 2) provides the best combination of safety and access, and addresses the negative impacts affecting neighbors. This preferred option closes the northern Burnett Avenue gate to vehicles at all times, creating dedicated space for people walking, rolling and biking all the way to Christmas Tree Point Road. The

The SFMTA and San Francisco Beautiful Kick Off Muni Art Project 2021 By Jeanne Brophy The SFMTA  and San Francisco Beautiful   announce the kick-off of the 2021 Muni Art Project.  This year the program launch will be held virtually due to COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. Artwork by Agustina Caprioglio who found inspiration from COVID-19 and the frontline staff in hospitals, “They are our modern-day temples,” she states, “where people are born and die, where doctors and nurses work hard to take care of all”. The 2021 theme, “San Francisco United” is the sixth year that the SFMTA, San Francisco Beautiful and The Poetry Society of America (sponsors of Poetry in Motion ®) have collaborated to bring art and poetry to Muni riders.   “Now more than ever—it’s important to appreciate and be thankful for the positives around us,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “That’s why we’re looking forward to bringing Muni Art back and sparking some joy in the wake of such a

The Embarcadero Enhancement Project: Creating a Safe and Lively Waterfront By Benjamin Barnett As people walking, on bikes, scooters, and in motor vehicles all compete for space on the Embarcadero, travel along the waterfront can be challenging and create conflicts, especially at peak times. To address this, the SFMTA initiated The Embarcadero Quick-Build Project in 2020 as the first part of a larger plan to improve safety and livability on that corridor. Safety and mobility improvements have so far been completed at Pier 35, the Ferry Terminal, and in the Rincon Restaurant Zone. These projects improve the safety and enjoyment of all modes of travel and mark a pivotal starting point in creating an improved waterfront for everyone to use. Just the Start The next step in connecting and extending these quick-build improvements is the implementation of an even more ambitious plan, The Embarcadero Enhancement Project (EEP). On Tuesday, January 12, the SFMTA presented the phasing pl

Renewing San Francisco’s Subway for the 21st Century By Jerri Diep The Muni Metro system operates underground from Embarcadero to West Portal in tunnels that were constructed between 50 to 100 years ago. Considering their age and history, SFMTA has undertaken a Subway Renewal Program to ensure that this vital segment of our transportation network is brought into a state-of-good repair. The SFMTA kicked off the first part of the Subway Renewal Program during the current shutdown, which began as a result of the pandemic in March 2020. Work is underway to improve the reliability of the system and reduce disruptions for years to come. While we had hoped to complete all the near-term items we identified during our evaluation period by the end of 2020, designing and procuring some of the more complex elements is taking longer than expected. As a result, some of that initial work will continue even as service is restored. Track maintenance work being undertaken prior to the return of Mun

We Need Your Feedback on Scooter Share By Philip Cranna The SFMTA is seeking public input as we prepare for the next round of Powered Scooter Share Program permits. We are holding an online meeting at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 14th and also have an online surve  for feedback. The current permits for Scooter Share expire in April 2021. We expect to issue the next round of permits to take effect as soon as the current permits expire. To improve the program, the SFMTA is considering updates and wants to hear from the community about: Community engagement requirements: adding a mobility justice training requirement and additional outreach requirements Distribution requirements: emphasizing the importance of ensuring that all neighborhoods in San Francisco are served by scooters Adaptive scooter program requirements: transitioning from an adaptive pilot requirement to an improved accessibility requirement The SFMTA is committed to fostering an urban environment where sus

4th Street Bridge Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes Approved By Erin McMillan The SFMTA Board of Directors approved the temporary emergency transit lanes project for the 4th Street Bridge (4th Street between Berry and Channel Streets) on Tuesday, January 5, to support improved transit service on Muni’s T Third. Along with other proposed and planned key locations across the city , the SFMTA plans to install a temporary emergency transit lane on the 4th Street Bridge addressing a key bottleneck that delays the T Third line with work scheduled to begin as early as today, Monday, January 11. Installing the dedicated transit lane will allow the T Third trains to move more quickly over the bridge without getting stuck in traffic as the SFMTA prepares for the return of T Third light rail service later this month . Pre-COVID, the combined KT line carried over 42,000 customers daily. Additionally, this will help Muni provide more frequent T Third service and increase physically-distanced ca

How Public Input is Helping Shape a Better Market Street By Mariana Maguire In response to budget constraints and challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Better Market Street project team released updated design proposals for Market Street between 5th and 8th streets in September 2020. We then hosted multiple stakeholder and public meetings, posted a public survey and held a month-long virtual open house in order get feedback on the proposals. We received and reviewed hundreds of public comments and found four recurring areas of concern: curb lane sharing, speed tables, curbs between vehicle lanes and car-free Market Street enforcement. Based on these issues, we are proposing the following additional modifications: Lowering the speed limit to 20 miles per hour between Franklin and Steuart streets Adding speed tables next to boarding islands to slow vehicle traffic and discourage speeding where transit riders and pedestrians are more vulnerable Removing previo

Today in History: The Making of the Geary Expressway By Sophia Scherr Crowds surround streetcars during their inaugural day of service, December 28, 1912  (SFMTA Photo Archives) The SFMTA recently celebrated Muni’s 108th Anniversary on December 28, the date when streetcar service was inaugurated along Geary Street between downtown and 33rd Avenue on the A and B lines in 1912. This vital corridor is now experiencing its latest transformation. But first, some history: Upon opening, for the cost of a nickel, the Geary streetcars went all the way to the Ocean Beach carousel, candy stands and other rides and amusements that would later be known as “Playland at the Beach.” Residences and shops began to spring up amid the sand dunes in the Outer Richmond, as transit connected downtown to the Richmond neighborhoods, Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. The public transit network expanded in the years following this inaugural service through innovative projects like the completion of the Twi