I’m going to the Tue Dec 14 hearing about the removal of 5 bus stops on the Geary and O’Farrell lines to support their removal.
Every day 55,000 riders use the 38 Geary busline making it the most used transit line in San Francisco. Yes. That means that saving 3 minutes on the inbound and outbound routes saves 165,000 minutes every day, or 2,750 hours of bus rider’s time *every day.* Asking Tenderloin residents to walk an extra block, on either Geary or O’Farrell, which are not that hilly, so that they and every one else can have a faster and more convenient commute, is good transit management. If we expect people to get out of their cars and our neighborhoods to be more livable and safe places for children and seniors, then we have to improve transit service, and supporting the Muni standard of stops about 1,000 feet apart (instead of less than 500 feet apart as they are on Geary and O’Farrell) is one important way of doing that. Already, every single Muni passenger in the Tenderloin must walk more than 1 block on a steep hill due to the one-way nature of the Geary/O’Farrell bus route.
Now another factor that Muni won’t tell you about, and I’m not sure if this argues in favor of my position or not, is that stop
consolidation saves money. Muni is facing a huge budget crisis which it must close. There are three ways to close the budget:
-raise money (taxes, or fares)
-cut service (a few bus stops in the Tenderloin is nothing compared to the massive cuts Muni is contemplating)
-improve efficiency (provide the same service at less cost, obviously the preferable way to go, but how?)
If you don’t want to see massive service cuts (I don’t) or higher
fares (I don’t) then you should support raising more money other ways (higher parking fees, a higher gas tax) and efficiencies in service. Stop consolidation is one way to improve service efficiency. Another way is to give Muni preference at traffic lights, replacing car capacity with bus capacity, etc.
I hope readers will not blindly “save the bus stops” but instead
think of the transit system that best supports the bus riders of the Tenderloin and every neighborhood in the city.
Dave Snyder
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link:rshaw@beyondchron.org
or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
415-771-1287 (fax)
