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Muni Riders Get Special Treatment as SFMTA Rolls Out The Red Carpet Lanes

Monday, December 1, 2014

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), has successfully completed another phase of transit-only lanes. The nearly four-month long-effort converted several blocks of Market Street’s most heavily used blacktop, into bright red pathways that aid drivers in avoiding lanes designated for buses and taxis. The Red-Carpet Lane projects are a part of Muni Forward, a comprehensive initiative to enhance pedestrian safety and improve Muni efficiency and reliability.

Dubbed “red-carpet lanes”, these durably painted thermoplastic lanes stretch westbound from 8th and Van Ness streets and eastbound between 12th and 5th streets. But the colorful lanes are more than eye-catching additions to the city’s downtown corridor. The red carpet lanes have increased the reliability of several Muni bus lines including:

  • F Market and Wharves
  • 6 Parnassus
  • 9/9L San Bruno (and limited)
  • 71/71L Haight Noriega

“San Francisco invests in critical infrastructure improvements to build a 21st century transportation network and safer streets in our world class City,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “The Market Street red-carpet lane is just one of the many infrastructure improvements that our City is making to increase public transit reliability and an overall safer experience for residents and visitors that will help get us to our City’s Vision Zero goals.”

“The Market Street installation is an outgrowth of red-carpet lanes already in place throughout the city,” says SFMTA Director of Transportation, Ed Reiskin. “These lanes are a low-cost way to make Muni more reliable and provide a better customer experience on the most heavily used transit corridor in San Francisco.”