1 California Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes
The SFMTA is working to protect essential workers and transit-dependent San Franciscans who rely on Muni to get to work and essential appointments. During the initial days of shelter-in-place, the 1 California saw significantly faster travel times east of Arguello Boulevard compared to pre-pandemic. But with traffic now returning, average speeds along the 1 California corridor have decreased, slowing bus travel times and contributing to crowding.
As of November 2020, about 20% of 1 California trips between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. are considered crowded by COVID standards. In order to protect people who rely on transit from increased exposure to COVID-19 on slow or crowded buses, we need to act quickly to move more people, even though we have fewer resources.
The 1 California serves the Chinatown neighborhood–one of San Francisco's neighborhoods with high percentages of people of color and low-income households. In addition, 65% of Chinatown and Nob Hill households do not own a car, more than twice as many as the citywide average of 31% with no car.
Installing temporary emergency transit lanes on segments of the California corridor will help keep the 1 California moving, reducing crowding and travel times for people who still depend on transit to get around the city. When buses aren’t competing with traffic, they can complete routes more quickly, providing more frequent service and greater capacity with the same number of buses. This is especially important at a time when buses can only carry a third of the passengers as before the health crisis while the SFMTA is facing a major revenue shortfall.
Learn more about the Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes program.
Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes Details
Temporary emergency transit lanes are proposed along segments of California, Clay and Sacramento streets:
- West of Larkin Street, temporary emergency transit lanes would replace the curbside travel lane. Lanes would be in effect at all times. All on-street parking would be retained.
- East of Larkin Street, temporary emergency transit lanes would introduce new parking restrictions in the curbside lane where part-time temporary transit lanes are installed.
Temporary transit lanes would be striped only with white paint and identified with “Bus/Taxi Only” stenciling and signage, making them easily reversable. No red color is proposed as part of these temporary installations. Cars are still allowed to enter transit lanes to make right turns and access parking. Temporary emergency transit lanes will automatically be removed within 120 days after the emergency order is lifted, unless there is a public process to make a temporary emergency transit lane permanent.
On California Street
- Presidio Avenue* to Steiner Street: add 24/7 (all hours) transit lane
*Update as of 2/3/21: The project proposal has been revised to remove the proposed transit lane on California Street between Arguello and Presidio. This change in scope is as a result of design work revealing inadequate roadway width for a transit lane in this segment.
Access larger downloadable map of proposed 1 California temporary transit lanes.
Cross-section showing street configuration of California Street between Presidio Avenue and Steiner Street. The travel lane nearest to the curb would be converted to a 24/7 transit lane on each side of the street. Parking would be retained.
On Sacramento Street
- Morning AM Hours :
- East of Kearny: expand existing 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. towaway hours to 24/7 (all hours)
- Kearny to Grant: expand existing 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m. towaway hours by 1 hour to 7:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
- Grant to Stockton: add AM towaway, 7:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
- Evening PM Hours:
- Kearny to Powell (and further west past Chinatown): expand existing 3:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. towaway hours by 30 minutes to 3:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
- Larkin to Van Ness (and further west towards Gough Street): add 24/7 (all hours) towaway lane
On Clay Street
- Morning AM Hours:
- No changes east of Sansome
- Montgomery to Powell: expand existing 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m. towaway hours by 1 hour to 7:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
- Powell to Mason (and further west past Chinatown): add 7:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. towaway
- Evening PM Hours :
- Sansome to Grant: expand existing 3:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. towaway hours by 30 minutes to 3:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
- Grant to Stockton: add 3:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. towaway
- Stockton to Powell: expand white zones, no changes to towaway hours
- Powell to Mason (and further west past Chinatown): add 3:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. towaway
- Larkin to Van Ness: add 24/7 (all hours) towaway lane
Access larger downloadable map of proposed 1 California temporary transit lanes.
Cross-section showing street configuration of Clay and Sacramento streets between Franklin and Larkin streets. The travel lane next to the right-hand curb would be converted to a 24/7 transit lane. Parking would be retained.
Cross-section showing street configuration for streets east of Larkin. Parking is retained on both sides of the street when bus lanes are not in effect.
Cross-section showing street configuration for streets east of Larkin. The curbside parking lane becomes a transit lane when bus lanes are in effect.
Virtual Community Meetings: February 17 and February 24
Join one of our virtual community meetings to learn more about the project, ask questions and provide feedback. There will be two separate meetings, one with a focus on the western side from Presidio Avenue to Steiner Street, and one focusing on the eastern side of the corridor from Franklin Street to Front Street:
Wednesday, February 17, 11:30 a.m.
Western Corridor Meeting: Presidio Avenue to Steiner Street
Join online via Skype for Business
Join by phone in English at 1-888-398-2342, Code: 8647385#
Wednesday, February 24, 2:00 p.m. (Cantonese and English)
Eastern Corridor Meeting: Franklin Street to Front Street
Join online via Skype for Business
Join by phone in English at 1-888-398-2342, Code: 8647385#
Join by phone in Cantonese at 1-888-363-4734, Code: 7014320#
The meetings will be conducted via Skype for Business (access via your web browser or download the app). To join the meeting, do the following:
1. At meeting time, click Join Online via Skype for Business on our webpage.
2. If this is the first time you are joining a meeting, your browser might ask you to download Skype Meetings App. Click Install and Join with the Skype Meetings App (web).
3. If you have already installed the Skype Meetings App, please click the link that indicates “Already installed? Click here to join with Skype Meetings App (web)”
4. In the Skype Meetings App Welcome screen that opens, type your name in the Enter Your Name text box, and then click Join.
Contact us at 415.646.2350 or TellMuni@SFMTA.com 72 hours in advance of meeting to request free interpretation.
All comments will be reviewed by staff. Based on feedback heard from the community meetings and other outreach, the proposal may be refined prior to holding a public hearing and seeking approval by the SFMTA Board, anticipated in spring 2021. If approved, implementation is anticipated to follow shortly after.
Outreach and Evaluation
If implemented, the project will be evaluated. Areas of evaluation will include, but are not limited to:
- Health and safety benefits
- Economic health
- Neighborhood impacts and equity
- Transit performance
- Traffic safety
Community-based organizations, stakeholders and neighbors will be involved in shaping the framework and process for evaluating and making any needed adjustments to the temporary emergency transit lanes in real time. Based on public feedback and ongoing, on-the-ground data monitoring of the temporary transit lanes, we can tweak—or even remove lanes—to meet the needs of the community and Muni customers. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected after implementation and will inform any changes needed to the transit lanes and whether permanent approval of the lanes should be pursued.
Provide feedback on how we evaluate temporary emergency transit lanes
Following approval of a project corridor, SFMTA’s Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes will be evaluated once they are installed. Evaluation criteria provided by the community will be used along with metrics that the SFMTA has established. Please take our short survey to provide your input.
街道改造工程獲得批准后，交通局的臨時緊急公交車道一旦實施，將接受評估。評估標準將由社區提供，並將用於交通局起草的問卷表格。請參加這個簡短的問卷調查，提供您的建議。
Depues de que se aprueba un corredor de proyecto, los carriles de tránsito de emergencia temporarios de SFMTA serán evaluados una vez que estén instalados. Los criterios de evaluación proporcionados por la comunidad se utilizarán junto a las métricas que ha establecido la SFMTA. Por favor, responda a esta breve encuesta para brindar su opinión.