One proposal to solve the shortage of cars that can work in the tunnel with
ATCS is to (1) remove the J-line from the tunnel; (2) replace the streetcars
serving the J line (100% Bredas?) with PCC cars Muni has; and (3) run those
cars down the F-line tracks downtown.
I can see the value of the first two steps...it removes a single car train
from the subway and this better allows the two-car trains to move faster as
the fewer "trains" the better, i.e., two+ car trains are much better than one-
car trains.
However my question for the great collective of this list is: will riders (a)
stay on the PCC cars and ride downtown or (b) would they choose to transfer at
Church St. to the subway, assuming it can make it from Church St. to
Embarcadero in 12-15 minutes 90% of the time? I rode the F-line from
Embarcadero to Castro once to time it and I believe it took something like
35-40 minutes. It's fine for local travel but I would never use it for that
kind of distance unless the subway was closed. From my experience this week,
the subway from Church to Embarcadero has significantly improved from the
previous two weeks. Delays of 20 minutes are not typical any longer while
delays of 5-10 minutes seems more the norm. I would think most Muni trains
are making the trip in 15 minutes now....the goal being that most trains make
it from Church to Embarcadero in 10 minutes.
So, in my mind, a rider staying on the surface from Church St. would be
trading a ride that is going to take 15 minutes 75% of the time and more than
15 minutes only 25% of the time for a ride that was going to take 25 minutes
100% of the time. Plus you have the fun each day of viewing 6th Street and
Market...something I'm happy to not have to deal with that often since the
subway stopped closing at 8 PM and we were forced to ride replacement buses.
But if J-riders would really prefer to stay on the PCC cars and ride on the
surface downtown, then the plan would be fine. If they don't want to but
instead transfer, then Muni shouldn't run the cars all of the way downtown.
It seems like an expensive use of labor to have more trains sitting in traffic
on the surface.
How many think that riders will choose to stay on Market Street in the PCC's
versus switching to the subway?
Ken Niemi