In looking at the Muni map, it seems to me that it COULD be more efficient to
simply run some kind of loop shuttles along the J line that go to the 16th and
24th St. BART stations, where riders with Fast Passes could zip downtown in
minutes with trains coming along every 3 to 5 minutes during rush hour. This
would be much faster for the rider and it would make use of excess BART
capacity as BART trains aren't as full as Muni Metro cars.
Yes, Muni could provide some PCC service down Market Street for those without
Fast Passes. But there are also problems with putting more Muni vehicles on
Market: it would slow down Muni vehicles already using Market St. And it's
also an inefficient use of limited resources: streetcars going down Market
use of valuable operators for slow-moving service (Muni continues to tell us
they are short of operators). Now, if autos were cleared from Market and
lights time so that Muni could speed down Market St., that would be something
different. But even if that were to happen someday, it is not going to happen
in the next six months, the critical period as we wait for more Breda cars to
arrive, be tested, and placed in service.
-Ken Niemi