Regardless of the law, pedestrians don't need more high (higher) speed
obstacles to dodge in the places reserved for pedestrian use.
>As an aside, a really nice thing to do with the 5 would be to run it down to turn around at CalTrain, just a little break in the inability of any line from the NW part of the city to break the Mkt St barrier. Although I suppose that now that we have the round-Robin Hood's barn Metro line MUNI will be even less inclined toward such conveniences.
As a frequent rider on the 5, I am much more likely to travel toward the
Ferry (rather than TBT) than towards CalTrain, in general the greater
majority of the ridership travels to Market St destinations, rather
than South of Market...I haven't seen much transfer activity to 30/45.
In terms of service, this would be a disaster for the 5, expecially at
evening rush. First, the evening traffic on 3rd/4th is often
horrendous, so service would be unreliable. Additional buses using the
stops would tend to delay 30/45 service on 3rd and 4th (while the 5's
turning at 4th would help little in the CalTrain bound crowd). The
Townsend terminal (already barely workable) would become even more of a
mess. On Market St, already hardworking 21 and 31 service would have to
bring 5 passengers to 4th St (where rush hour 5's often fill up) where
they would transfer. This would be a marginal improvement for 5th St.
and west passengers who are often left waiting by full buses, since 21
and 31 passengers would tend to stay on and then walk to
McAllister/Fulton.
For the drivers it would probably not be a lot worse...indeed, the
overhead is already there...and we are paid for overtime, but it
certainly wouldn't be an improvement.