>I think the problem with SoMa service is not that it is absent, but that
>it is infrequent enough to be inconvenient. When you can walk to most
>SoMa destinations from Market in the space of one headway (12-15, except
>for 3rd/4th), there is little incentive to take the bus. Unfortunately
>most of SoMa is fairly low density, so lines there don't get crowded
>often enough to support more service...as current demographic trends
>continue, this problem will likely sove itself.
This is absolutely true. Right now SoMa service is very infrequent,
except on corridors that go through it north-south, which aren't really
that useful. The real need, in my view, is much more significant
east-west service (e.g. Townsend/Bryant in addition to a non-useless
12-Folsom) that creates a real grid, like the trolley coaches do in the
Western Addition.
As I recall, Peter Straus and the planning office did some research on
this topic a few years ago, but there wasn't the $ to add service.
The question, of course, is where people come from & go to in SoMa. My
general read is that many more people work there than live there, and
many of these people come from neighborhoods like the inner Mission where
there isn't good service into town if you're not next to the BART
station. The tricky thing is, of course, that low density combined with
dispersed commercial development makes commuting much less concentrated.
Combine that with the one-way streets too far away from each other to
comfortably walk, and you have a bit of a mess.
Some anecdotal experience: I live near the Panhandle and work at
4th/Folsom. I take 21 or 5 (usually) to Market and then walk the three
blocks to work, which is just fine. But if I need to go deeper into
SoMa, I still have to walk in almost every case. I do take 30/45 to
Union Square and 9 to Chinatown sometimes, which is convenient. I have
never taken the 12, even though it stops right in front of my office and
goes to useful places, because it is so infrequent.
Sometimes I drive to work (yes, not entirely enviro-correct). I find
traffic on Folsom/Howard not to be a big deal - EXCEPT when bridge
traffic brings the whole neighborhood to a halt. Parking is a drag
during the day, OK at night, but (alas) worth it if I have to go anywhere
ELSE in SoMa that day. Higher density development will change this, I'm
sure. (Note: this also represents an opportunity to put in bus lanes,
while we still can...)
And on warm summer evenings I proudly participate in the Friday Night
Skate, which needs no new infrastructure and burns only Gatorade!
A
Andrew Sullivan
andrew@sulli.org - www.sulli.org
s u l l i . o r g
1668 Grove, SF CA 94117
415 673 0626