A
Subject: MUNI service to CalTrain.
Sent: 11/30/98 0:53
Received: 11/30/98 7:25
From: Wiebracht, Mike, MWiebracht@northpointcom.com
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I grant permission for all or any part of this letter to be published.
Dear Honorable Mayor and Supervisors:
I have waited to let the dust settle to see if any of the problems would
be
solved in providing service from Market Street to CalTrain at 4th and King
Streets via the Muni Metro's N Judah line from the Embarcadero Station.
I would like to point out some problems and offer some solutions that may
be
of help.
Clearly service is inadequate and unreliable for CalTrain commuters to
ride
the N Judah from Market Street to connect to CalTrain at 4th and King. My
experience plus observations from fellow commuters is that the N Judah
consistently gets us to the CalTrain station after our trains have
departed.
Sometimes we are up to a half our or more delayed.
But what is so frustrating is the frequent experience of missing our
trains
by a few minutes. It may not seem much by MUNI's standards, but CalTrain's
trains leave on time. You could set your watch by the departure of
CalTrain's trains from 4th and King. When we miss our trains, the next
train
is anywhere from an half hour to forty minutes for the next train due to
the
fact that many trains are expresses that do not stop at all of the
stations
on the Peninsula. In my case, my train to Burlingame takes 22 minutes.
Allowing MUNI 30 minutes to 40 minutes from the Montgomery Metro Station
frequently is not enough time to make the connection to CalTrain. Since
there are so many people who want to travel to Market Street, including
upper Market Street, it would make sense to add the K, L, and/or M lines
to
the schedule to increase frequency.
The N Judah trains travelling from 4th and King to the Embarcadero are
programmed to override the left turn arrows for automobile traffic, which
does help speed the trains to the Embarcadero Station. However, going
towards Market Street is not nearly as time critical as travelling from
Market Street to connect with Cal Train that departs on time.
Please consider programming the N Judah trains travelling from Market to
4th
and King to override the left turn arrows. This would in many instances
make
the difference on whether hundreds of commuters make their connection to
CalTrain. So many times I have observed that hundreds of commuters miss
their connection waiting for 5 or 6 single driver cars to make a left
turn.
If the traffic system for some reason only allows the override to be
programmed in one direction, priority should be given to trains trying to
make the connection to CalTains that leave on time. This would be a
decision
that would be consistent with the Transit First policy of the City and
County of San Francisco.
Please let me know if these two suggestions are under consideration:
1) Adding more lines, especially K, L, or/and M to the schedule to
terminate at 4th and King Streets.
2) Programming the traffic signals for the Metro trains to override left
turn signals in the direction towards 4th and King from the Embarcadero
station.
Sincerely,
Michael Wiebracht
415.659.6566
Mike Wiebracht | Recruiter, Human Resources
NorthPoint Communications | 222 Sutter Street, 7th Floor | San Francisco,
CA
94108
EMAIL: mwiebracht@northpointcom.com <mailto:mwiebracht@northpointcom.com>
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