Your email had more detail than I had seen yet; still i don't
exactly get what happens between Mission and Howard. If the curb
parking is to be eliminated why is the diamond lane to be in the
second lane from the right?
According to the drawings I received, the right-most lane of Third is
to be a right-turn-only lane at Mission, with the transit-only lane to
its left. There are no bus stops in that long block (which passes
Hunt and Minna Streets).
Crossing Howard Street the transit lane moves from right-most to
second-right-most and from there traffic which wishes to turn on
Mission will need cross the path of the bus traffic to reach the turn
lane. I don't know what the volumes are so I don't know how much of
conflict that will be.
The turn lane will be created by eliminating two parking spaces
between Hunt Street and the crossing in front of SFMOMA, three spaces
between the SFMOMA crossing and Minna Street and four spaces between
Minna and MIssion Streets.
The transit lane between Mission and Jessie Streets is in the curb
lane and requires the removal of five commerical metered parking
spaces.
The transit lane between Folsom and Howard Streets is in the curb
lane and requires the removal of two parking spaces between Folsom and
Minna, and two betwen Minna and Tehama.
The only other parking spaces I see removed on the drawings are four
spaces on the western, left-hand side of Third just north of Howard
before Minna.
To me this is pretty key because I think that losing the curb lane
as a buffer between moving traffic and the sidewalk would be really
bad especially for getting to and from SFMOMA by foot. That
sidewalk is too narrow and busy.
Pedestrian space all over the city has been appropriated by roadway
width expansion. I'm not sure what to think; clearly this Muni/DPT
proposal is better than nothing, but equally clearly "we're" getting
the merest crumbs they can bear to part with. I agree that walking in
that part of the city is miserable, particularly with the appalling,
inexcusable, unforgivable, sidewalk-free fortress of the Moscone
Center and its parking lot on-ramps completely shutting down the
entire block on the western side. (Those who designed, approved and
built this mind-numbingly insensitive monstrosity will be among those
first up against the wall when the revolution comes. But I digress.)
Your comments about the narrowness/smoothness of the curb lane are
interesting too. I commute to work by Muni up VanNess from Market
to the Wharf (I broke my arm a few weeks ago). VanNess busses use
3 out of the 4 lanes so they can make decent time and get around
right turning cars. What good would a right hand transit lane
do?...
The lane would theoretically be free of the non-Muni motor vehicles
which presently reduce _all_ lanes of Third (and Fourth, and dozens of
other vital transit arteries) to grid-lock every single afternoon.
By the way, I spent 45 minutes travelling less that five miles on the
47 bus this afternoon. I don't find that atypical... though often I
can walk all the way to Market Street without having a single 42/47/49
pass me. Sigh.
In sum I'd like to see a transit lane next to the existing parallel
parking and loading zones. DPT's proposal seems like an attempt to
get the busses out of the way of cars -- a pressing need in light
of massive developments coming online soon south of market...a dim
view of DPT perhaps but somewhat consistent with other proposals
that Javad has identified.
Don't think for a minute that DPT is in general a bunch of
motor-vehicle-obsessed trogolodytes who can rarely imagine a world
beyond intersection Level of Service or consider anything to do with
optimizing movement of _people_ and _goods_ a sideline to funnelling
_vehicles_ about. They're not. But in this case I think the proposal
could create something better than the status quo.
There are parallels with the incredibly destructive freeway expansion
projects which have been and are being sold as providing "carpool
lanes"; the lanes are of course good, but they should be achieved by
converting existing underutilized asphalt and concrete into a more
efficient use, not by widening the roadway and pretending -- often not
even for a full year after opening -- that this was exclusively for
bus and carpool use.
It looks like something better than nothing. Could it be
significantly better? Let's work that out.