For half a century, San Francisco’s city charter has contained a “transit-first” policy that remains all but dead letter.
A key reason for that is that our city’s efforts to improve public transportation get bogged down in outright hostility, especially when improvements involve the removal of street parking.
Such is the case with the latest flare-up over SFMTA’s efforts to proceed with the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project, along the city’s most critical east-west bus corridor.
Changes that Muni completed in 2021 as part of the first phase of the project — on Geary between downtown and Stanyan Street — have reduced travel times on the 38/38R bus line by about 18 percent, while travel time reliability has improved up to 37 percent, according to the agency.
SFMTA staff is now planning to add red transit-only lanes, bus and pedestrian bulb-outs, and stop relocations between Stanyan and 34th Avenue, with work scheduled to begin this year.
The project’s “quick-build” phase requires removing an approximate net 31 of 583 street parking spaces along this two-mile, 34-block stretch of Geary. This is an average of less than one space per block across the entire project — or up to 1.5 spaces per block in the commercial zone between Park Presidio and 25th Avenue.
In spite of the modest number of parking spaces involved, and significant provisions to improve loading zones within the project area, the Geary Blvd. Merchants Association has alleged that the parking loss will negatively affect small businesses that were hard hit by the pandemic. Yet the project has received robust support from local residents, organizations, and businesses. It will benefit tens of thousands of daily Muni riders and pedestrians.
Factual context here is important. Prior to the COVID pandemic, the 38/38R was the busiest bus line west of the Mississippi, with more than 50,000 daily riders. The route serves three major hospitals, many schools, and connects multiple neighborhoods outside of downtown, from the Outer and Inner Richmond to the Fillmore, Japantown, and the Tenderloin, promoting the city’s recovery. Today, even with many continuing to work from home, its ridership has recovered to 36,000 daily riders and it still ranks among the country’s busiest.
Merchants’ concerns are understandable, but evidence does not suggest that removing a few parking spots will have much of an impact. A 2013 survey conducted by the SF County Transportation Authority found that only 22 percent of people along this stretch of Geary arrived by car, and that those who walked or rode transit visited more frequently and collectively spent more than those who drove.
All this suggests that the project would have many benefits, but there’s an additional consideration: safety. Geary has been identified as part of SF’s “high-injury network” — that is, the 12 percent of streets that account for more than two-thirds of the severe and fatal injuries to pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.
Deaths and severe injuries can be reduced through project elements such as left-turn restrictions, median refuges, and extended sidewalks at intersections. These life-saving improvements account for over 40 percent of the parking loss incurred.
Unfortunately, our local political leaders are failing to provide the support needed to see through the Geary improvement project to completion. Mayor London Breed has conspicuously avoided the topic altogether.
District 1 Sup. Connie Chan, whose district includes Geary as far east as Arguello Boulevard, signaled her opposition to the project in a June 16 press release that falsely claimed that 30 percent of parking spaces on the Geary corridor would be removed.
Chan consistently opposes projects that deprioritize auto traffic. Last year she voted against the popular car-free John F. Kennedy Promenade (previously part of the high-injury network), and this week was the only supervisor to vote against an increase in bridge tolls to support the Bay Area’s public transit agencies.
Calls for further study or delays framed as “compromise” are unlikely to be productive, as SFMTA has engaged Geary businesses throughout the project’s history and has agreed to cover the costs of rebuilding business parklets during construction.
In response to merchant concerns, SFMTA has repeatedly adjusted its plans to preserve parking spaces, with the current 31 spaces down from an initial total of 140, representing less than 2 percent of total parking within one block of the main commercial section of the project.
Further delays will increase costs and jeopardize the entire Geary Boulevard Improvement Project. Riders and residents have already been waiting for improvements on Geary for over 65 years, since the last streetcar ran in December 1956.
Our city has long deserved a faster, more accessible, safer Geary, and the reality of a rapidly changing climate means that we need bold action — and bold leadership — now.
Mark Sawchuk is a member of San Francisco Transit Riders and is a daily Muni rider. Dave Alexander lives in the Richmond within the Geary project’s area, and is a public school parent and founder of Richmond Family SF. Susannah Raub is the chair of SFMTA’s Geary Community Advisory Committee and a member of San Francisco Transit Riders.
The Frisc encourages submissions of opinion and commentary from diverse perspectives. Please email or DM your idea with the word COMMENTARY in capitals. The views we publish are not necessarily those of The Frisc, but they are of San Francisco.