June 23, 2007
Transit Picnic, Yum!
Imagine a wonderful, delicious future in which the 38-Geary runs as smoothly and quickly as a train; speeding along in its own lanes without squidging in and out of traffic. Oh what a dream! And it's not so far-off: planning is well underway on a Bus Rapid Transit system that'll feature "fancy new buses, dedicated lanes, timed signals, more parking, and a safer and more beautiful walking environment, with pre-paid boarding and new stations!"
You probably want to know more about this amazing vision, don't you? Yes, you do. Luckily, there's a picnic happening TODAY, hosted by SPUR (the always-correct urban planning group) as thanks to Jake McGoldrick for supporting the project. It's happening at the Rossi Playground (on Arguello near Anza) from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. You can take the 33 there, or at least, you would be able to if it wasn't Pride weekend and Muni wasn't totally fouling up that particular bus route because they don't know how to orchestrate a simple detour. See you there!
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"SPUR (the always-correct urban planning group)"...
I guess, if you're into corporate-interest planning.
mattymatt, just a random thanks for your excellent and fun Muni coverage. And for being gentle with your Neanderthal commenters.
(NOT in reference to commenter 1 above!)
It's like a train, but on a budget, welcome to BRT. "Bad Republican Transit"
Sigh. At least it is better than what we have. I hope.
There were like about 10 people at this picnic. SPUR, McG and a couple of cronies.
pinkocommie (1) is on target: SPUR does not represent citizens and neighborhoods in their kneejerk party line blather.
Spur maintains balance between citizens, neighborhoods, AND corporate interests; but it's hard to think of a time that they've favored corporations over people, or towed a party line.
The Geary BRT is a particularly bad example to cite if you're accusing Spur of favoring commerce over citizens. The (few) opponents to BRT are business owners; but the thousands of people who actually ride the 38 are greatly in favor of speeding it up.
okay, MattyMatt.
How about SPUR's position on community choice aggregation--
what's the non-party reason to oppose CCA?
That's not a topic I know much about. Maybe you'd like to point me toward SPUR's statements about CCA? I can't find any on their site.
Who CARES if SPUR opposes CCA? Only the Guardian and its biggest fans are so PG&E obsessed to even think about this.
SPUR supports major mass transit improvements, which will save San Franciscans far more than any Bruce B. Brugmann endorsed public power scheme. Time is money!
It was a fun, if very mellow event. There were about 20 of us there, all told, over the course of the whole afternoon.
I work at SPUR and am pretty sure we haven't taken a position on Community Choice Aggregation. It seems like a good idea to me, but that's just me talking: I'm the transportation policy person and don't speak for SPUR on energy issues. Which brings me to Geary BRT, in response to Mark's comment.
I agree that on a purely technical basis, rail is a better solution for Geary than BRT, but for better or worse, decisions about transit expansions in San Francisco give great weight to community advocacy for and against specific projects. BRT is the transit expansion on Geary that had political support where rail did not, because BRT construction won't disrupt the street nearly as much.
Everything they're doing to build BRT on Geary is necessary for rail, eventually, and nothing they're doing will preclude it (it's a rail-ready design). Converting BRT to rail may be wise at some point, but that project will compete for funding with the completion of the Central Subway and its essential extension into North Beach, the extension of Caltrain into downtown, decently paved roads, a complete bicycle network, and simply a fully-funded Muni.
I think BRT may surprise people with its quality in terms of speed, comfort, and reliability, and that we, the public, may choose to use our limited funds to expand BRT to other neighborhoods before converting Geary BRT to rail.