Making Way for the Muni Metro of our Dreams

Making Way for the Muni Metro of our Dreams
By Erin McMillan

In order to achieve the SFMTA’s vision for transit service, we have some work to do. Staff have provided an overarching framework for how SFMTA will achieve a truly dazzling vision for Muni service: The Muni Metro Modernization program.

Chart showing the projects that fall under the Muni Metro Modernization program.

The Muni Metro Modernization program.

The program uses a multifaceted approach: As a foundation, making state of good repair upgrades and replacing aging systems through our Subway Renewal Program already underway. San Francisco's Muni Metro subway system moves our highest volumes of customers through the core of the city. And it operates on infrastructure that was constructed between 50 to 100 years ago, much of it original. It is well-documented that Muni Metro has been plagued with service reliability problems for decades. The Subway Renewal Program lays out a systematic approach to capital upgrades over the next ten years, targeting strategic repairs, replacing and enhancing our most critical systems. This work will improve our subway’s resilience and prepare it for the demands of the future. Much of this work over the next ten years include things that customers never see, but are essential to keeping the system safe, efficient and reliable.

Another major project that will increase the Muni Metro network’s capacity, and reduce wait times and crowding on your Muni Metro trips: the Train Control Upgrade Project (TCUP). TCUP possesses the greatest potential of any single investment to significantly improve system efficiency. Our outdated centralized train control system is under constant pressure and is increasingly operating beyond the capacity for which it was designed nearly three decades ago.

While we’ve learned operational and service lessons throughout the pandemic, we’re continuing to improve our ability to measure the health of the subway. Using data dashboards to monitor subway travel time, queuing, average daily subway delay and maximum trains per hour, we’re improving our ability to make informed decisions about subway operations and service. Following the successful pilot of the J Church surface-only route, we’re looking for ways to increase our adaptability and improve responsiveness to changing travel patterns.

In addition to improving subway infrastructure and performance, the Muni Forward program will focus on improving surface rail through capital improvements that will increase the reliability and performance of the line segments operating outside of the subway. Customers will continue to feel the positive impacts from the Muni Forward program with more reliable surface rail service that translates into a more reliable subway.

The Train Control Upgrade Project bridges state of good repair improvements and service improvements by replacing a 20+ year old system in the subway and expanding new technology to the surface. And of course, strategic investment in our light rail fleet and facilities is critical to achieve this work.

In addition to improving the infrastructure and service of Muni Metro, we are also planning for the future. The Muni Metro Core Capacity Planning Study sets out to answer critical planning questions for our system— What is our future higher-capacity transit system? What is the program of infrastructure projects and service that will get us there? How can we get more capacity in the subway and at the same time improve reliability? We have already begun to experiment with innovative service approaches, such as the J Church Surface-only Pilot, as a way to test some of the service ideas that will be explored further in the Core Capacity Planning Study. Building upon the work laid out in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Bay Area Core Capacity Transit Study and the ConnectSF Transit Strategy, the Core Capacity Planning Study will develop a comprehensive long-term strategy for expanding the capacity of the Muni Metro system.

We know what the issues with Muni Metro are—and we have the tools and programs in place to improve the system. From capital improvements like train control system upgrades to improving our service performance through the Muni Forward program and innovative service solutions like the J Church Surface-only Pilot, we’re working to improve the reliability and service of the Muni Metro both in the near and long term.

For more information, visit the Muni Metro Modernization Program page.

Published May 04, 2022 at 01:20AM
https://ift.tt/atkM0nu

Comments

Slow Streets Become Spooky (Safe) Streets for Halloween

Slow Streets Become Spooky (Safe) Streets for Halloween By Eillie Anzilotti Halloween festivities on Minnesota Slow Street in 2020 This Halloween season, Slow Streets are becoming Spooky Streets. All across San Francisco, community groups are transforming their local Slow Streets into neighborhood gathering places for trick-or-treating, costume parties and more. On October 31 from 3 to 6 p.m., organizers from Kid Safe SF and the Great Highway Park Initiative are turning the Great Highway into The Great Hauntway , a beachside block party with a costume contest, arts and crafts and a “spooky disco.” That same day, neighbors in Sunnyside are gathering on Slow Hearst Street for a Halloween party at 4 p.m. On Minnesota Street, the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association is hosting their second annual MinneSLOWta Spooky Slow Street Stroll on October 30—the same day that Slow Sanchez Street will host a Halloween Stroll . Safe, car-light spaces for people to walk, bike and roll are essen...

Muni Moves You!

Muni Moves You! By Jeanne Brophy This week we are launching a campaign to welcome back Muni riders as San Francisco continues to move further into pandemic recovery. The campaign encourages transit trips to destinations throughout the city to reconnect you to the people and places that define our city and shape the communities we belong to. As many of us adopt new travel patterns for work commutes, school trips with visits to neighborhood businesses, and cultural and sporting activities, Muni offers a reliable, safe option to move about the city. The launch of the campaign coincides with steadily increasing ridership during the work week and even more increases for weekend ridership. This is good news for SF. Increased ridership will help the city wet its climate goals and reduce traffic congestion. Sustained lower transit ridership can have negative implications for the environment and traffic congestion. The campaign graphics feature the popular Muni “worm” logo originally desig...

New top story from Time: Former Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale Detained After Threatening to Harm Himself

https://ift.tt/343yskq President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale was detained by police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sunday after barricading himself in his home and threatening to harm himself, according to a police statement. Fort Lauderdale police said they went to Parscale’s home about 4 p.m. local time after receiving a 911 call about an armed man who was threatening suicide. Parscale’s wife told the officers who responded that her husband had access to multiple firearms. Police established contact with Parscale and negotiated for him to leave the home. He was taken into custody under the Baker Act, a Florida law that allows police to detain people who are potentially a threat to themselves or others. Parscale, 44, was transported to Broward Health Medical Center, the police said. Trump replaced Parscale as his campaign manager in July, after a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drew sparse crowds despite Parscale’s public assurance that hun...

New T Third Connecting Chinatown to Sunnydale Starts Saturday

New T Third Connecting Chinatown to Sunnydale Starts Saturday By Christopher Ward New Muni Metro map. This Saturday the T Third starts its long-awaited new route connecting Chinatown-Rose Pak Station from 4th & King in Central Subway, Mondays through Fridays, 6 a.m. to midnight every 10 minutes and Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to midnight every 12 minutes. The K Ingleside will now travel between Balboa Park and Embarcadero Station. Customers using Embarcadero & Folsom, Embarcadero & Brannan and 2nd and King platforms should transfer to the N Judah at Powell Station or 4th & King. Watch the new Muni Metro service map animations . The following bus service changes also start this Saturday: The T Third Bus will now run along 3rd and 4th Streets in SoMa and on Stockton Street north of Market Street to align with the new T Third rail line and will no longer travel on the Embarcadero and Market Street. The 6 Haight/Parnassus will now...

New top story from Time: President-Elect Joe Biden Picks All-Female Team to Lead White House Communications

https://ift.tt/3ocxpqR (WILMINGTON, Del.) — President-elect Joe Biden will have an all-female senior communications team at his White House, reflecting his stated desire to build out a diverse White House team as well as what’s expected to be a return to a more traditional press operation. Biden campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s White House communications director. Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his press secretary. Four of the seven top communications roles at the White House will be filled by women of color, and it’s the first time the entire senior White House communications team will be entirely female. President Donald Trump upended the ways in which his administration communicated with the press. In contrast with administrations past, Trump’s communications team held few press briefings, and those that did occur were often combative affairs riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods. Trump himself sometime...

Showdown at the Cow Palace

Showdown at the Cow Palace By Lori Phelan Some of the agency’s most skilled transit operators, mechanics and parking control officers recently polished up their silver stars and rode into Daly City for an epic showdown at the Cow Palace. It was a chance to show they were the best of the best. And boy did they deliver! The SFMTA Roadeo had dozens of transit operators navigate through a course containing various obstacle while under a strict time limit. The event was the 32nd Annual Bus Roadeo (and yes, you read that correctly). The name "roadeo" is derived from the better-known horse rodeo competition. The original roadeos, which began in 1937, featured trucks in various categories going through the same obstacles that drivers go through today. The agency took on the moniker in 1974 and held the inaugural event in the parking lot at the former Candlestick Park. It was there a dozen transit operators competed to determine who would lasso the award as best driver. T...

Traffic Collisions have Decreased on San Francisco’s Slow Streets

Traffic Collisions have Decreased on San Francisco’s Slow Streets By Julia Malmo As a whole, Slow Streets are safer than they were before being designated Slow Streets Streets that are part of the SFMTA’s Slow Streets Program have become measurably safer since the program began in 2020, with the number of traffic crashes falling by almost half. On average, these corridors have seen a 48% drop in collisions following their designation as Slow Streets, compared with a 14% drop in collisions citywide over the same period. Slow Streets also are more welcoming for people who walk, bike and roll. Fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day use all but four of the current Slow Streets (20th Street, Minnesota Street, Noe Street, and Page Street). The goal of the program is to create safe, shared streets that are comfortable and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities, using any mode of transportation. We now can see how it’s doing in a new evaluation report . When t...

FOX NEWS: Massachusetts gym defies coronavirus court orders, stays open: 'If I have to sit in jail... I will'

Massachusetts gym defies coronavirus court orders, stays open: 'If I have to sit in jail... I will' The owner of Prime Fitness & Nutrition, who reopened his gym in Oxford, Mass., in May despite state guidelines requiring it to remain closed, says he will remain open, despite a court order to close and fines from the town - and he’s even willing to risk jail time. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/2UAw8gC

New top story from Time: Louisiana Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow, 41, Dies After Contracting COVID-19

https://ift.tt/3aTJqOA (BATON ROUGE, La.) — Luke Letlow, Louisiana’s incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, died Tuesday night from complications related to COVID-19 only days before he would have been sworn into office. He was 41. Letlow spokesman Andrew Bautsch confirmed the congressman-elect’s death at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport. “The family appreciates the numerous prayers and support over the past days but asks for privacy during this difficult and unexpected time,” Bautsch said in a statement. “A statement from the family along with funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time.” Louisiana’s eight-member congressional delegation called Letlow’s death devastating. “Luke had such a positive spirit, and a tremendously bright future ahead of him. He was looking forward to serving the people of Louisiana in Congress, and we were excited to welcome him to our delegation where he was ready to make an even greater impact on our state and our nation,” th...

New top story from Time: Megacities Are Not the Future. They Are Inhumane and Unsustainable

https://ift.tt/2YGe72M All cities have gone through the ebb and flow of social distancing and lockdowns, with regulations repealed as cases decline and hurriedly re-imposed when cases return. But few urban residents likely feel as dislocated as those living in Manila. The capital of the Philippines went through a three-month lockdown, starting in mid-March and ending in early June. Then, as residents started to return to work, a spike in cases in early August led the government to reimpose lockdown measures. Yet these measures were repealed merely two weeks later, as the economic pain of shutdown began to take hold—evidenced in a record 45.5% adult unemployment rate. Manila is just one example of how the economies of megacities—cities with large and growing populations, often exceeding ten million—in developing countries have struggled to protect their residents and keep their economic engines running. It is an indication of the flaws inherent in an economic model focused ...

My precise view

Search This Blog