Geary Bus Rapid Transit

The Geary Bus Rapid Transit project is designed to deliver bus rapid transit features to the San Francisco Municipal Railway's 38 Geary line, the busiest bus line in the city with about 54,000 daily riders.[1] The scheme plans to add red transit-only lanes to several sections of Geary Boulevard,[2] as well as consolidate some stops in a center-lane running configuration.

Geary Bus Rapid Transit

Headquarters	One South Van Ness Avenue, Seventh Floor
Locale	San Francisco, California, United States
Service type	Bus rapid transit
Routes	38 Geary, 38R Geary Rapid, 38AX Geary A Express, 38BX Geary B Express
Operator	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Website	www.sfmta.com/projects/geary-rapid-project www.sfmta.com/projects/geary-boulevard-improvement-project
System map Mission Street Transbay Transit Center Market Street Fremont Street Mission Street Battery 2nd Street New Montgomery Market Street Kearny Stockton Powell Leavenworth Van Ness BRT (2021) Van Ness O'Farrell Street Laguna Fillmore Divisadero Masonic side running center running Arguello 6th Ave Park Presidio 17th Ave 25th Ave center running side running 30th Ave 33rd Ave dedicated lanes street running 36th Ave 39th Ave 40th Ave 42nd 44th 45th 48th Alta Mar Geary Boulevard Point Lobos

The project is split into phases. The first, dubbed Geary Rapid, encompasses the route from Market Street (where priority travel lanes were present previously) to Stanyan Street.[3] The second phase, the Geary Boulevard Improvements Project, will see improvements to the rest of the line.

Construction for the project began on October 1, 2018 with full implementation of the two phases expected by 2022.[4][5]

Project details

A newly-added red lane near Masonic Avenue in October 2018

Geary BRT provides transit service improvements primarily through the use of bus lanes. The project plans for red-painted bus priority lanes on most of the route of the 38-Geary along Geary Boulevard. These lanes would run along the side of the street adjacent to the curb or parking spaces on the section of the corridor east of Stanyan Street, which includes neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin and Japantown. The bus lanes would run in the center of the street west of Stanyan to around 27th Avenue in the Richmond District and Laurel Heights. The bus lanes then switch to side running from 27th Avenue to 34th Avenue.

The project will also implement transit improvements such as bulb-outs for bus stops and traffic signal updates. The combination of bus lanes and other improvements is expected to reduce travel times on the 38-Geary by 10-20% when traveling the entire route from 48th Avenue to the Transbay Transit Center.[6] This translates to roughly 10 minutes in travel time reduction on a trip that takes around one hour. The travel time reduction is expected to be 15-30% between Van Ness Avenue and 25th Avenue.[6]

In addition to transit service upgrades, the project is intended to improve pedestrian safety on the corridor. For example, the project includes several upgraded pedestrian crossings adjacent to Japantown.[7] Additionally, the project will narrow parts of Geary Boulevard to two lanes of automobile traffic down from three lanes.[1]

History

Previous use as a streetcar corridor

In the early 1900s, the Geary Boulevard corridor was served by streetcar routes such as the A Geary-10th Avenue, B Geary, and C Geary-California lines. These streetcar lines were all eliminated by 1956 as buses replaced streetcars in San Francisco.[8] Subsequently, replacement rail service on Geary was proposed multiple times, such as in the original plans for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

Geary corridor planning

In 1989, the city of San Francisco approved Proposition B, a ballot measure that approved a half-cent sales tax for transportation. The expenditure plan that was included in the proposition prioritized the planning and implementation of transit expansion along four transit corridors including Geary Boulevard.[9] Subsequently, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) conducted a study, titled the Four Corridor Plan, to determine the details of the transportation improvements along the corridors included in the Proposition B plan.[10] The study called for a subway-surface rail line along Geary.

Refocused to bus rapid transit

Construction work in 2020

With the Proposition B tax expiring in 2010, the voters of San Francisco approved Proposition K in 2003 that extended the tax and established a new expenditure plan. The new plan funded the Geary Bus Rapid Transit project and mandated the implementation of a bus rapid transit network, with the first two lines consisting of Geary BRT and Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit. Proposition K mandates that Geary BRT be built to "rail-ready standards" to accommodate a planned future conversion to light rail.[11]

Subsequently, in 2007 the SFCTA published a feasibility report for the project.[12] Starting in 2008, the SFCTA started an environmental impact review process. In 2017, the SFCTA approved the final environmental impact report for the project after thirteen years of studying the feasibility and impacts for the proposed bus infrastructure.[2] With that milestone, the project was handed off to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for design and implementation. The federal Department of Transportation approved the project Environmental Impact Statement on June 1, 2018.[13] The final design of the first phase, after several revisions based on community input, was approved by the SFMTA board in August 2018 and is expected to begin implementation in late 2018.[1][14]

See also

• Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit

References

1. Sisto, Carrie (August 2, 2018). "Tonight: SFMTA to preview final plans for first phase of 38-Geary makeover". Hoodline. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
2. Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (5 January 2017). "Transit officials approve key milestone for Geary bus project". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
3. "SFMTA Board Approves Plans For Geary Bus Rapid Transit Project". Hoodline. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
4. "Transit and Safety Improvements Coming to Geary". San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
5. Toren, Michael (October 5, 2018). "Geary Rapid Project gets underway". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
6. San Francisco County Transportation Authority (June 2018). Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (PDF) (Report). Retrieved July 5, 2018.
7. Rudick, Roger (April 10, 2018). "Update on 38 Geary Bus". Streetsblog SF. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
8. "What Might Have Been: Geary". September 22, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
9. "San Francisco Voter Information Pamphlet" (PDF). November 7, 1989. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
10. San Francisco County Transportation Authority (June 1995). "Four Corridor Plan". Retrieved May 8, 2018.
11. "San Francisco Voter Information Pamphlet" (PDF). November 4, 2003. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
12. San Francisco County Transportation Authority (June 2007). "Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Study, Feasibility Study Final Report" (PDF). Retrieved May 8, 2018.
13. Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (June 21, 2018). "Geary Bus Rapid Transit gets environmental 'green light to advance' from Feds". San Francisco Examiner.
14. Swan, Rachel (August 22, 2018). "Muni approves bus lanes on Geary as critics see red over private shuttle use". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 22, 2018.

External links

• SFMTA Geary Bus Rapid Transit
• SFCTA Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit