Proposal for Improving Muni Line 29-Sunset Service (updated August 13, 2007)

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1 Proposal for Improving Muni Line 29-Sunset Service (updated August 13, 2007) Background Northbound 29-Sunset must loop around starting at Lincoln Way and 20 th Avenue to avoid a No Left Turn (NLT) restriction leading into Golden Gate Park, which takes 4-5 minutes. MTA would like to make an exception to the NLT restriction and allow Muni to access Crossover Drive at Lincoln Way. Headway for 29-Sunset is 10 to 20 minutes (the former on weekdays from 4-6pm) which is 3 to 6 buses an hour. Current Proposal Restripe eastbound Lincoln Way approaching 19 th Avenue/Crossover Drive to remove the short 3 rd EB right turn lane and some parking on the southside of Lincoln Way and create a Muni Only left turn pocket (westbound Lincoln Way to remain as is) Modify signal at intersection to add detection of buses in the new LT lane and a transit specific signal head facing EB traffic Modify signal timing to stop WB Lincoln and allow a short (5 to 10 second) eastbound LT phase Relocate bus stop on eastside of 19 th Avenue south of Lincoln Way to a new bus stop on the eastside of Crossover Drive between Lincoln Way and MLK Drive to be used also by the 28 and 28L lines Add sidewalk for access to new stop, with lights and bus shelter along the new sidewalk MTA Contact: Mike Sallaberry, (415) , mike.sallaberry@sfmta.com Figure - Current 29-Sunset Muni Line Route in Project Area

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4 29 Line Bus Stop Test/ Field Meeting Minutes Crossover Drive/19 th Ave (Northbound) between Lincoln Way and MLK Drive May 24, 2007 Attendees: Danielle Parmenter (MTA Presidio Division), Matt Lee, Jim Lowe, Ron Mitchell, Mike Sallaberry, Peter Straus (MTA 1 South Van Ness Avenue), Michelle Reyes (Rec and Park) Background The goal of this test was to determine what impacts would result from a bus stop located on northbound (NB) Crossover Drive between Lincoln Way and Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) Drive that would have the 29 Sunset line stop in the lane, rather than in a bus bay. The bus bay design was proposed but put on hold due to serious concerns by the Recreation and Park Department. A general concern with the in-lane bus stop design was how it would impact NB traffic. Prior to the test, the following three questions were posed: 1) How long can the bus dwell on Crossover Drive before NB 19 th /Crossover gets a green and approaches the bus? This would simulate a leading left turn phase from Lincoln Way to 19 th /Crossover where the bus gets to the stop early in the Lincoln Way green phase and has some time to load/unload before 19 th Avenue gets a green. 2) What happens to NB 19 th Avenue traffic flow when it approaches and passes the bus? 3) Does NB traffic back up into the intersection with Lincoln Way? How does it clear out when 19 th Avenue eventually gets the yellow and red? How is Lincoln Way affected? Additionally, how do the existing 28 and 29 Line buses affect traffic on their current routes and stops? Overall, this test is a key part of a greater effort to design improvements to the 29 Line route that will allow Muni to turn directly from eastbound (EB) Lincoln Way to NB Crossover Drive, exempting Muni from the No Left Turn restriction on Lincoln Way at 19 th Avenue/Crossover Drive. Currently, the bus must make a loop using 20 th Avenue and Irving Street to access 19 th Avenue, a path that travels through a tight and often congested section of Irving Street and takes 3-7 minutes, an undesirable delay. See aerial photo of project area below in Figure 1. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency San Francisco Municipal Railway Department of Parking & Traffic One South Van Ness Avenue, Seventh Fl. San Francisco, CA Tel: Fax:

5 Logistics of Test A full size 40 foot bus was secured for the test which took place on a Thursday starting around 5pm during the evening rush hour. The plan was to have the bus loop through the test area, using MLK Drive, to Lincoln Way or Irving Street, then north on 19 th Ave to Crossover Drive where it would dwell at the proposed stop for various lengths of time, simulating a stop that would block the #3 lane (the curb lane). A video camera was set up on the median of Crossover Drive facing south, with northbound Crossover Drive/19 th Avenue in the field of vision up from north of Lincoln Way to Kirkham Street. While the camera rolled uninterrupted for the 36+ minutes, details of the bus and street activity and the time it occurred were recorded. This included existing bus activity that involved the th Avenue and 29 Sunset lines. The details are shown in Table 1 below. The majority of the attendees stood in the area and observed traffic and/or took photos during this test. Observations/Results Run #1 The bus turned onto 19 th Avenue from Irving Street. When it arrived at the proposed stop location, it stopped too far from MLK Drive and did not stop for very long. It looped around quickly for another try. Prior to the test bus showing up though, we were able to observe and record a regular 28 Line bus stop at the Lincoln Way stop. Due to the size of the bus and the geometrics of the bus stop and the street, traffic in the #3/curb lane on northbound 19 th Avenue was blocked and had to wait for the bus to finish loading/unloading before continuing on. This same dynamic occurred three times while the test bus looped around for the second run. Run #2 The bus turned onto 19 th Avenue from Irving Street and dwelled at the proposed stop for two cycles. As each cycle is 100 seconds, the total dwell time was about 3 minutes, much longer than the dwell time of a typical stop (~30-45 seconds) or of a typical stop involving a wheelchair user (1-3 minutes). On this run it was observed that northbound traffic was able to clear Lincoln Way prior to Lincoln Way getting a green. This was helped by the cascade signal timing at the intersection that gives northbound traffic a red prior to southbound traffic getting a red, giving NB traffic 6 seconds to clear. (See Signal Timing Card in Figure 2 below.) After the bus left for another loop, a 29 Line bus stopped at the stop in a way that did not block traffic, but traffic was still blocked by a car waiting to turn right onto Lincoln Way, a movement that would not be blocked if the stop was moved north to Crossover Drive north of Lincoln Way. Run #3 On this third and last run, the test bus turned onto Crossover Drive from Lincoln Way. As this occurred while Lincoln Way had a green and 19 th Avenue/Crossover Drive had a red, this would somewhat simulate a leading left turn movement if the 29 were to be allowed to turn left onto Crossover Drive from EB Lincoln Way. The bus would have approximately 20 to 25 seconds to dwell (load/unload) on Crossover Drive before northbound traffic would approach it.

6 For this run, the bus was parked at the proposed stop for over 4 cycles (400 seconds) to simulate a very bad case (and unlikely) scenario where the bus would block the curb lane for ~7 minutes. While NB traffic did occasionally back up into the intersection with Lincoln Way, it always cleared the intersection before Lincoln Way saw a green. Throughout the test, there was no impact on Lincoln Way traffic. Another interesting observation was of the manners/reactions of motorists traveling through the test area with the bus blocking a lane. Motorists regularly let each other in and acted very calm and courteously. There was surprisingly very little/no honking throughout the test. One theory is that motorists on 19 th Avenue experience these sorts of scenarios on a regular basis, are not surprised, and deal with them accordingly. At the end of the test and filming, it was the consensus of the group that the proposed stop would not cause significant impacts or impacts different than what already exist on 19 th Avenue and, further along Highway 1, Park Presidio Boulevard. Figure 1. Aerial Photo of Test Area

7 Figure 2. Signal Timing Card for Lincoln Way and 19 th Avenue/Crossover Drive

8 Table 1. Log of Film taken of 19 th Avenue/Crossover Drive Traffic during Bus Test on Thursday May 24 from ~5 to 5:30pm Time on Tape (min:seconds) Event Video started. Camera located in median of Crossover Dr between Lincoln and MLK 0:00 Drive, and is facing south towards northbound 19th Ave/Crossover Dr traffic. Regular 28 bus stops at Lincoln Way stop (SE corner of Lincoln/19th), traffic in curb lane 2:50 blocked by bus Test bus rolls up a little short of proposed stop location and leaves soon after, not good 4:24 representative footage, try again 12:30 28 stops at Irving stop, blocks curb lane 14:00 28 stops at Lincoln stop, blocks traffic 14:30 29 follows 28 and stops at Lincoln stop Test bus rolls up to proposed stop location, stops for 2 cycles to represent a very long 15:45 dwell (~200 seconds or over 3 minutes), 29 is behind test bus NB traffic shown clearing intersection of Lincoln Way, current signal timing cascade between Lincoln and MLK gives NB traffic chance to clear intersection before Lincoln gets 18:00 a green 18:45 Test bus leaves to loop around again 29 at Lincoln stop, bus does not block traffic but right turning vehicle behind it waiting for 24:20 bus to move on does block traffic [NEED TO CONFIRM] Test bus turns right from Lincoln Way pretty early in Lincoln green phase, a rough estimation of a bus having a leading left turn from EB Lincoln to NB Crossover. There's some time for the bus to load/unload (dwell) before northbound 19th Ave gets a green, BUS STAYS AT PROPOSED STOP FOR MORE THAN 4 CYCLES TO SHOW REALLY 28:30 BAD CASE SCENARIO 29:50 More footage of NB 19th Ave traffic clearing Lincoln 31:25 Bus still at proposed stop, more footage of NB 19th Ave traffic clearing Lincoln Bus still at proposed stop, more footage of NB 19th Ave traffic clearing Lincoln, traffic 33:05 pretty solid up 19th Ave Bus still at proposed stop, more footage of NB 19th Ave traffic clearing Lincoln, traffic pretty solid up 19th Ave, note that there is no honking, that motorists act very calm, let people go ahead of them. Motorists seem to accept and work around conditions along 34:45 19th Ave. 36:30 End of footage, test bus was at stop for last round for ~8 minutes

9 29 Line on Irving Street 29 Line Coach Bypassing Left Turn Queue by using Through/RT Lane 29 Line Coach Illegally Turning Left from Through/Right Turn Lane

10 Eastside of Crossover Drive between Lincoln Way and MLK Drive Looking North Looking South