Imagine that one could travel from the south side of San Francisco through downtown and into North Beach on fast buses or trains unhindered by traffic.  Connections to the BART and Muni Metro subway systems would be quick and easy. Chinatown would be served by two stations, each conveniently located just below street grade. A central subway constructed underneath Union Square and Chinatown could benefit tens of thousands of San Franciscans every day.

Unfortunately, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (MTA's) plan falls far short of what could be. Instead of tackling the transportation problems of northeastern San Francisco in a comprehensive and farsighted manner, the MTA has unfortunately settled for a deep and enormously expensive short subway that would take people only as far as the south end of Chinatown.

The MTA's Plan contains five unacceptable flaws:

* By ending at Washington Street, the proposed subway would be of little use to anyone living north of that point. Today, the Muni's 30 and 45 electric bus lines serve riders traveling to and from Chinatown, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Polk Gulch, Fisherman's Wharf, Union Street, Cow Hollow, the Marina District and the Presidio of San Francisco.  All of these riders bound for points north of about Jackson Street would be obliged to continue using buses that would continue to bog down in heavy surface traffic, particularly along Stockton Street.

* By failing to serve all or even most riders of the 30 and 45 lines, the MTA's plan would make it impossible to reduce bus operations sufficiently to cover the extra cost of the subway operation. As a result the Central Subway would end up digging the Muni's fiscal hole even deeper than it already is.

*  Riders of the subway would experience trip times actually longer than the trip times of today's suface buses.  For more information on this subject see:  "Perceived Travel Times"

 

* By rerouting the T-Line to Chinatown, the plan would deny residents in the Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitation Valley the direct light-rail connection to the Market Street Subway they now enjoy.  Under the MTA's plan, those with Market Street destinations would have to travel past Market Street to a station at Union Square, and then walk a substantial distance back to Powell Street Station.

* By going deep (95 feet or nine stories below Market Street), the plan would preclude a station at Market, preclude a second Chinatown station and make access difficult for everyone. In fact, for most people it would make little sense to walk several blocks to a Washington Street subway station, descend five stories, ride less than half mile to Union Square and then ascend nine stories.  In addition transfers from the subway to no less than 25 of Muni's east-west bus lines would be longer and less convenient from the subway than from today's Stockton Street buses.

Chinatown needs and deserves a good fast connection to downtown San Francisco, as does the rest of northeastern San Francisco. Here are some alternative ways of achieving that objective:

* Muni's No. 30 and 45 electric buses, as well as T-line light-rail vehicles, could use the subway. Buses could be brought to grade through portals located north of Broadway. This would enable the rest of Chinatown and residents of the nine neighboring communities to benefit from the subway. If the bus lines were extended southward, Mission Bay and Potrero Hill could also benefit.

* The subway could be shallow instead of deep. Going shallow without the mezzanines would allow both a Market Street station and a second Chinatown Station. Moreover, passing a shallow subway over rather than under the Market Street subway lines would improve access for riders, allow for longer stations, accommodate electric buses and
cut costs.

* To cut costs, buses or light-rail vehicles could operate in the median of Fourth Street until they crossed Mission Street, at which point the transit vehicles could continue in subway under Market and Union Square to Chinatown.

*  Reconfiguring certain streets....and perhaps establishing a congestion pricing system for San Francisco....could vastly improve Muni's current surface bus operation.  These improvements could be implemented at far lower costs and at least 8 years sooner than the MTA's subway plan. 

 

None of these alternatives was adequately discussed in the environmental clearance documents or in public discussions.

 

Whatever is built will affect San Francisco for centuries. The stakes are too high to blunder ahead with the current Central Subway plan. Taxpayers have a right to expect government to make the most of this rare opportunity to bring high quality public transit to northeastern San Francisco.