By Thomas K. Pendergast

In hopes of speeding up bus traffic from 28-19th Avenue in Muni, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has installed “temporary” high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes through the Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District, beginning at Crossover Drive and along Park Presidio Bypass, then north to Park Presidio Boulevard.

Since these are also national highways, so-called “diamond” or HOV lanes can be installed which will allow private vehicles with two or more occupants to use them, as well as private and public transport.

The SFMTA says that as post-pandemic traffic congestion returns, HOV lanes will allow municipal and regional transit vehicles to move faster to provide more frequent service. The agency says if only a fraction of people using public transport before the pandemic start driving alone, traffic congestion will “cripple the city’s economic recovery”.

Additionally, they say, longer travel times on buses increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19 on slower, more crowded buses.

“We know congestion remains below pre-pandemic levels as many people continue to work from home,” said SFMTA spokesman Stephen Chun. “We also know that Muni ridership continues to remain well below pre-pandemic levels. However, if workers returning to the office choose to drive rather than take Muni, we would indeed have an overwhelming amount of traffic congestion and therefore slower and more congested buses, which in turn would impact the local economy.

“And even when the strict pandemic measures emphasizing isolation were lifted and there was a very rapid increase in traffic, the return to transit was slower,” Chun explained. “This decrease has sparked nationwide concern for the public transport sector and brings us back to how fewer passengers on Muni could very well mean more cars and congestion on the roadway.”

HOV lanes are in effect from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, heading north from where Crossover Drive merges with Park Presidio Bypass, then onto Park Presidio Boulevard and to Lake Street, with a HOV lane in each direction using the existing sidewalk. ways.

These lanes “will be automatically removed within 120 days of the City’s emergency order being lifted, unless there is a public process to make the temporary emergency HOV lanes permanent,” the statement said. ‘agency.

John Zwolinski describes himself as a 58-year-old schoolteacher and “happy motorist” who drives Park Presidio Boulevard several times a week, in part because he lives in the Outer Sunset and his mother-in-law lives in the Marina.

“I have come to the position that optimizing and prioritizing every street of our transportation infrastructure for private motor vehicle use excludes other legitimate users of said infrastructure and encourages the use of vehicles at engine, inevitably leading to more traffic congestion,” Zwolinski said. “So if SFMTA wants to test bus/HOV lanes on Park Presidio to try and increase the number and speed of 28…if it works, more people who can be persuaded to leave the car at home and to take the bus instead, so there are fewer cars on the road. I’m inclined to see how that works.

But some motorists are more skeptical than happy; wonder if it will produce the promised results.

“I’m a little torn with the HOV lanes,” said Michael Bolling. “They have flaws and I think those flaws are amplified when used in an urban setting.

“You see it everywhere; they exist on the highways. Traffic tends to get saved just before it starts because you funnel four lanes of traffic into three and then when they end you also see more traffic because that really slow traffic gets tighter and it takes a while before he only comes back at speed,” Bolling said. “So in a way they make traffic worse unless they’re really long.

“Also, there’s always the fear that you’re going at normal speed and someone creeps into your lane and you won’t be able to stop in time, especially when the HOV lane is the right lane where cars will merge in order to rotate,” he explained.

“I personally don’t think they belong in a city because you usually don’t have to travel as far to get as much benefit from them or there aren’t many traffic lanes, unlike a freeway so it will end up causing a lot more congestion as people usually don’t change their habits much It really seems like the main goal of the SFMTA is to make traffic worse for drivers in the hope that some will give up and will find other methods.But the vast majority of people don’t, so their plans end up making the situation worse for all drivers.

John Higgins lives in the Outer Sunset with his wife, and although they drive occasionally, they most often ride the 28 line bus when traveling between Judah Street and Geary Boulevard.

“We are thrilled that bus travel on the 28 is being expedited in this area,” Higgins said. “Maybe even the southbound 29 will improve if the HOV is extended from South Crossover to Lincoln.

“The change means we might move slower the times we’re driving alone on the road, but it’s worth it for faster Muni service and…it might even encourage one less single-driver car to get out of the way.” road. It’s so boring to sit in traffic on 28 or 29; it should be faster. I’m glad the SFMTA is testing the HOV system.

But he has a caveat.

“San Francisco loves implementing new projects like this, but doesn’t follow enforcement. If there is no HOV rules enforcement, it will fail like so many other great ideas.

Stefan Adler walks through the park along Crossover about five times a week. He said he was ready to see how the test program works before making a final judgment. His wife is a real estate agent and he takes care of the property management and maintenance of the facilities.

“I have to go check out the properties and work on it and stuff like that,” Adler said. “We have two kids and I run errands in Richmond and the kids play sports in Richmond. So, we’re just a fairly active and mobile San Francisco family.

“I can usually avoid the morning commute times, but the afternoon commute times are a fairly regular commute time for me.

“The payoff for all of us is that if I’m a solo driver, it takes some cars off the road by encouraging people to carpool. If you save enough time and it’s a regular commute five days a week,” he said. “I can’t do it, but a lot of other people, if they work 9am to 5pm, will figure out how to set up carpooling. But they have to buy enough time for this headache.

“And so I can see situations where…we’ve all lost a lane and we haven’t taken enough cars off the road that there’s a gain in time for everybody. Have HOV lanes saved time without causing big problems for people who can’t use it? »