October 24, 2011

As Phil Ting and the Reset San Francisco crew have been conducting Muni Town Halls across the city working to speed up the system, the problems with the 28L have come up time and again.

According to the City’s quarterly performance report card, the worst performing Muni bus is the 28L-19th Avenue, with only 42.3 percent on-time performance.

Ouch.

That’s the bad news for 28L riders.

The good news – SFMTA city officials have finally recognized the unreliable performance of the 28 as documented by Muni riders, ResetSanFrancisco.org readers and the agency’s own TEP report. Many of the challenges include major traffic congestion throughout the entire route and crush capacity – Muni’s euphemism for buses too crowded to accept more passengers. The 28 line services many schools, including San Francisco State University, which adds to the line’s congestion.

Muni’s Proposals to Improve Performance

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has announced stop realignment and numerous other changes. John Haley, director of transit operations said these short-term remedies can take effect within 30 to 60 days and he hopes they will make the 28L more of an express bus. The proposed changes included extending the route from Geary Boulevard and Park Presidio to the Marina and Fort Mason.

Haley said the changes were decided upon after speaking with Muni drivers on the route along with a Muni rider who wrote to officials with suggestions to improve the route. That’s exactly the kind of user-generated government that Reset is trying to promote.

Imagine a Muni that actually works. It can happen – if we take charge and demand the changes needed to make Muni faster and more reliable. Small changes like the ones now being proposed for the 28L can help make each line faster – which not only makes Muni a better system, it saves millions of dollars.

We give Muni a lot of grief for slow and unreliable service – but their response on the 28L deserves some applause. They are starting to work on the issue by talking to people who know the problems best, the riders and operators.