SFMTA has finally realized that trying to push 43 short Muni Metro trains an hour through the subway is…and always has been…absurdly unworkable. So now it’s decided to cut back to a more reasonable 20 to 25 trains an hour. Fully automated coupling of the K’s to the M’s at St. Francis Circle and of the J’s to the N’s at the Duboce Portal would achieve this objective by allowing for fewer but longer J/N K/M, N and shuttle trains to operate in the subway.

However for unaccountable reasons never explained, the SFMTA hierarchy continues to regard automated coupling as an unacceptably terrifying complication. As things stand, to avoid the need for coupling trains together, the MTA is planning to require all its downtown-bound M-Line riders to henceforth to get off and transfer to the K Line at West Portal and all its downtown-bound J-Line riders to henceforth get off and transfer to a Market Street subway train at Church and Market. In other words, to avoid the coupling, MTA is prepared to permanently deny at least a third of its Muni Metro riders direct downtown service.