Roadways and Traffic
Tweaking Vision Zero
On December 19, 2023 the SF Chronicle, in an article by Nora Mishanec, shined the spotlight on the failings of SF’s City Government’s much ballyhooed Vision Zero program.
The program was instituted in 2013 with the objective of reducing the traffic fatalities in San Francisco to zero “within a decade”. Well, here we are 10 years later, and the traffic fatality rate remains pretty much as it did before the program was initiated.
Large Transit Agencies Clamor for New Funding while Ignoring Cost-Cutting Opportunities
Dick Spotswood of the Independent Journal hits it on the head. Here are excerpts from his excellent article on the sad state of current Bay Area transit affairs.
“Raising Bay Area bridge tolls can’t be about preserving transit staff members”
By DICK SPOTSWOOD
PUBLISHED: March 7, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. | UPDATED: March 7, 2023 at 10:36 a.m.
“The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is in the early “talking stage” of creating a 2024 regional ballot measure to raise auto and truck tolls on Bay Area bridges. If this plan moves forward, it will be the fourth measure to raise the cost of transbay commuting. The last one, Regional Measure 3, passed in 2018. A collective majority vote in the nine Bay Area counties is needed for passage.
“The supposed purpose of a potential fourth measure is to aid Bay Area transit agencies who’ve seen declines in patronage and fare-box revenue, in part due to post-pandemic changes on how and where white-collar men and women work.
“Any possible regional measure needs to be followed with an eagle eye. In the worst case, it would create a treasure box of toll revenue ultimately spent in ways only loosely related to their supposed purpose. The next funding package could even include a wildly expensive bike lane of dubious utility on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. [Who in his or her right mind would commute 20 to 35 miles a day via a cold, noisy and windy bridge over 20 stories high?]
Caltrain Needs to Pull it All Together
In BATWG’s March 2023 newsletter we noted that given its major capital and new equipment programs in process, its staggering ridership losses, and its large and growing operating deficit, the hardest part of Caltrain’s development program lies ahead. For these reasons it appears that the following actions are needed:
- get entirely out of the diesel operating business as soon as its new all-electric trains are up and running,
- take full advantage of other opportunities to cut costs, including cutting service and eliminating or reducing employee categories as necessary,
- work with other agencies to accommodate those now using Caltrain south of the Diridon Station,
- benefit from the significant operating advantages of level boarding as soon as possible and
- interact intensively and effectively with the TJPA right up to the time Caltrain is up and running in the Salesforce Transit Center, as well as with other involved agencies such as the San Jose County VTA and its Diridon Station program.
Subsequently, Caltrain’s Board held a budget workshop on April 6th. Staff and consultants laid out their preliminary budget planning inputs for FY2024 and FY2025 as well as operating and capital cost, ridership and revenue premises for the next ten years. Among their proposals and findings:
Common Sense Gone Missing
As was graphically pointed out in presentations by MTC, BART, the MTA and Caltrain at a meeting of the SFCTA on February 28, 2023, Bay Area transit systems are having to adapt to greatly reduced post-COVID ridership, escalating operating and development costs and uncertainties over whether or not the generous State and federal subventions of the past will continue. Unfortunately, these problems are occurring at a time when public confidence in the ability of the large transit agencies to operate efficiently and improve their services in an effective manner has declined. So what happened? What went wrong? How can trust in local and regional agencies be re-established?
It appears that a reduction in the quality of daily transit service and the mismanagement of certain large infrastructure projects are at least partly responsible for the problem:
The Folly of Adding Lanes
“Why Adding Highway Lanes in the Bay Area NEVER Reduces Congestion”
On November 17, 2022 MTC made a video presentation of highways and their future relevance in the Bay Area. https://mtcdrive.app.box.com/s/s1hvkzwn94sc7l0p7h0yspmecugopger
During the presentation MTC planner Alex Eisenhart, using many interesting photos and video clips, carefully explained the problem in an unusually clear and forthright manner. His main point was that adding lanes to roadways does not reduce congestion. The presentation is well worth a look and we recommend it.
Caltrans has a long and storied history of adding lanes to solve traffic problems. In a dynamic and densely built-up area such as the Bay Area, this has never worked for more than a short period of time, but which did and still does do is keep thousands of highway planners and engineers happily engaged in carrying out their “mission”. However, it wasn’t long before the folly of Caltrans’ approach began to be recognized.
Bay Area Transportation Working Group 