SF Chron: "S.F. Chinatown subway plan gets agency's nod" BULLSH*T!

[El Pinko]

This just annoys me beyond belief. I no longer live in SF, but lived in the Richmond for several years, and just about ANYONE in SF knows that the one area of the city that is most in need of a muni metro line is the Richmond. The 38 Geary bus is the most heavily-used line in the city, Geary is constantly jammed with traffic which the buses just aggravate. Chinatown is practically in walking distance from subway stations already! I know this is payback for the freeway ramp they lost, but it just does not make sense to build a subway line to Chinatown and leave the Geary corridor underserved. A Geary corridor subway would probably be one of the most heavily used in the city and bring some relief in traffic on the surface.

To those people still living in the city, I hope you'll do what you can to agitate for subway service where it's needed and makes sense!



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/19/BAE0V5482.DTL&tsp=1

S.F. Chinatown subway plan gets agency's nod
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A plan to build a subway to San Francisco's Chinatown received a nod of approval Tuesday from the governing board that oversees the city's transportation agency, but officials warn the $1.3 billion project still faces a series of hurdles.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a route change for the proposed 1.7-mile Central Subway, which would act as an extension to the newly constructed T-Third line.
Under the route change, the subway line would go underground after the Fourth and Brannan streets station. Previously, the plan called for the train to go below ground a few blocks south at Fourth and King streets, but MTA officials said residents in the South of Market neighborhood lobbied for the change.
The subway will run below ground all the way to its destination in Chinatown, an area with comparatively few transit options.

[Auggie]

1. Excellent point

The heaviest traffic on the 30 Stockton through Chinatown is between Columbus Avenue and Union Square -- walking distance for most healthy people. I used to do it all the time. To build all the way to CalTrain is wasting millions of dollars. Stockton Street just needs more buses and tougher traffic enforcement.

The City does indeed need a west-east subway to complement the N-Judah. Even better if it were extended all the way to the ocean.

Chinatown has the better lobby, it appears.

[mitchtv]

2. Metro should go out Geary (plenty of room to dig)

and then out along the great highway to half moon bay

[El Pinko]

3. Last I heard, the EVENTUAL plan was to have the trains underground to Fillmore...

...after which it would be a surface streetcar line to the outer Richmond.

It's better than nothing, but I'm sure the businesses along Geary in the Richmond would prefer that the whole thing be underground.

Since Muni is strictly within SF city limits, Half Moon Bay is out of the question, even if there was the money, but it would be cool if the new line ran down Great Highway with a stop at SFSU, then hooked up with the M at Stonestown - it would make Muni's rail system work as a loop for the first time.