Geary Bus Rapid Transit: Ever-Elusive, Now Also Mysterious
Photo by Brandon Doran
So, for the curious minds wondering WTF we’re talking about:
San Francisco County Transportation Authority planners say that the bus rapid transit project would transform the line that carries 50,000 riders a day, the most in the system, into something more like a train. With a dedicated bus lane in each direction, low-floor buses would arrive at more regular intervals to carry passengers between the quiet west side of the city and downtown. It’s scheduled to open in 2019.
There you have it: it’ll happen seven years from now. The Bay Citizen explains the resources that are being spent on rider outreach about the project:
The authority is paying a pretty penny for publicizing the project. A total of $270,000 is going to two big-name consulting firms – Barbary Coast Consulting, based in San Francisco, and Circlepoint in Oakland – to handle communications and outreach from 2008 through 2013, according to the transportation authority.
The planners told the Bay Citizen that they have bought ads, sent mailings, hung posters, and held meetings to “more than 25 community groups this summer about the bus rapid transit on Geary.”
They’re looking to do something similar on Van Ness. Editor’s note: PLEASE GOD MAKE IT SO!
FYI, the survey was the SFTRU’s doing. We got responses on the 38/38L from 7/27 to 8/17, as well as on one AM and PM run on the 38AX/BX each. We then presented the results at our forum we hosted in August.
Updated with a note. Thanks Henry!
I’m an Outer Richmond resident and big fan of this project and BRT as a transit solution, in general. I was turned onto BRT after riding on the rather successful line that goes through downtown Cleveland and mostly don’t want to wait seven years for it come to my neighborhood.