San Francisco streets could soon be seeing a lot more red with up to 50 streets potentially getting the transit-only red carpet treatment in the near future.
According to an Examiner article, the Federal Highway Administration has approved Muni's plans to continue experimenting with transit-only lanes after the it submitted a list of thoroughfares that could benefit.
The report shows that while a majority of the proposed red lanes lie in the city's densest neighborhoods, they could extend to Ocean Beach and Fisherman's Wharf.
According to SFMTA, red lanes speed the flow of traffic by giving public buses and taxis the right-of-way to optimize transit times and prevent congestion.
Several studies have shown that bus transit times decrease when the red carpet lane is present.
The SFMTA conducted its own studies on three downtown streets: 3rd Street, between Townsend and Stevenson Streets, Geary Street, between Powell and Polk Streets, and O’Farrell Street, between Gough and Powell Streets.
SFMTA found that Muni service was less likely to be delayed due to traffic congestion, and on all three streets, Muni travel times maintained average consistencies, despite increases in the number of cars on the road. In some cases, Muni service sped up by as much as 10 percent.
Zendrive, a software company that captures driver behavior, found that out of more than 100,000 trips, 7,500 drivers and 1.1 million miles driven on Mission Street along the Muni 14 Mission Rapid project, there was a noticeable reduction in risky driving behaviors.
Specifically, red carpet lane corridors saw a 36% reduction in speeding, 30% reduction in fast acceleration, and a 21% reduction in hard braking.
The SFMTA study also found that there was a decrease in collisions along the red lanes on all three downtown streets, with overall collisions dropping 16 percent and injury collisions falling "24 percent at a time when they did not change significantly citywide."
Not everyone is happy with the red lanes, including homeowners and merchants who say they discourage drivers from coming into their neighborhoods to shop and dine. Some cite a drop in business after drivers faced new turn restrictions along carpeted lanes.
Some of the proposed locations for new lanes are already designated transit-only, but haven't been painted red. Many of the locations must go through further planning and receive approval from SFMTA's board of directors, the Examiner reports.
And SFMTA will still have to report back to the Federal Highway Administration to show how well the program is working, including the number of vehicles using the transit-only lanes, along with a tally of traffic violations and collisions.
