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Monday, October 5, 2009

Traffic and Muni Alert: PGA Presidents Cup at Harding Park

It's back... the PGA tour is back at the Harding Park golf course that is located on Lake Merced and next door to SF State University. What does this mean to you if you are within the region? Let's take a look:

The "region" I am describing is as followed and covers the likely areas where problems and issues may arise:
  • North border: Sloat Blvd.
  • South border: John Muir Drive (southern rim of Lake Merced and straddles between SF and DC border).
  • East border: 19th Avenue
  • West border: Great Highway and Skyline Blvd.
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**MAJOR PROBLEMS: MUNI RE-ROUTES AND SKIPPED STOPS FOR THE 18-46TH AVENUE AND 88-BART SHUTTLE**


I called 311 to find out about the re-routes for the 18-46th Avenue and BART shuttle, and the news is not very good.

MUNI RE-ROUTES/CHANGES EFFECTIVE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 5TH to SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11TH


The 18-46th Avenue bus line is going to hell:

  • Going towards Stonestown (SF State area): At 47th and Sloat, re-route turns right on Sloat, left on Great Highway, right on Skyline, and continues normal route. Route will skip: SF Zoo, Skyline & Sloat, Herbst road (Disabled center, SF Zoo staff entrance), Harding park entrance/sewage plant entrance.
  • It's "normal" route (map points "A" to "B") would turn left on Sloat, right on Skyline blvd., and turn into Herbst Road before continuing on Skyline.
  • Going towards Legion of Honor: At Winston & Lake Merced, re-route turns right onto Lake Merced (northbound), left before road changes to Sunset Blvd., continues down Lake Merced Blvd, turns right onto Skyline, and bus continues normal route.
  • It's "normal" route between map points "A" and "B" would turn left at Lake Merced/Winston, go southbound on Lake Merced, turn right on John Muir Drive, turn right on Skyline, and continue on it's route to map point "C" and turn right on 46th Avenue.

When you take a look at the maps, it shows a poor planning from the SFMTA/Muni. Look at the huge gap of service on the lower map, it literally removes all stops from Lake Merced/Winston, John Muir Drive, and Skyline (including the Center for the Disabled on Herbst).

Muni 18-46th Avenue Problems (Lake Merced & Font) due to PGA Presidents Cup

I have officially lodged a complaint via 311's phone line about the 18's route changes:
  1. You cannot disenfranchise service to these remote areas on the southern rim of Lake Merced (not boulevard, it's the lake) by not having the re-routes try its best to cover the areas where the roads are closed.
  2. The re-route removes all bus service to the Center for the Disabled; who will supplement service for this problem?
  3. The route going towards the Legion of Honor is the worst because it skips all the stops on Lake Merced Blvd. south of Winston, and the homes on John Muir drive near Skyline. Every time I ride the 18, I see SFSU students who live on John Muir hop on the bus and pay the $2 fare for a short 5 minute ride, versus walking 30 minutes on the very long walk to/from campus.
  4. How about the old and disabled people who depend on that bus line to these far away regions? Do you know how far you have to walk?
  5. Why is there NO INFORMATION ON THE SFMTA WEBSITE?
  6. DID YOU TAKE AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEND NOTICES TO AFFECTED RESIDENTS AND THE SF STATE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY?
  7. HOW CAN MUNI DO THIS TO THE PUBLIC??????
UPDATE: SFMTA/Muni finally posted the re-route information (but hidden from the SFMTA website; I found it on 511)... but I was FASTER TO POST THIS ON MY BLOG!!!

For the 88-BART shuttle:
  • Inbound towards Balboa Park Station will operate normally.
  • Outbound will be re-routed due to closure of westbound John Muir Drive. At southbound Lake Merced Blvd. and Font (corrected), bus will continue on Lake Merced, cross the Daly City border, turn right on John Daly Blvd., turn right on Skyline Blvd., cross San Francisco border, and turn right onto John Muir Drive eastbound.

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In this situation, there will be road closures around the golf course. This information is posted on the SFMTA's website, under the ISCOTT minutes (see here), be aware that this information is NOT yet posted on the "alerts" page of both SFMTA and 511.

Here's the road closures:
  • John Muir Drive between Lake Merced blvd. and Skyline (westbound only).
  • Herbst street (home to the Center for the Handicapped, SF Zoo staff entrance, and the National Guard).
  • Skyline between Lake Merced Blvd. (the road that goes around the north west portion of the lake) and Great Highway.
While there is no official posting about this, expect delays anywhere around the region, even if the roads are open to traffic:
  • Lake Merced blvd. between Sloat and Brotherhood will be bad, especially with the extra spectator entrance they've installed near Font.
  • You can still take Skyline, but you are forced to use Great Highway to go around the closure between Great Highway and Lake Merced.
  • I won't bet on this, but Sunset Blvd. may become a nightmare going Southbound.
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SF State University students, staff, and faculty... what should you do?
  1. If you are going to park in the garage, bring your campus ID. Campus cops will kick-out any golf spectator who uses the garage that is exclusively for university affiliates.
  2. PARKING IS BANNED (see photo below) on Lake Merced Blvd. between Winston and Font. This will be a heavy impact on the campus garage due to the large amount of street parking in that area.
  3. If you are taking public transit, expect delays on the 29-Sunset and 18-46th Avenue.
  4. Arrive to campus EARLY. Get yourself a nice breakfast on-campus.
  5. If you live on John Muir drive and take the bus the campus, you may want to consider carpooling with a neighbor. Muni coverage will suck. I suggest complaining to your city supervisor and Muni officials NOW.
No Parking on Lake Merced Blvd. (Thanks Golf Tournament Idiots)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! for the best coverage on this. Really appreciated! Ha! You do a much better job than who's supposed to be doing it. Terry

Anonymous said...

Thank you for finding the street closure info since it isn't anywhere logical on the SFGov site (MTA, DPW, calendar). 311 could not tell me what they were or where they were listed. Not on Chu or Elsbernds sites either. It is sad that we have to resort to a private effort to get public information. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort that our elected and highly paid officials can't or won't.
From my experience last time - Sunset will be horrible. The right lanes heading south were used for parking leaving only two very crowded lanes. Right turns (to go west) from Sunset southbound were forbidden on some streets (Pacheco, Rivera, etc) which made picking up school kids a nightmare.
Everyone tried to use 19th Avenue which is a disaster on a normal day. My neighbor said at one point it took 4 signal changes to get from Ocean to Stonestown/Winston.
Regarding those big electric signs; I have driven by them a dozen times over the last two weeks and they were only working/flashing once. Not very good public outreach.
All of this after three days of traffic/parking hell of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass - although it was so much better than Outsidelands.

Byron said...

Thanks for the info and links to ISCOTT on SFMTA. The sfgov and sfmta websites are conspicuously silent on this subject. keep up the good work.

Akit said...

Maybe I should be a city supervisor. If I can dig through information as an average citizen and they can't or don't want to... hmmm, sounds like a new career!

But would people vote for me if they notice me cursing in the street on occasion and read this crazy blog?

Anonymous said...

VOTE FOR AKIT FOR SF SUPERVISOR - YES!!! Terry