Geary Boulevard transit lanes move forward, despite merchant outcry

San Francisco transit officials will move forward with a plan to install side-running transit lanes as scheduled on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond District despite an outcry from merchants to delay portions of the project by two years.

Directors on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board Tuesday approved the $48 million side-running design west of Stanyan Street to 34th Avenue as part of the Geary Improvement Project to improve the reliability of the 38 bus routes. Directors were also given a choice to delay “quick-build” features of the project as requested by merchants and District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan but chose to approve the project with no delays.

Chan wrote a letter to Mayor London Breed asking her to support the merchants, but mayor in return wrote a letter to the SFMTA board in full support of the project.

To accommodate the side-running design, the SFMTA said they will change the angled parking on Geary to parallel resulting in losing 31 parking spaces.

Liz Brisson, the SFMTA project manager for the Geary project, said staff were able to find replacement parking spaces on cross streets between 15th and 29th avenues by changing parking spaces to angled spaces and moving two bike share stations.

Still, merchants asked the SFMTA board to delay the quick-build phase of the project by two years when the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is expected to replace the sewer and water main in the project area. In 2026, the SFMTA plan to do heavier work on the project, including repaving, installing bus and pedestrian bulbs as well as installing traffic signal priority.

Merchants said they are still recovering and struggling financially from the Covid-19 pandemic and that now was not the time to implement the quick-build portion of the project.

David Heller, the president of the Geary Merchants Association, said businesses have closed on Geary during the pandemic, adding:

“We’re not against improving Muni. We are not against improving transportation but be considerate of people that are really hurting. We have not recovered.”

Merchants held a“funeral”Monday for businesses that have shuttered on the Geary corridor since the pandemic and expressed concerns about the project.

Director Steve Heminger said that based on the staff presentation and report, merchants advocated saving about 80 percent of the parking spaces:

“To me, that’s a pretty good day at the office.”

Heminger said that the project complies with the city’s transit-first policy, adding that there could be room for accommodation or compromise but that staff had done their due diligence. Earlier estimates of the side-running design showed a loss of 140 spaces.

While the board approved the project, the directors did want to ensure that the SFMTA did provide assistance for merchants during the entire construction of the project. Brisson said they are working on creating a merchant working group with businesses to create a marketing campaign for Geary businesses impacted by the project.

Director Manny Yekutiel asked staff to find more funding to help with the marketing campaign, which is currently budgeted at $25,000, according to the SFMTA report.

Yekutiel said:

“I would just like to figure out how much we can add to that to help the businesses because it’s such a long corridor. Perhaps maybe an extra $50,000 or $75,000 to help with the marketing of the corridor.”

Additionally, the SFMTA will partner with the SFPUC on a program to support businesses.

Transit advocates who attended the meeting encouraged the board to not delay the project any further.

Dylan Fabris, the community and policy manager for the San Francisco Transit Riders, said:

“The SFMTA should not have to delay and reiterate good projects like this one just for the sake of a few parking spaces.

Plans for a center-running bus rapid transit configuration for the Geary corridor have long been planned for decades as a plan to move the 38 buses faster from the Richmond District to downtown.

Original plans for a bus rapid transit lane running in the center were scrapped as transit planners said a side-running design is cost-effective and limits construction impacts on the corridor.

The SFMTA already installed temporary emergency transit lanes along segments of Geary in the Richmond District in late 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and found success in improvements to the 38, a 2021 SFMTA evaluation report said.

Muni passengers on the local 38 are expected to save 5-1/2 minutes or nearly 23 hours each year for daily passengers traveling round trip between 33rd Avenue and Stanyan Street once the entire project is complete. Daily passengers on the 38 rapid route are expected to save 4-1/3 minutes per day, or nearly 18 hours per year.

The quick-build phase will happen this fall and will include installing the transit lanes between 15th to 28th Avenues with white paint and converting the angled parking on Geary to parallel parking, but not before changing the parking configuration on cross streets.

Safety traffic improvements will  be implemented during the quick-build phase such as left-turn restrictions and retiming traffic signals for slower walking speeds. Some bus stops will also be relocated from the near side to the far side in order for buses to take advantage of transit signal priority.