By Jonathan Farrell
The bus shuttle express that was introduced to supplement the Muni N-Judah streetcar line this past summer has been extended past its six-month trial period. The bus picks up passengers in the Outer Sunset and takes them directly downtown, and vice versa.
Muni created the service because N-Judah streetcars were already at full capacity at rush hour when they arrived at Inner Sunset and Cole Valley locations. With Outer Sunset commuters riding the express buses, there is now room for those passengers.
According to the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni), the N-Judah streetcar is the most heavily used light-rail line in the Muni system. It serves as a main artery of transit from Ocean Beach, at La Playa and 48th Avenue, to Fourth and King streets at AT&T Park.
The streetcar line has almost 40,000 people boarding daily.
As a working middle-class neighborhood, the Sunset relies on the N-Judah as its transit lifeline to the Financial District. Delays and “switch-backs” during peak commuting hours have caused problems and frustration for residents who use public transit.
The goal of the Judah Express Route is to provide residents in the Outer Sunset with an additional transit choice while helping relieve crowding. The morning bus operates every 10 minutes inbound from Ocean Beach starting at 6:30 a.m. on weekdays. The bus makes all 11 local stops along Judah Street between 48th and 19th avenues. Then, it continues nonstop to Bush and Montgomery streets in the Financial District. The last eastbound bus leaves Ocean Beach at 9 a.m.
The afternoon commute for the Judah Express going outbound begins at 4 p.m., picking up passengers at Montgomery and Bush streets on weekdays and making its way to the Sunset District while stopping at all stops between 19th to 48th avenues.
According to the SFMTA, the Judah Express has exceeded expectations. Since its pilot program implementation in June of last year, the express bus has increased ridership on the N-Judah line by about 2,000 passengers a week.
The SFMTA considers the shuttle express so successful that it is considering using it as a model for future service expansion.
According to Cammy Blackstone, a legislative aide to SF Supervisor Carmen Chu, there has been some talk about expanding the bus shuttle service to the Muni L-Taraval streetcar line, but Muni officials concede they do not have the money to do that at this time.
“Customer response was based on feedback we received through 311. A large majority of all responses were positive. Others indicated that they would like to see the time period extended, which we did,” said Paul Rose, a media representative for SFMTA. Rose said most responses were positive and many people wanted to extend the express service, which Muni did.
According to the report, in the initial planning phases for the shuttle bus express different groups within the Transit Division worked together to map out the route. A comprehensive customer information program was developed in which transit ambassadors were deployed in the initial days to introduce customers to the service. The express route along Judah Street is served by a dedicated fleet of Gillig motor coaches painted with a distinctive blue stripe along its top. The N-Judah Express logo is fixed on the bus’s exterior to alert riders of its arrival along the route.
Political consultant and transit blogger Greg Dewar sees the new shuttle bus as a good effort.
“It’s a smart public relations move on the part of the SFMTA and worthy of some applause,” he said.
But, Dewar pointed out that a shuttle is only a short-term fix to Muni’s overall transit failures serving the avenues. Dewar, who lives in the Outer Sunset not far from La Playa, knows the frustrations of residents as they struggle to rely on a transit line that has been plagued with troubles for years. To document those troubles, Dewar maintains a blog on the Internet called “The N-Judah Chronicles.”
“This shuttle is really a hack solution. It was never mentioned in the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP), which is estimated at a cost of $3 million,” Dewar said.
For more information about the Judah Express Shuttle, visit the website at http://www.sfmta.com or call 311.
Westside San Francisco 