Ingleside merchants and residents and transit activists were given dedicated space to vent about the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Ocean Avenue transit-only lanes project at a town hall organized by Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Chyanne Chen.
The Saturday morning meeting, held at the City College of San Francisco’s STEAM Building, was conducted by a professional facilitator to allow participants to constructively share their opinions about the K-Ingleside Rapid Project’s most polarizing component: transit-only lanes.
The SFMTA Board of Directors approved the lanes, which would stretch along the avenue in both directions from Junipero Serra Boulevard to Lee Avenue, in March 2024. A few weeks ahead of the scheduled installation in mid January, the Ocean Avenue Association, a nonprofit organization authorized by City Hall to clean and maintain the corridor, organized opposition.
The OAA held a meeting in December with small business owners who raised concerns about the transit lanes. Many expressed fear that shrinking general traffic lanes from two to one would devastate their businesses. Following the meeting, the SFMTA paused the installation of the red lanes, the supervisors agreed to hold meetings about the project and the association collected a survey.
Ocean Avenue Association Executive Director Megan Catmull shared specific concerns presented in the survey with the meeting’s participants. The majority were from merchants and focused on parking, deliveries and access to small businesses.
“Local merchants feel that the city is doing this to them, not with them, and that red lanes will hurt their business at a time when San Francisco's economy is still recovering,” Catmull said. “OAA supports improving safety, connectivity, transit reliability and continuing our local economic recovery, but there is significant concern from businesses about whether red lanes, as currently proposed, support those outcomes in a way that makes sense and supports the corridor.”
Participants who spoke were about equally split in support and opposition to the transit-only lanes.
Zack Subin, who lives in Ocean View, said he used to take the K often to pick up pet food on Ocean Avenue from the Expert Pet store.
“The reason I don't do that anymore is because of the speed and reliability of the K,” Subin said. “A faster K would directly increase my use of it and my visiting the stores on Ocean Avenue.”
A handful were transit advocates from outside the neighborhood, many of whom were concerned about the cost of not doing the project to the agency’s gaping deficit. Many were concerned that something had to be done to lessen the number of pedestrians killed on the avenue. Some were homeowners and renters who live within the Ocean Avenue Association’s boundaries and expressed dismay with its representation of them.
Many attendees worried that drivers might spill over to other nearby streets that would be unable to handle additional traffic and dangerous conditions. One attendee said driving on Ocean Avenue is difficult and that reducing the travel lanes from two to one would make driving “simpler,” “more organized” and “less chaotic,” citing current concerns of drivers weaving in and out of lanes.
One attendee said the project should be abandoned to save the SFMTA money.
Anna Harkman, the project manager for the K-Ingleside Rapid Project, said the installation of the transit-only lanes is to reduce speeding and improve the reliability of the K.
Harkman also provided an update at the town hall on what the SFMTA had so far completed and what still needed to be done.
Seven of the eight boarding islands have been extended as part of the project to allow for two-car train boarding. The agency completed adding 17 loading parking spots for small businesses to avoid double parking and continues to modify loading zones based on the needs of merchants, said Harkman.
Other work completed includes the retiming of traffic lights to give the K and general traffic longer green lights, adding new parking spaces by getting rid of a low rider K stop at West Gate Drive and Cerritos Avenue, and converting parallel parking to angled parking on Dorado Terrace to provide additional parking spaces.
Harkman said that over the next two years, the SFMTA will work on extending the boarding island on Miramar Avenue, installing painted safety zones, bulb-outs, daylighting and flashing beacons at Granada Avenue, Manor Drive, and Santa Ana Avenue. Additional work includes installing a stop sign at Ocean and Plymouth avenues.
A second town hall is scheduled for May 4, from 6 – 8 p.m., at City College’s Harry Britt Building. The SFMTA will have the opportunity to offer solutions to address concerns from the first town hall, while the public will be able to weigh in on any proposed solutions.
