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Board approves Third Street Transit & Safety plan to shift transit lane, add boarding islands; cyclists urge protected lanes
Summary
The SFMTA board approved the Third Street Transit & Safety Project to move the transit lane toward the center, build larger boarding islands, remove one stop and implement related pedestrian improvements. Supporters praised transit and pedestrian benefits; several cyclists and residents opposed the plan as insufficient for bike safety.
The SFMTA board voted to approve the Third Street Transit & Safety Project, a redesign of Third Street in South of Market intended to improve transit reliability and pedestrian safety on one of the city’s busiest bus corridors.
Project manager Steve Boland told the board the corridor carries five of Muni’s busiest routes with combined daily ridership nearing 70,000 and that existing transit lanes are regularly blocked by right‑turn traffic. The approved plan moves the existing transit lane one lane to the left in the segment between Brannon and Folsom, builds large boarding islands and sidewalk bulbouts at key stops (designed to accommodate two 60‑foot buses side by side), removes one stop to improve spacing (Howard stop), and shifts other stops so that buses stop about every other block. Boland said these changes are expected to cut PM travel time from Caltrain to Market by roughly two minutes on average and that an early implementation would be completed by early fall; he said the interim work would remove about 23 parking spaces corridor‑wide.
The project team said the design also includes changes to signal phasing (right‑turn only phases and no‑turn on red restrictions at certain times), extended tow‑away hours, and temporary boarding islands to be replaced by permanent bulbouts. Staff said they will study non‑Muni vehicles using the transit lane after construction and add compliance/enforcement measures as needed.
Public comment showed a split. Walk San Francisco and the San Francisco Transit Riders supported the project for its pedestrian and transit benefits. Multiple cycling advocates and residents — including speakers who said they ride Third Street daily — opposed the plan as drafted and urged protected bike lanes on Third rather than routing cyclists to parallel streets. Opponents flagged the proposed double right‑turn geometry at Folsom and Bryant and said that additional right‑turn capacity risks creating new conflicts. Staff and Sustainable Streets Director Tom McGuire said the project is intended to reduce the need for enforcement by design and that a future left‑side cycle facility remains technically possible.
Directors discussed tradeoffs between transit/pedestrian improvements and bike infrastructure; several directors supported approval while urging further measures to improve bike safety in future phases. The board approved the item after a motion and second.
Next steps: staff will proceed with early implementation per the project timeline, monitor lane compliance and loading behavior after construction, and report back on performance.
