Eyes on the Street: Geary’s Bus Lane, Wiggle’s Curbs Get Red Paint

Updated 4/23 2:45 p.m. with corrected project timelines for the painted bus lanes.

The SFMTA started adding the red carpet treatment to Geary Street’s bus-only lane, and started painting curbs red to daylight, or improve visibility at, corners along the Wiggle.

The Geary/O’Farrell Street couplet, between Powell and Gough Streets, is the second of three bus-only lane segments to get red paint; the first was Third Street in SoMa. The red paint is intended to warn drivers to stay out of the bus lanes, though reports from folks on the street say results have been mixed so far. The third stretch set to get red transit lanes is Market Street, inbound between 5th and 12th Streets, and outbound between 8th Street and Van Ness Avenue. The SFMTA said the Geary/O’Farrell project would be completed by mid-June, and the Market lanes by September.

On the Wiggle, street corners are finally getting daylighting — the practice of removing parked cars to open up sightlines between street users. It’s unclear what took so long to paint the short red segments of curb paint, which the SFMTA promised as early as 2012. Nonetheless, these simple measures to reduce the “peek-a-boo” effect at intersections are very welcome.