Muni's one-year-old 5L-Fulton Limited service, which provides a crosstown trip 15 percent faster than the 5-Fulton, has attracted 2,000 additional daily riders to the bus route. That's according to new data from the SFMTA.
"This is what Transit First looks like," said Peter Lauterborn, an aide to Supervisor Eric Mar. "We need to keep investing in transit." Lauterborn is also the manager of the No on Prop L campaign, although Mar's office isn't officially associated with it.
Limited-stop service on the 5 has been met with virtually universal praise ever since it was introduced as a pilot project last October, and later made permanent by the SFMTA. The agency also made improvements that speed up both local and limited service, like a road diet that created wider lanes for buses on one section, and removing some lesser-used stops. The SFMTA also plans to install transit-priority traffic signals and bus bulbs along the route.
It's unclear how many of the 2,000 additional riders are new Muni riders, or shifted from other routes. More details are expected to be presented to the SFMTA Board of Directors at its meeting on Tuesday.
