Here are three Streetsblog news nuggets to start your weekend.
Muni starts bus route cutbacks Saturday/tomorrow
As previously reported, SFMTA is facing a $50 million budget shortfall in its upcoming budget. Some of that shortfall is going to fall on the heads of Muni riders. As seen in the map above, starting Saturday/tomorrow, some Muni routes will turn back at Market Street. From SFMTA's web page:
Riders will then be able to transfer at Market Street to get to their destination where Muni buses will provide service about every three to four minutes. Additionally, on the subway along Market Street, the five Muni Metro lines together provide service every two minutes on weekdays. Once you board a Muni bus or train, you have two hours to make free transfers to any other Muni vehicle.
There will also be several route changes which the agency says are not related to cutbacks. Be sure to check SFMTA's full list of changes before heading to your bus stop tomorrow.
Oakland to get speed cameras
The deployment of San Francisco's 33 speed cameras confirmed what all Streetsblog readers already knew: the Bay Area's reckless driving is out of control. Now Oakland is getting 18 of its own speed cameras to further efforts to get drivers to stop speeding. From a post by the advocates at Transform, which helped get the speed-camera law passed:
Early data from speed cameras installed in San Francisco show thousands of drivers exceeding safe speeds on city streets; we need traffic calming and better biking, walking, and transit infrastructure to shift our shared streets from speedways to safe, human-scale spaces. That's why Transform continues to fight for more funding for the Active Transportation Program, which helps communities complete biking and walking improvements.
Transform is also pointing people towards an interview with KTVU with Transform Board Member Warren Logan about why this speed-camera deployment is so crucial for safety. Be sure to check it out.
Oakland and San Francisco are two of only seven cities allowed to use speed cameras under a pilot program approved by the state in 2023. Only one other city, Malibu, has a program that is operational.
Caltrans 980 study and survey
Caltrans is starting a second round of outreach about the future of I-980, which, it is hoped, will one day be removed. The goal is to rectify some of the injustice done to West Oakland when it was constructed and restore the connection to downtown.
From a Caltrans release on its "Vision 980" study:
The Vision 980 Study aims to improve the quality of life for impacted residents by exploring how the corridor could be transformed into new opportunities for housing, businesses, open space, recreational, and cultural facilities. This second round of outreach will focus on presenting scenarios and strategies for reconnection that were developed based on community input gathered during the first round of engagement in 2024, which included nearly 2,800 surveys and dozens of events.
The Vision 980 team will have a booth at the West Oakland Juneteenth Festival Saturday/tomorrow, June 21 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at 3233 Market Street, Oakland. There will be an additional open house Wednesday, June 25, from 6-8 p.m., at the Oakland Unified School District Central Kitchen, 2850 West Street.
Readers can also take an online Vision 980 survey. One Streetsblog quip: would it be too much for Caltrans District 4 to stop widening freeways that divide Oakland with one hand while it conducts surveys on removing freeways with the other?
