Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Mayor Daniel Lurie announced via SFMTA that more cars will start returning to Market Street, starting with Waymo, Uber, and Lyft, on Tuesday, Aug. 26. From the city's statement:
Waymo and a limited number of commercial plated vehicles from Uber Black and Lyft Black will begin using select portions of Market Street for passenger trips. These services will be available on Market Street between Van Ness Avenue and Steuart Street, with the option to provide passenger pick-up and drop-off at seven loading bays between 5th and 8th streets.
Major San Francisco transit-and-street-safety advocacy groups put together a joint letter in response to this retrograde move. It includes action items. Streetsblog urges all readers to do whatever they can to stop this pernicious backsliding on safety and the city's transit-first commitments.
Here is a slightly condensed version of the letter, with some images and links added by Streetsblog:
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The Keep Market Street Moving Alliance, a coalition of diverse nonprofits and businesses united in defense of car-free Market Street, roundly decried Mayor Lurie’s decision to allow Uber and Lyft commercial vehicles to operate on Market Street, in addition to Waymos as announced in April, beginning August 26. The decision directly contravenes the SFMTA Board’s decision in 2019 to remove cars from Market Street in order to decrease traffic congestion, improve transit speed and reliability, increase safety, and create a more welcoming and sustainable downtown.
Data clearly shows that Market Street with cars is more dangerous for people who walk, bike, ride scooters, take transit, and even drive. Crashes on Market, once the most dangerous street in San Francisco, fell by 40% after cars were removed. This plan will also undermine years of progress toward a more efficient transit system and slow down Muni, which has seen a remarkable 14% increase in speed and efficiency on Market since the removal of cars.
Before the mayor’s plan has even begun, it has already increased chaos and danger on Market, creating a permission structure for people in any kind of car to drive on the corridor. Indeed, the visible increase in cars since the April announcement of this policy is startling. Allowing Uber, Lyft, and Waymo vehicles on the street encourages people to blatantly break the law, endangering the lives of people walking, riding bikes and scooters, and taking public transit. The visible distinction between permitted vehicles and private cars is negligible, presenting an enormous challenge to enforcement.
“This vital conduit to downtown works for people who bike and roll precisely because Market Street is car-free — an outcome of decades of organizing and community collaboration. East of 8th Street, Market doesn’t have separated infrastructure for biking and rolling,” said Christopher White, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. “The Mayor’s action inevitably puts people biking and rolling in conflict with cars, with dangerous, maybe catastrophic, results.”
“We haven’t forgotten what Market Street was like with private vehicles: very chaotic and dangerous for pedestrians,” said Marta Lindsey, communications director for Walk San Francisco. “We can’t go back to our city’s most iconic street being one of its most dangerous.”
“The mayor's escalation of his plan to add even more cars to Market Street while cutting Muni service will hurt public transit riders and downtown recovery alike,” said Dylan Fabris, community and policy manager at San Francisco Transit Riders. “If the mayor wants to be taken seriously on his commitment to help Muni's – and San Francisco's – recovery, he should be looking for ways to get cars out of the way of transit rather than inviting luxury chauffeurs into the heart of our city's transit network.”
“Bringing cars back to Market Street won’t solve downtown’s problems, but it will make Muni slower for transit riders and the street less safe for everyone who walks and bikes,” said Robin Pam, executive director of Streets For All San Francisco. “Market Street could be San Francisco’s grand boulevard again, but to get there we have to look to the future for solutions, not the past.”
"Over the years, there have been so many cyclist injuries and fatalities due to people driving carelessly on Market Street. The mayor likely has no knowledge of the lives lost over the decades and why Market Street became car-free in the first place,” said Paul Valdez, main organizer of Ride of Silence San Francisco. “Any future cyclist injuries or deaths will be on his hands."
Residents are encouraged to share videos and photos of dangerous driving behavior on Market Street by filing a 311 report or emailing MarketStreet@sfmta.com. For more information, historical context and data about car-free Market Street, please refer to the Keep Market Street Moving website.
