Thursday, September 25, 2014

Prop L Sounds the Parking Alarm - "We Need More Space to Not Move Vehicles"

There's a real first world problem in San Francisco.  Per person, a car takes up 10 times more space than a bike, 15 times more than a train, and 30 times more than a pedestrian,  So obviously you need lots more room for them.  If you live in the population dense city of San Francisco, you're probably asking yourself "why isn't there more free space to not move vehicles?" The car balance loving supporters of Prop L have brought attention to this highly important issue.
The balanced use of a street should be to idle cars 95% of the time.  
Their website states "From 2009 to 2013, the MTA abolished over 4,000 street parking places" out of 441,950 spaces.  That's still more than the entire length of the California coast.  Did you hear that? The SFMTA "abolished" 00.90% of parking?  To help put that into perspective check out the picture below.


These 4,000 spots were once used to not move a car 95% of the time, for free.  And just what are they doing now?
  • Bus bulb-outs and extra bus stop room to accommodate double loading and capacity.
  • Car Share programs for people who want to get rid of their car or currently don't own one.
  • The 3 actual bike dedicated bike lanes in San Francisco.  
  • Parklets for pedestrians to enjoy more space around their favorite shops and restaurants
  • "Safety"- like "Daylighting" Street corners for pedestrian visibility.  

Can you believe the SFMTA would abolish a parking space like this just so pedestrian can avoid vehicle carnage?
image found here.
Car dominated balance supporter Brandon Carlson exclaimed, "Since when did the Municipal Transit Association get it in their thick head that street space should actually move something? What kind of planet are they on?"  Prop L supporters believe that removing a fraction of a percent of space for parking is nothing short of madness.  Their hope is that when you think of gridlock in SF, you think of blaming the streets that lost car storage in favor of moving people and keeping them safer.

Space utilized to move people more than 5% of the time?  Disgusting.
image found here.

2 comments:

  1. What bullshit! Prop L tells the MTA that the voters and taxpayers that drive cars, trucks, and other vehicles, constitute the vast majority of San Franciscans. Balance means that motorists interests are vastly under-represented at the MTA. THe MTA Commission consists of members who sole agenda is to propagate bike travel, and prioritize bus speed, while inflicting "traffic calming" on the rest. Every bike lane tends to be at the expense of passenger vehicles, while Muni can't effectively get even willing passengers across town efficiently nor effectively. When was the last time MTA did anything to improve the flow of vehicle traffic? In short, MTA is incompetent to run a transit system, and they camouflage that lack of skill by hyping buses and bikes. In a city with a couple of hundred thousand cars and a few thousand bikes, the minority rule is destroying this city.

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    1. You're totally right! Motorist issues are in no way associated with, motorists. The fact that vehicles in San Francisco has doubled. That would have nothing to do with congestion and parking. It has to be the scant amount of bike lanes and bus lanes. Your thinking is solid!

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