13 Years Later—Environmental Review for San Francisco Bus Rapid Transit Project Complete

"Late Thursday, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board approved the final environmental review of the Geary Bus Rapid Transit project, clearing a key hurdle for the project to move forward," reports Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez.

The project would transform Geary Boulevard to make the 38-Geary bus faster, and behave more like a train. A red bus-only lane would run along the sides of Geary Boulevard from 34th to 26th avenues, and the center of Geary Boulevard from 26th Avenue to just past Arguello Boulevard, and then again on the sides of Geary Boulevard the rest of the way to Market Street.

Despite the well-documented environmental benefits of bus transit, it took 13 years to complete the environmental review process for the bus project. The 38-Geary line will save an estimated 55,000 daily riders 20 minutes per round trip. The article includes the testimony from members of the public who opposed the project, and wanted to delay the vote to approve the environmental review even further.

Planning for project is not yet complete, however. According to the article, "the project will move into further planning stages under the auspices of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, requiring approvals from that agency’s board."