After a month of service, the Van Ness BRT line has cut travel times by roughly nine minutes and spurred increased ridership.

The highly anticipated Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit project in San Francisco, which opened a month ago, is successfully cutting travel times and attracting 13 percent more riders, reports Ricardo Cano. “Northbound weekday trips on the BRT lanes are also saving riders 35% in travel times, according to the agency, meaning that it takes Muni buses about nine minutes fewer to travel on the corridor than it did before the BRT project.”
According to Cano, “Before the pandemic, it would take 49 buses 50 minutes, round trip, to complete a run between stops at Mission and 13th streets and Van Ness and Chestnut Street. Now, buses completing that same trip are doing so in about 36 minutes on weekday mornings, shaving off 14 minutes from travel times, agency data show.” In the future, “The BRT lanes are expected to bring more travel time savings as the agency optimizes the transit signal priority that help buses progress through intersections on the corridor faster. ”
Meanwhile, the agency is struggling to bring back pre-pandemic service levels. “Frustrated transit advocates have wanted SFMTA to act faster to restore suspended lines and add frequencies to current lines, though the agency has said an operator shortage has hampered progress.”
FULL STORY: CA: One month after its debut, this is how S.F.'s Van Ness BRT is performing

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.

‘Mega-Landlords’ Threaten Housing Stability for Renters
As institutional investors buy up a larger share of single-family homes, the families renting them are increasingly vulnerable to rent increases and eviction.

Zoning Stands in the Way of Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is cheap as ever, but zoning isn’t keeping up with the market.

Mixed Use Could Lower Neighborhood Crime Rates
New research shows areas with a heavy concentration of commercial offices experience 40 percent higher crime rates than neighborhoods that mix residential and commercial uses.

Denver E-Bike Rebate Program Proves Wildly Popular
The city is temporarily pausing applications after the program ran out of funds less than a month after the city announced it.
City & Borough of Juneau
City & Borough of Juneau
DMR Architects
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.