Should the Central Subway extend to Fisherman’s Wharf? SFMTA to study the question
Should the Central Subway go all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf instead of just ending at North Beach? That’s the $1.2 million question that SFMTA wants to answer with a new study, reports the Examiner. Current plans for the Central Subway would extend the T-Third from the Caltrain station at 4th and King to stations at 4th and Brennan, Yerba Buena, Union Square, then Chinatown (jog your memory here). The new study will help determine a plan for possibly extending the line to Fisherman’s Wharf.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin told the Examiner that the proposed study will explore “more community work and more technical work, to tee it up into preliminary engineering into environmental impact and analysis.”
Though it’s just a proposal (set to be voted on by the board of directors in April), the supervisors are into it. Supervisors Scott Weiner and Aaron Peskin both expressed support, and neighborhood organizations in Fisherman’s Wharf told the Examiner that extension would help bring more workers into the area:
Troy Campbell, head of the Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefits District, told the Examiner last year that when it comes to businesses at the wharf, there’s been an “exodus of minimum-wage workers in The City.”
Workers need transit options, Campbell said, and the lack of crosstown transit options to Fisherman’s Wharf makes attracting workers like cooks, bussers and shop workers increasingly difficult.
What do you think? The Examiner has more on the story here.
Photo by Patrick Nouhailler
Rather than go to Fisherman’s Wharf, I think it should parallel the route of the #30 Stockton and go all the way to the Marina District.
The T-Third Street line was originally conceived as running to Fisherman’s Wharf. Chinatown is simply as far as voters agreed to fund it, so far.
A preliminary study was done a few years ago which looked at expansion westward and it doesn’t pencil out. Marina ridership would overload the system (trains would be full before they reach north beach) where the Fisherman’s Wharf’s nature as a tourist destination means a steady ridership in both directions, with tourists and wharf workers balancing out the residents heading inwards.
The Central Subway certainly should be extended to Fisherman’s Wharf to improve transit there.
As a tourist from L.A., I’ve encountered severe overcrowding on cable cars to, and F-cars from, the Wharf. The F is generally crowded on weekends anyway. Absolutely I support the T-Third being extended to the Wharf as a transit alternative and at least an effort to relieve the overcrowding. I’d think if it’d be possible in future to then extend the T to North Beach and the Presidio, even better, at least for tourism dollars.
Yes, for the love of all that is good and holy, build the darn thing out. We need tons more transit connecting neighborhoods across the city!