$147 Million Deal Could Derail Central Subway Project Budget

Remind me why we need this again?

I've never been satisfied with the answers as to why we need this. The study area in the SEIS/SEIR that was used to justify the need for it included North Beach and all of SOMA, even though there was not going to be a stop between Moscone and the existing Fourth & King T-Line station until recently when a Fourth & Brannan surface station was added. While North Beach traffic is being used to justify the Central Subway, it's not being addressed, at least not directly.

The way it explains ridership on existing lines seem fishy and lacks important little details. Here's an example from Chapter 3 (over the environmental document) has this little gem about the 9BX line:

"During the a.m. peak hour, the maximum load point occurs at Bayshore Boulevard and Arleta Avenue, with the bus line operating at about 83 percent of capacity. It also operates at about 98 percent of capacity during the p.m. peak hour, when the maximum load point occurs at Stockton and Sutter Streets. About 62 percent of the route’s 2,100 daily boardings occur north of Highway 101. "

Yes, the Central Subway and the T-Line cover these two major pick up and drop off points, but it's also an express line that will cut about 25 minutes off that trip. A lot of the ridership is also older passengers who I already feel bad for many who struggle with the couple steps up the bus and with the subway would now have to take two escalators or elevators (the station would be like the Market Street stations with one set to get to the concourse and then another to get to the platform) when we could make their lives a lot easier with low floor busses and better traffic management (such as dedicated lanes) along Stockton.