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“Never say never”, as the saying goes. Transit riders in the Richmond District will be pleased to hear that BART is considering adding an extension down Geary Boulevard. The topic will be part of the agency’s upcoming study of a second Transbay rail crossing.
MUNI currently carries 114,000 people to and from downtown via Geary Boulevard every day. That’s already 25% of BART’s overall daily ridership, and 2x Caltrain’s daily riders. So suffice to say, there’s a lot of need for a quick mode of transit from the “outerlands” to downtown and back again.
Despite the need, it’s unlikely that the Geary extension would take priority over a second Transbay tube to increase ridership between San Francisco and the East Bay.
But the fact that BART is thinking about it is encouraging. San Francisco officials are in favor of it as well, including Supervisor Sandra Fewer who told ABC7News that the Richmond District “needs it very, very, badly.”
A BART extension would be underground, which is something city planners have not considered seriously in recent years.
In fact the most recent brainchild to ease our transportation woes is the above-ground, controversial Geary Bus Rapid Transit Project, which would rip up Geary for several years to construct a dedicated, center transit lane along the boulevard for MUNI. It’s a multi-million dollar project that only promises a reduction in travel time of 10 minutes per trip (Project website).
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Fun fact: This isn’t the first time that a BART extension to the Richmond District has been considered. Back in 1967, when plans were in the works for an extensive underground subway that would connect the Richmond with the new BART system once it opened. The image below is a concept showing it running underneath Park Presidio Boulevard at Geary.
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We shall see what happens… But never say never. Image may be NSFW.
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Sarah B.
