Updates on the West Portal Station Safety and Community Space Improvements

By Janelle Wong, SFTR Interim Director

The Welcoming West Portal Committee has had 2 of 3 scheduled meetings, with its final meeting scheduled for Monday, June 3, 2024 from 5:30 pm-7:30 pm. The committee consists of a mix of merchants and residents of West Portal and surrounding neighborhoods. The committee’s role is to review the proposed SFMTA plan and discuss suggestions for changes to the proposed plan or provide answers to questions being raised in the community. To be clear, the committee understands that it has no decision-making power; it is a space for discussion and dialogue about how to make the area in front of the West Portal station safer and more efficient for transit users, pedestrians, merchants, and drivers.

Here is a recap of the proposed design for the area in and around the West Portal Station.

SFMTA’s proposed design changes for West Portal. These plans are under threat of being watered down following opposition from some merchants. SFMTA should instead expand these proposals to improve safety and transit access. (Photo: SFMTA)

Protection would be added to the bus stop where the crash occurred, certain turn restrictions would be implemented to reduce speed and confusion around the station’s busy crosswalks, and parts of the streetscape would be pedestrianized or turned into transit-only lanes, making it harder for cars to get up to the high speeds necessary to plow straight through a Muni bus shelter.

After two meetings, the committee members are currently in discussion about alternatives to the design and also evaluating some of the concerns raised by merchants and residents on the proposed design. There is currently no consensus around a specific design, but members of the committee broadly agree that the intersection of Ulloa and West Portal Avenue is a confusing, complex, and unsafe intersection, and that there is a need to slow down approaching drivers. The point of disagreement is whether turn restrictions accomplish the goal of slowing drivers down and discouraging cut-through traffic through the intersection, which adversely impacts trains entering the West Portal Tunnel.

For those interested in viewing the final committee meeting, follow the details below:

Date: June 3, 2024

Time: 5:30 pm — 7:30 pm

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8257484291?pwd=elVnWm1SK3hEaFJSS2NNdmhZdTlMZz09#success

Meeting ID: 825 748 4291 — Passcode: 394513

The following day, members of the public can provide their support for the project at an SFMTA Board meeting. The SFMTA staff plans to present their original design, plus an updated design for the West Portal intersection at the SFMTA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 1:00 pm.

As of our writing this, SFMTA has not yet released their updated design, so it is unclear whether the new design will help or harm the goals of increasing safety and prioritizing transit. Our request is for people to come out and give public comment in support of whichever proposed design best supports these goals. Specifically, it is crucial that the final plan include turn restrictions to reduce the conflict between pedestrians and transit riders in the crosswalks around the station, and transit-only lanes to improve the speed and reliability of trains.

Since the start of this year, public comment must be given in person at City Hall, Room 400, Floor 4 (no remote public comment is available, except to accommodate people with disabilities). If you’re able to make it, RSVP here so we can contact you on the day of the meeting.

Tips for making a public comment:

1. Sign in at the public advisor’s table, and notify them that you’d like to speak during Public Comment.
2. Introduce yourself as a member of SF Transit Riders and what district and city you live in. (Click here if you’re not sure).
3. Give a personal reason why you support a design for West Portal Station that improves safety, speed, and reliability for people who ride transit.
4. Topline ask: The SFMTA board should approve staff’s initial proposals and more to support public transit speed, reliability, and safety.

Talking points (if needed)

1. The SFMTA Board should immediately approve all of the original proposed changes, and the agency should implement the changes as quickly as possible.
2. The Welcoming West Portal Committee’s recommendations cannot be used as an excuse to water down the crucial but insufficient changes identified in the original proposal.
3. In the longer-term, San Francisco Transit Riders, SFMTA should approve additional service and infrastructure changes to improve public transit speed, reliability and access to the West Portal neighborhood and beyond:

• Add concrete infrastructure to separate Muni rail lines from car traffic. This would ensure the existing transit-only lanes on the corridor are actually adhered to, allowing trains to be free of delays caused by drivers who currently ignore posted signage and block the tracks.
• Use new in-motion charging technology to extend Muni’s 6 Haight/Parnassus route from its current terminal at 14th Ave & Quintara St to West Portal Station. This change will directly connect West Portal to several neighborhoods that have high levels of transit ridership, including Cole Valley, Haight-Ashbury, UCSF Parnassus, and the Inner Sunset.
• Turn the 800 and 8300 blocks of Ulloa St. (directly adjacent to and in front of the station) into a pedestrianized transit plaza to allow safer and quicker transfers for people moving between streetcars and buses. Transit riders should not need to navigate active car traffic to catch their connections at one of the city’s premier transit hubs.
• Evaluate all bus stops, especially those on the High Injury Network, to determine where further safety improvements are necessary to protect transit riders.