If you read today’s Examiner, you may have seen this story about the impending changes to our Mighty N and for once, they quoted me, instead of some insider. Woo hoo!
As for the subject – the impending change to the N’s route to stop at Embarcadero and no longer go to Caltrain – I’m taking a wait and see approach. If, as it is claimed, it really does make the N run faster overall, well then I’m willing to put up with the hassle. When I commute I’m already making a switch to BART at Embarcadero, which is even more of a hassle sometimes than switching MUNI lines.
But I can imagine what a pain it would be for a daily commuter from SF to the Peninsula on Caltrain, and if the J’s performance continues to suck like it has in the past, I’d be very nervous about that N-J-Caltrain switch.
If you’re a daily commuter from SF to the Peninsula, and you see shenanigans once the switch is made, email us with your tales of woe, and we’ll get the word out!
Search NJC Posts
NJC Post Archives
Categories
- Duboce Park Dogs
- Guest Bloggers
- Guides
- Links of Interest
- Local Business Review
- Local History
- MUNI Day To Day
- MUNI/SFMTA
- Museums and Parks
- N Judah News
- News & Politics
- Nightlife on the N
- Reader Mail
- SF Photos
- Site News
- Street Theater
- Tales of Extreme Commuting
- Uncategorized
- Urban Life and Culture
- Very Political Posts
- Videos!
Subscribe to Blog via Email
San Francisco News & Politics
Muni Blogs
Meta
It’s never been particularly productive to ride the N all the way to Caltrain, except perhaps from the Embarcadero itself or perhpas a few stops inwards. Bus from market directly there is probably faster even with the transfer.
For those in the Sunset, it’s crazy, there is no good solution. You’re talking 40 minutes or more to the caltrain, and then your long caltrain ride. Alas, muni bus to BART to Caltrain is also time consuming and expensive with two transfers.
Were there really a lot of people taking the N-Judah all the way from an above ground stop to the Caltrain? For those riding from a subway stop, where trains are very frequent, I don’t see a big killer transferring to the T-3rd, though I have yet to do it.
No worries, NJC dude. In April the T-Third will go right past CalTrain. You’ll have both the J and the T to transfer to to get there.
Not only will both the J and T run to Caltrain during peak time, giving commuters two choices instead of just one, but I think we have a fighting chance of having more reliability with the T than with the N. Except for a very short portion in the Bayview district, the entirety of the T-Third track is either in the subway or on surface exclusive right of way; so the T-Third shouldn’t get held up by things like double parked cars, as sometimes happens on the N-Judah. Even if the J continues to be notoriously unreliable, hopefully the T will pick up the slack.
Congrats on the Examiner appearance!
Muni Metro will never be as fast as taking the 30 or 45, but for many riders an extra couple minutes won’t really matter for the greater convenience of Muni Metro. You probably know someone for whom the “Muni” only refers to the Metro lines and doesn’t include busses which they never ride.
Well, at least the couple extra minutes wouldn’t matter if it actually was just a few minutes without the usual delay between Montgomery and Embarcadero along with the sometimes 10+ minute wait for a connecting N-Judah.
The change to the J and T lines will mean more trains more often to Caltrain and the combination of two lines removes the problem of N-Judah delays being a single point of failure.
It also might help with the delays getting into Embarcadero station because there will be around twice as many trains passing through Embarcadero and terminating with the added time that takes.
This got me to thinking the other day about extending the K-Ingleside one stop to Folsom & The Embarcadero, and yes, I know “why not Caltrain?” there are costs associated with any extension at all. If we did this though it would mean only the LMN lines turning back at Embarcadero Station, and those all being lines with mostly two-car trains it would mean during a backup in service two-car trains would end up getting priority turning back which would clear the backup faster.
I really appreciate your commentary on Muni. I don’t ride the N on a daily basis now but I used to when I worked at UC so I can appreciate all your observations. RE: the new schedule for the N. Well…..I’ll believe it’s better for the daily ride when I experience it. In the meantime, I reserve judgement. But thanks to people like you, the Muni has to be a bit more on its toes.
@nancy – thanks for your comments!
I agree, I’m taking a wait and see approach, I sure hope it works out, otherwise they’ll have jinxed it for nada…
Are you kidding? The T and J are single cars. Going to CalTrains from Embarcadero, the T will make a left at 4th and go about 1/2 block before letting people off for the train station.