By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

The broadly supported push to close Kennedy Drive to cars  attempts to address the concern over access to and within the park by suggesting various auto ( opening the deYoung parking garage to park visitors) and shuttle bus "solutions"- both dependent on greenhouse gas producing  internal combustion engines -that only partially address the issue.  Not discussed is a public transit solution which in a transit first city oddly places transit  not last but so far, not at all.

As a "front line" neighborhood to Kennedy Drive, the Haight-Ashbury has a special interest in the issue.  Unless an effective solution for non-car access is created the great bulk of non-local visitors to the park will drive their cars, especially from other parts of the City and the wider Bay region as they do now.  What a "car free JFK" will mean for us in the Haight-Ashbury (and Inner Sunset and Inner Richmond) given no effective non- car access alternative, will be  a "more car" neighborhood, as cars will circle our streets looking for parking.

We need a transit alternative to car visitors to Golden Gate Park.

Currently there are seven transit lines that go to Golden Gate Park: the 5, 7, 18, 28, 33, 44 and 66.  An additional line, the 21, while slated to return from Covid shutdown, still has not yet begin service to the north side of the park. That sounds like a lot, but closer inspection shows just how underserved the Park is by public transit. Five of the seven lines (and eventually the 21) only serve the edge of the park- the 5,7, 18, 33 and 66, and only one, the 5,  goes the entire length of the Park on the north side. The 7 turns south at 25th Ave., the 33 turns north at Arguello and the 66 has but one stop that borders the park, its last, at Haight and Stanyan.

Only 2 lines, the 28 and 44, actually enter the park, but only the 44 actually has stops inside Golden Gate Park as the 28 travels though the park without a stop.

The  5 and 7 (and eventually the 21), connect the central city to the Park while only the 33 and 44 lines connect eastern and southern San Francisco to Golden Gate Park. The 18, 28 and 66 serve the western portion of the City.  Again, the 5, 7,  33 and eventually the 21 only stop at the edge of the Park and  only one line, the 44 connects  east, southeast and southern portions of the City with stops inside the Park.

No direct MUNI service exists which links the eastern portion of San Francisco with its population of African American, Chinese, Latino, and senior populations with service inside Golden Gate Park along its central axis, the portion to be "liberated" by banning cars. Moreover, no MUNI service links with regional transit hubs that serve the central axis of Golden Gate Park. The proposed shuttle is useless unless it is accessible to people in eastern San Francisco and the region.

"Transit first" is the official policy of San Francisco.  It should also be the policy for any plan for Golden Gate Park.  We need a new, dedicated transit line which serves eastern San Francisco and the region with direct stops in Golden Gate Park from Stanyan to the beach, and it should be free on the weekends!