San Francisco County Transportation Authority -- Moving the City

San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Moving the City

Doyle Drive Value Pricing Program

San Francisco Urban Partnership Agreement

upa map 4 web
In August 2007, the Bay Area region received $158.7 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation Urban Partnership Program. The grant funds a suite of Bay Area projects that centers on placing a variable toll on Doyle Drive—the southern access to the Golden Gate Bridge—to reduce congestion and raise revenue to help pay for the Doyle Drive Replacement Project. The funds are contingent on obtaining authority from the California State Legislature to toll Doyle Drive. See the Authority's August 2007 press release on this topic here.

The US DOT’s 4 T’s of Congestion Management

The U.S. DOT encourages cities to develop an integrated strategy to fight gridlock through deployment of the Department’s 4T’s of congestion management: tolling, transit, technology, and telecommuting/flex time programs. This approach has proven successful in London, Singapore, Stockholm and Rome.

A Comprehensive Approach to Improving Mobility

The Doyle Drive Value Pricing Program is the centerpiece of an integrated package of projects and strategies (see a fact sheet on the program here):

 

Doyle Drive Tolling

This project will manage congestion and help close the funding gap for the replacement project through a FasTrak®-based, barrier-free tolling system. Tolls would be set on a pre-fixed time-of-day schedule, increasing during periods of congestion and decreasing in times of lower demand.

See a fact sheet on Doyle Drive Tolling here for more information on potential tolling options.

See a video of traffic congestion on Doyle Drive (avi, 20MB)

 

Doyle Drive Reconstruction

The funds will help pay for a new Doyle Drive parkway to improve the seismic, structural, and traffic safety of the roadway. Replacing Doyle Drive with a modern, earthquake-safe facility is a high priority safety project, as the facility currently rates only 2 out of 100 in structural sufficiency. Varying the toll with congestion will also help reduce delays and fund other mobility improvements in the corridor. Visit www.doyledrive.org for current information on the Doyle Drive Replacement Project.


Marin-San Francisco Ferry Improvements

Transit capacity in the Marin-San Francisco commute corridor will be expanded by improving parking at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Since the inception of fast ferry service in 1998, passenger demand for parking spaces at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal (LFT) has far exceeded its current capacity, especially during special events and baseball home games. This project includes providing additional parking spaces and improving parking, traffic and pedestrian circulation around and within LFT.

 

SF Traffic Management and Transit Signal Priority

SFgo—San Francisco’s real-time traffic management and transit signal priority system—will help with active management of traffic on key Doyle Drive travel corridors, using:

  • Traffic signal upgrades at 100 intersections
  • Traffic signal controller replacement at 400 intersections
  • Fiber optic communications
  • Transit priority at 500 intersections
  • Variable message signs & traffic cameras

 

San Francisco Smart Parking

A ’smart’ parking system for both on- and off-street parking in San Francisco’s downtown area will enable monitoring of parking availability and adjusting of prices to meet availability goals, using:

  • Variably priced, networked multi-space meters and in-street sensors using the TransLink® system
  • Variable pricing in 13 City-owned parking garages using the FasTrak® system
  • 19 variable message signs to communicate parking availability and prices
  • Web- and phone-based information systems (see below)

 

See the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's press release on these two projects here.

 

Integrated Customer Service for Transportation Payments

There are currently two separate transportation service payment systems in the Bay Area: the carmounted FasTrak® transponder road and bridge electronic payment system, and the TransLink® smartcard transit fare payment system. The success of the Doyle Drive Value Pricing and Smart Parking projects depend on convenient electronic payment. This program will expand the FasTrak® and TransLink® systems to enable electronic payment for these new transportation services, as well as streamline customer access to FasTrak® and TransLink® accounts.

 

Improved Traveler Information

The region’s 511 traveler information system will be enhanced to include real-time Doyle Drive travel time data, real-time parking availability and pricing information, improvements to the existing real-time transit arrival times feature, and a new multi-modal trip planning system.

 

Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Testbed

As part of the program, the region will test emerging Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) technology for both private vehicles and transit applications, including:

  • Warning drivers of unsafe conditions or imminent collisions.
  • Informing system operators of real-time congestion, weather conditions and incidents.
  • Providing operators with information on corridor capacity for real-time management, planning and provision of corridor-wide advisories to drivers.

 

Partnering to Deliver Results

The San Francisco Transportation Authority is working with several state, regional, and local agencies to deliver the Doyle Drive Value Pricing Program, including: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and
Transportation District, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the California Department of Transportation, and Alameda-Contra Costa County Transit District.

 

For more information on the Doyle Drive Value Pricing Program, please contact

Tilly Chang: , 415.522.4832

Chester Fung: , 415.522.4804

 

To send a comment or question on the program, click here .