San Francisco police are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for blocking the box, issuing 200 citations in the last week.
San Francisco traffic can sometimes be a nightmare especially when it’s just one or two vehicles causing the traffic congestion, like a double-parked vehicle or vehicles blocking the intersection.
Mayor Ed Lee, along with transit and police officials, wants to ease traffic congestion in The City with a new plan that includes using technology inside the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s new Transportation Management Center.
The management center inside 1455 Market St., which opened late last year, will have SFMTA staff monitoring traffic conditions throughout The City.
Lee said the SFMTA and SFPD will coordinate together during rush hour traffic by deploying parking control officers and from the motorcycle division to areas in The City that have some of the worst congestion.
The mayor said he has heard the complaints from San Francisco residents and business owners about traffic congestion throughout The City:
“This is a real issue for San Francisco. It’s an issue because we’re a growing city. We’re a city that’s under a lot of construction these days. We’re also a city where some actors and actresses in their vehicles or in their delivery trucks seem to think that double parking is helpful to themselves yet doesn’t understand the impact.”
Lee said he talked with San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr last week on deploying officers in the motorcycle division to help with enforcement of vehicles blocking the intersection also known as “blocking the box”:
“There will be no tolerance of blocking the box. Those that do are going to face the hefty fines that we already have on our books.”
Suhr said the new center will help get officers to heavily congested areas in The City and try to resolve the congestion:
“This center is going to go a long way for us being able to get in real-time notice from the MTA or DPT to the motorcycles to see if we can find the reason for the congestion if it can be alleviated quickly.”
Suhr said since his talk with the mayor last week, the police department issued over 200 citations to motorists blocking the intersection.
The SFMTA will deploy parking control officers who will focus on double parked vehicles on streets with high Muni ridership and heavy traffic congestion and to also make sure contractors are adhering to their parking permit conditions, said Lee.
Transportation Director Ed Reiskin said the most immediate solution that the transit agency can do is enforcement:
“We want people to get through The City with reasonable ease and importantly we want to make sure people can get through the city safely.”
In the longer term, the SFMTA management center, which is already being used to monitor Muni Metro stations with live camera feeds, will eventually over the next two years also be able to monitor traffic conditions through live cameras.
The center will also connect to the City’s traffic signals to allow engineers to quickly dialogues problems with signals and to better manage traffic during the rush hour or during special events, said Lee.
The SFMTA will eventually also use it’s Twitter feed to send out traffic alerts as it does for Muni delays.
Lee said that motorists not in the gift giving mood should not violate any of the traffic laws or else face the consequences of a fine:
“If you’re not into giving gifts to The City and County of San Francisco then don’t block that box.”
Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.
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Pedestrians and non-drivers complain that the lights are poorly timed from everyone. There are steps that can be taken to relive traffic congestion which are not mentioned in this article.
Fire the person who is managing the traffic signals and replace them with someone who knows how to move traffic.
Quit working on multiple roads at one time. finish one road project before you start another.
Quit eliminating street parking if you really want to relive the congestion.
See this radio program for an excellent explanation on what the SFMTA is doing with your tax dollars to create congestion and how their lobbyists operate in Sacramento. http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2014/12/04/40615/proposed-ceqa-changes-could-push-development-to-di/
Let the state representatives know how you feel about their plans to snarl traffic.
Then vote against any bond measures that do not spell out the EXACT plans to enhance Muni.
Mayor Lee gleefully supports hefty fines for city residents who don’t follow the traffic laws. Our own Mayor Lee is the poster child for bad behavior. Double parking and blocking the box. behold our own Mayor Lee
doing both: http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/07/01/more-mayoral-motorist-misbehavior-ed-lee-edition/
Other cites do not have this problem because they time the lights so traffic has enough time to clear the intersection before the light changes. The The management center is another money grab to prey on city motorists. Fully one third of SFMTA’s $950 Million dollar budget comes from tickets, fines, fees, and parking meters.
The best way to deal with a predatory MTA is to boycott shopping in San Francisco. Take your holiday
shopping to Daly City, San Mateo and Burlingame where they welcome cars, and the money that they bring to local businesses.
When the tax revenue starts to dry up San Francisco will rethink their “hefty fines”. If the MTA comes for our money, then we’ll come for theirs.
Thank you sfparkripoff, the voice of reason! We just need to give motorists a little more time and they’ll certainly not block the box. Maybe they just need a little higher speed, more pedestrian crossings blocked off, or just another few seconds to tear through an intersection? Also, I would love to find out how you discovered that “other cities do not have this problem”.
make red light running tickets starting @ $1000 – drivers have NO concern about rolling through red lights regardless of traffic, signals or pedestrians – the hands free law violators tickets if processed would easily fill any states’ tax coffers too …. and a HUGE ps – for the drivers who got their license at Sears … the double lines of a crosswalk are NOT a stop line or parking spot – there is a difference – get out of the crosswalk and I promise not to wander around in traffic …