Mayor Gavin Newsom envisions Market road without cars and without the nearly dozen Muni bus lines and the historic F-line. The City is in the middle of a six-month trial that aim at warning the amount of private automobiles on the major thoroughfare, and the mayor says that if the data backs it up, he favors an development of the vehicle ban and also moving toward remove Muni from the street.


The present vehicle ban trial begins Sept. 29 and auto traveling eastbound on Market avenue have been compulsory to make right turn at Sixth and Eighth street. The travel measures have been joined with other revitalization pains along the mid-Market stretch, as well as sidewalk seating, landscaped street medians, replanted trees, revamped transit station entrances and a series of art installation, with those placed in abandoned storefronts.

One plan he said, is to reroute Muni to Mission road or another nearby street so that Market Street could be transformed into a place solely for cyclists and pedestrians, and include such amenities as tables and chairs in the center of the street. Newsom said the plan is a long way from actuality, but said the present test on Market Street could lay the groundwork.

"That's not being contemplated in the immediate term, but data collection will afford us the chance to determine if that’s a viable option," he said. The decision is still out on the impact of restrict cars on Market Street, particularly for business, said Carolyn Diamond, decision-making director of the Market Street Association.


"We're still kind of waiting for the data on that," she said. Diamond and others are on-board with car limits, so long as the idea remains a trial. However, the response to banning Muni on Market Street established more skepticism.

"I think a lot of people would be upset," she said. "I can't imagine Mission Street being capable of conduct all that traffic." Tom Radulovich, founder of Livable City, said he's for revamping Market and Mission Street, saying neither "has worked very well for transit, bicycle, pedestrians or even private cars for decades."

However, there is concern about the convenience of transfer from the many surface buses that run along Market Street to underground streetcars and BART, Radulovich said. Banning buses on Market Street was pitched as an idea in the 1970s when the subway was build under the street, said Jim Lazarus, public policy director for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

While he supports the current trial, Lazarus says The City wants to study traffic on nearby streets as well as Market." You can't deal with Market Street without dealing with Mission , and you can’t deal with Mission without dealing with Folsom, Howard, and Harrison ," Lazarus said.

Market and Muni

• 5 months Time before new car limits may be added to Market Street
• $167 Minimum fine for failing to obey traffic limits on Market Street
• 3 miles whole length of Market Street
• 12 Muni lines that run on Market Street