Former Emeryville mayor and current AC Transit President of the Board of Directors Greg Harper has announced the F-Line bus route will not be eliminated or even change for Emeryville residents as was reported last week in the newspaper the Daily Californian. Mr Harper told the Tattler, "the Daily Californian got the story wrong" and that the Board is actually increasing the number of buses for the popular route.
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| AC Transit President and Emeryville resident Greg Harper |
The Daily Californian reported and the Tattler reprinted a story that is factually incorrect according to Mr Harper. The UC Cal newspaper reported the transit agency is considering changing the F-Line route through Emeryville but that is incorrect Mr Harper said, "It will continue to use 40th Street and access the Bay Bridge via Powell Street". There will be no changes for the Emeryville portion of the F-Line except buses will run with greater frequency he stressed. Mr Harper noted that the proposed change will occur at the UC campus where the line now loops around the campus. The loop will be eliminated and instead the buses will just run past the university, "90% of the total route is the same" he noted. "It won't go around the campus as much as it did before. But that will enable us to increase the frequency with the same number of buses" he said. "There will be a 10 minute peak bus frequency for weekdays" he added, noting he is trying to convince his fellow Board members to accept that half the buses should go down Powell Street, owing to the greater frequency, "Every other bus will go down Powell instead of 40th Street if I can get that past my colleagues" he said.
The addition of an F-Line Powell Street route, closer to Emeryville residencies, would increase usability for Emeryville citizens.
These changes would make the F-Line "better than ever as far as Emeryville is concerned" President Harper said, "The downside is that will be less convenient for some UC students" he added.
Former mayor Greg Harper heads up Harper and Associates law firm on Horton Street and he has lived in Emeryville for over 30 years.
That sounds reassuring, but I looked at the AC Transit staff report for the meeting that the Daily Cal referenced and it pretty clearly said that the route would change so that the buses would go down Telegraph to 40th Street and then go directly to San Francisco from there. I'm not convinced. Staff at least considered, and I think, recommended, that the F hardly run through Emeryville at all, which I would strongly oppose.
ReplyDeleteThe F-Line route goes west on 40th Street past Target, Ikea and the Bay Street Mall to Powell Street and onto west-bound I-80. That is to remain unchanged. The Daily Californian printed the following untrue information:
DeleteBerkeley resident Ken Niemi voiced concerns about the proposed route through Emeryville, which would bypass a popular commercial area.
“On weekends, I use (the F line) a lot to get to downtown Emeryville for shopping and entertainment,” Niemi said. “I use AC Transit for all my transportation needs. And there always seems to be a dozen or so Cal students going to Target or Ikea.”