San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 7
th
Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 SFMTA.com
January 23, 2023
California Public Utilities Commission
Consumer Protection & Enforcement Division
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Via electronic mail only
1
Re: Protest of Waymo LLC Tier 3 Advice Letter (0001)
Dear Consumer Protection & Enforcement Division,
By submission of a Tier 3 Advice Letter on December 12, 2022 (the Waymo Advice
Letter) Waymo seeks Commission approval to offer commercial Automated Vehicle Passenger
Services (AVPS) throughout San Francisco, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and with a fleet of
unlimited size on “freeways, highways, city streets, rural roads, and other roadways . . . .
including roadways with posted speed limits up to 65 miles per hour.” Waymo’s request
encompasses more than 95% of the city’s road miles, including the dense downtown core, as
well as peak travel hours for San Francisco residents and travelers (7-9 AM and 4-7 PM).
Waymo seeks blanket approval that would put all expansion decisions within San Francisco at
the company’s sole discretion. If approved as requested, increases in service area, hours of
operation and fleet size would be made without input from Commission staff or members,
without judgment from San Francisco, and without input from the public.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco
County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), and the Mayor’s Office on Disability (MOD)
(collectively San Francisco) do not oppose the Commission authorizing Waymo to deploy
commercial service in San Francisco. For several years, Waymo has actively sought City input
about its AV testing and deployment, has demonstrated intent to address several city concerns,
and appears to have apparently invested significant resources in doing so. Many details
described in the Advice Letter reflect attention to city concerns about the safety and integrity of
1
On January 4, 2023, by email to the service lists of R.12-12-011, R.19-02-012, and R.21-11-014, CPED
issued an extension of the time for protest and response to the Waymo Advice Letter to 5 pm on January 23,
2023. As required by the definition of a Protest in General Order 96-B, Section 3.11, this protest was sent to
waymo-regulatory-permits@google.com on the day it was submitted to CPED (Attn. Mari Davidson and Rem
Dekker).
2
the transportation network and about providing equitable service that is accessible to people
with disabilities. Waymo has been an industry leader in reaching out to the stewards of the
city’s transportation network as stakeholders in Waymo user experience and product
development research.
More generally, San Francisco is excited about the potential that automated driving
could expand the menu of transportation choices available in the city. We hope that this
emerging technology will contribute to improving street safety and enhancing equitable and
accessible mobility for a wide population. But the nearly unrestrained scope of service sought
by Waymo is too much for its first foray into paid driverless service in San Francisco. In the
months since the Commission approved the first small commercial AV deployment in San
Francisco, we have observed significant new operational challenges in interactions between
AVs and other street users where AVs have interfered with traffic and transit operations. If the
Commission approves sweeping authorizations for both Waymo and Cruise, without timely
holding permittees accountable for addressing operational issues in a transparent and
incremental way, the scale of these operational challenges may soon affect a large percentage
of all San Francisco travelers. These challenges call for continuous collaboration between
industry and all levels of government. Collaboration is all the more important because the
climate emergency leaves little room for policy error; we cannot allow acute disparities in
freedom of movement and resulting economic opportunity and public health to worsen.
While San Francisco would support Waymo commercial deployment under conditions
discussed below, Waymo’s sweeping request is inconsistent with the Commission’s general and
longstanding approach calling for incremental testing and expansion of AVPS. San Francisco
thus submits this protest to the Waymo Advice Letter because, under General Order 96-B,
Waymo’s request for authorization to deploy commercial service on virtually every street in
the city, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with an unlimited fleet is unreasonable in light of
the following circumstances:
2
1) Incrementalism. San Francisco appreciates the Commission’s effort to build a path
from testing to commercial deployment of AVPS that provides for incremental
review. No one anticipated the kind of street obstructions that members of the
public have reported to 9-1-1 in the months since the Commission authorized Cruise
to offer limited driverless commercial services. Cruise and Waymo now both seek
blanket approval to provide unlimited commercial operations. While the
Commission should consider each of these Advice Letters on their own merits, it
should also be mindful of the cumulative effects on the City’s transportation
2
See General Order 96-B, Section 7.4.2 (6)
3
network if these problems in Cruise operations continue and are replicated by
similar problems from Waymo. We urge the Commission to understand recent road
and transit blockages as a message to proceed with caution and to continue its
incremental approach to approving driverless AVPS expansion.
2) Transparency. Waymo and Cruise have both sought confidential treatment of basic
operational data about AV driving. Since 2020, the Commission has issued
numerous decisions and rulings that reflect California’s strong public policy favoring
public access to documents and data that inform the public about both the
performance of regulated transportation providers and the performance of the
Commission itself as regulator. Yet Waymo seeks exclusive authority to make
judgments about the readiness of its systems for driverless operation while
obscuring basic operational data from the public.
3) Driverless Testing. Waymo has tested both automated driving and passenger
service extensively, but as of August 31, 2022, the latest date for which information
is available to the public, Waymo had not tested any passenger service in San
Francisco in vehicles that have no safety driver. This increases concern about the
potential for increased AV street obstructions.
4) Inadequate Reporting and Monitoring. The Commission’s existing data collection
requirements, public disclosure, and analysis do not provide the information
necessary to assess how automated driving technology is actually affecting the
safety, operations, equity, and accessibility of the City’s transportation network—as
distinct from how the industry hopes and asserts that it will. While the Commission
has not set any specific benchmarks for required AVPS performance, where events
illustrate significant performance problems, San Francisco urges the Commission to
collect performance data about those problems and use that data to support
transparent evaluation of more incremental expansion approvals.
San Francisco appreciates the wisdom reflected in the Commission’s Resolution TL-
19137 approving the first commercial AVPS deployment in California for a small fleet of Cruise
AVs operating only at night. San Francisco recommends that the results of that limited
deployment to date call for further restraint and limited initial deployments outside the
downtown core
3
and peak travel hours (weekdays, 7-10 AM and 4-7 PM) until a permittee
demonstrates that they can operate in the most demanding circumstances without
compromising safety, equity, accessibility and street capacity. A series of limited
deployments—rather than unlimited authorizations—offer the best path toward public
3
For purposes of AVPS permitting, San Francisco recommends that the Commission define the downtown core as
reflected in the boundaries of “Northeast San Francisco” in Exhibit A, an area in which transit density, communities
of concern and overall traffic congestion are all high. However, the more acute concerns could be addressed by
protecting the smaller area identified in Exhibit A.
4
confidence in driving automation and industry success in San Francisco and beyond. San
Francisco thus requests that CPED take the following actions:
1) Collect New Data to Support Incremental Expansion Evaluation: Develop and
recommend to the Commission, as a condition of approval for any commercial AVPS
deployment, new driverless readiness data collection requirements consistent with
those recommended below. Driverless readiness data collection should support
effective, reliable, timely, and transparent analysis of the immediate effects of AVPS
operations on the San Francisco transportation network and transit services before
approving initial or expansion requests;
2) Transparent Data Collection: Require AVPS permittees to submit, at a minimum,
the newly required data on a public basis without requests for confidential
treatment as a condition of approval of any Tier 2 or Tier 3 AVPS deployment Advice
Letter and provide at least 30 days of opportunity for public review and analysis of
that data before approving new commercial deployments or expansions;
3) Protect Downtown Core and Peak Travel Hours via Incremental Expansion:
Authorize delivery of commercial AVPS on San Francisco’s dense downtown core
streets and during the City’s peak transit and travel hours (weekdays, 7-10 AM and
4-7 PM) only after an AVPS provider has demonstrated that they can operate a
significant volume of commercial AVPS on San Francisco streets over a period of at
least several months without significant interruption of street operations and transit
services; and
4) Fleet Size Increments: Authorize expansion of fleet size in limited increments, such
as 100, 200, 400 (with further increments to be considered in later workshops and
rules) to ensure that new impacts that may appear as services scale do not
compromise San Francisco’s transportation network. This is particularly important
given that two companies both propose to offer service in San Francisco.
Alternate Protest Grounds and Path to Approval: If the Commission believes that
adopting new data reporting requirements to support analysis that may limit the scope for
approval of Advice Letters exceeds the proper use of the Advice letter process, San Francisco
protests on the alternate ground that the relief requested in the advice letter is inappropriate
for the advice letter process because it requires approval based on issues that were not
contemplated in the Deployment Decisions.
4
We call on the Commission to instead address
these recommendations by moving promptly to workshops and further rulemaking to establish
new driverless readiness metrics addressing AVs blocking travel lanes—industry conditions that
have arisen since Commission approval of Decision 20-11-046 (as modified by Decision 21-05-
017) (together, the Deployment Decisions). Any such rulemaking should precede approval of
additional AVPS deployments or expansions.
4
See General Order 96-B, Section 7.4.2 (5)
5
Workshops and Rulemaking: Even if the Commission develops measures to guide
incremental expansion through the permit condition approach recommended above, San
Francisco urges CPED to promptly schedule workshops and initiate a subsequent phase of the
proceeding (as contemplated by the Deployment Decision and Cruise Resolution) to address
industry developments since approval of the Deployment Decisions. San Francisco
recommends prompt additional consideration of a broader range of data collection and
disclosure issues, as well as disability access issues, including especially wheelchair accessible
service.
Commendations: Developing automated driving technology that seeks to meet and
exceed the driving performance of good human drivers is a fantastic technical challenge, and
we appreciate the achievements that Waymo and others have made to date. In addition to
general admiration for the purpose and intent of this effort, San Francisco commends the
following specific features reflected in Waymo’s Advice Letter that reflect efforts to address
some of the concerns raised by the City over the last several years:
• While Waymo has not developed an autonomous wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV),
Waymo took initiative to participate in the USDOT Inclusive Design Challenge to refine
wayfinding features for users with a variety of disabilities. Waymo also provides people
who use power wheelchairs an opportunity to request a ride through the Waymo One app.
Service comparable to that available for non-WAV users is delivered in conventional WAV
vehicles. Delivery of WAV service in conventional non-AV vehicles is an important interim
step that current Commission data collection requirements obscure.
• Waymo uses a number of tools to educate users that they may need to walk to access a safe
pick up or drop off location. Waymo provides walking directions between a user’s location
at the time of a trip request and the approved pickup location and between a drop off
location and the user’s ultimate destination. These features facilitate a virtuous cycle in
which Waymo and users are encouraged to minimize pick up and drop off (PUDO) impacts
on other street users while also providing an accessible option for people who need to
minimize walking.
• Waymo has made significant use of the communication potential of the main ADS sensor
module on the roof of the vehicle. In addition to using the sides of this space to
communicate to an individual passenger that they have identified the correct vehicle, they
have also used the front and rear of the space to post board and de-boarding icons during
dwell time. While this does not resolve risks associated with pick up and drop off stops in
the travel lane, it may help road users behind a Waymo vehicle to recognize that it is
currently stationary and to increase alertness that passengers could approach or open a
door.
6
Discussion & Recommendations
Section 1: New Information About Hazards & Network Impacts Caused by Planned &
Unplanned AV Stops Obstructing Travel Lanes Calls for New Driverless Readiness Data
Collection and Further Incremental Approvals for Commercial AVPS at This Time.
Section 2: Additional Data Collection is Necessary to Inform Incremental Deployment
Improvements.
Section 3: CPED Should Promptly Convene Workshops to Address Recent Industry
Developments, Consider Further Data Collection and Disclosure and Address Disability Access
Issues
Section 1: New Information About Hazards & Network Impacts Caused by Planned and
Unplanned AV Stops Obstructing Travel Lanes
5
Calls for New Driverless Readiness Data
Collection and Further Incremental Approvals for Commercial AVPS at This Time.
Unplanned Travel Lane AV Stops: Starting in late May 2022, long after the Commission
adopted Decision 20-11-046 (as it was modified by Decision 21-05-017 in November, 2020)
(together, the Deployment Decisions) managers in the City’s Department of Emergency
Management began to notice a number of calls to 9-1-1 from people who witnessed or were
affected by driverless AVs obstructing travel lanes. Sometimes these AVs caused extended
traffic backups. Callers also complained of erratic driving (including signaling in one direction
while moving in the other direction) or a Cruise AV blocking a transit vehicle. In other cases,
callers reported evasive maneuvers by other road users such as driving on a sidewalk to get
around a blockage caused by a disabled AV. The duration of these unplanned AV stops
obstructing travel lanes appeared to range from minutes (extending through many traffic light
cycles) to hours. Additional incidents were posted on social media or reported by the media.
The number of reported incidents is likely a fraction of the total unplanned stops because most
are reported during late night hours when few people are on the streets to notice them and
because many people would not think to call 9-1-1 in these circumstances.
5
By the term “Unplanned AV Stops Obstructing Travel Lanes,” San Francisco intends to incorporate both minimal
risk condition incidents that occur in travel lanes and vehicle retrieval events where field staff are dispatched to
retrieve an AV with human drivers. We are concerned with impacts on the transportation network and transit
services. San Francisco does not intend to reach incidents in which AVs achieve a minimal risk condition or must
be retrieved by human drivers from private property or where an AV is parked at a curb.
7
Unexpected and unplanned stops obstructing travel lanes create hazards. They can
cause other vehicles to make dangerous abrupt lane changes, brake or accelerate rapidly, or
veer into bike lanes or crosswalks. They can cause rear end collisions. The impact of these stops
varies because all streets are not equal. Small residential streets may serve only dozens of
travelers in an hour while others serve thousands or tens of thousands in an hour. Some are
used heavily by vulnerable road users and transit riders. Unfortunately, the AV failure incidents
reported by the public have been significantly concentrated on streets of great importance in
the City’s transportation network: downtown streets, streets with transit service, streets on the
bike network, intersections, and streets on the City’s High Injury Network (the 12% of San
Francisco streets that account for more than 68% of severe or fatal injury crashes).
The large majority of the unplanned travel lane AV stops reported through December
2022 involved Cruise AVs rather than Waymo vehicles. However, because the Commission
does not currently collect data on these incidents, it is not possible to fully understand the
frequency or overall effects of these stops. The low rate of complaints addressing Waymo
vehicles may reflect only a lower volume of Waymo driverless vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
rather than superior Waymo performance—or could reflect both VMT and performance
differences. While the absence of comprehensive data makes it difficult to discern meaningful
trends, the number of unique incidents reported to the City in December 2022 was the highest
since the Commission approved the limited Cruise deployment. Incidents could increase very
significantly if both Cruise and Waymo are allowed to significantly increase driverless
operations.
Under the circumstances, the Commission should promptly collect data measuring the
frequency and severity of road impacts (lanes affected and duration of impact). Because public
transit offers the most efficient mode of transportation from both a space and energy
perspective, it is important to assess transit impacts. Transit service disruptions do not just affect
passengers on board a vehicle directly affected; they also affect those waiting for transit vehicles
further along a route. The Commission should work with San Francisco to understand these
effects, because analysis requires detailed understanding of San Francisco transit and street
operations. Many transit routes travel through the downtown core, and obstructions in the
downtown core have an outsized impact on both vehicle traffic and transit in this area. No AVPS
provider should be authorized to deploy commercial services on densely traveled streets in the
downtown core or during peak travel hours (weekdays 7-10 AM and 4-7 PM) before
demonstrating low rates of unplanned stops that obstruct travel lanes and transit operations
because unplanned stops in these locations and hours will have outsized effects on the City’s
transportation network that are directly correlated with the scale of those incidents. Because
8
Waymo has conducted little or no driverless passenger service testing in San Francisco, no such
readiness determination is possible at this time.
Planned Stops for Passenger Pick Up and Drop Off (PUDO). In Decision 20-11-046 (as
modified by Decision 21-05-017) (together, the Deployment Decisions) the Commission required
AVPS permittees to report trip data that includes the location of stops to pick up and drop off of
passengers. These requirements were identified as serving equity goals and environmental goals.
Thereafter, in Resolution TL-19137 approving the first Advice Letter authorizing commercial AV
Passenger Services in California, the Commission acknowledged that “passenger pickup and drop-
off is a critical nexus of many of the safety and accessibility issues applicable to AV operations.”
6
The Commission further recognized “the broader safety concerns inherent to in-lane pickup and
drop off operations” and noted that it is “challenging to quantify the associated safety risk to
passengers and to other road users.” The Commission noted that nonetheless, rigorous
evaluation is necessary. Finally, the Commission recognized that near miss events represent a
substantial risk to all road users.
7
The City agrees with the Commission both that data collection to assess safety hazards
arising from PUDO operations is difficult and that rigorous evaluation is necessary. Resolution TL-
19137 notes that CPED “will collaborate with stakeholders to develop the categorization of
incidents and complaints,” including data related to pickup and drop-off. We are not aware of
any workshop or other context in which CPED discussed these issues with stakeholders, but CPED
did adopt data reporting requirements for AV deployment that appear intended to inform the
Commission about hazards created by travel lane PUDO stops. San Francisco considers the
required data collection extremely unlikely to accomplish the difficult task of quantifying the
safety of permittee PUDO operations or the risks to passengers and other road users caused by
those operations.
8
We recommend an alternative approach in Section 2 below and urge CPED to
revise or add to PUDO related data collection before approving Waymo or Cruise Advice Letters
so that information about both planned and unplanned stops blocking travel lanes can inform
incremental approval authorizations.
Section 2: Additional Data Collection is Necessary to Inform Incremental Deployment
Approvals.
6
Resolution TL19137, p. 11.
7
Id. at p. 12
8
Pickup and drop off in relation to travel lanes and the curb is reflected only in the incidents-complaints dictionary.
See CPUC AV Deployment Data Template and Dictionary 20221012 at Incidents-Complaints Dictionary Page.
Microsoft Excel file. Accessed at
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/regulatory-services/licensing/transportation-licensing-
and-analysis-branch/autonomous-vehicle-programs/quarterly-reporting
9
The CPUC collects data quarterly on AV passenger service authorized under its pilot and
deployment permits. The pilot data is narrowly focused, aggregate, and contains no geographic
information.
9
The deployment data is broader in scope, contains detailed trip level
information, and includes information on vehicle charging and public safety incidents. Under
the Commission’s Deployment Decisions and previous Testing Decisions the Commission
receives no data that documents planned or unplanned stops obstructing travel lanes at all.
While San Francisco believes the Commission should adopt a wide range of driverless readiness
metrics for evaluating permit requests, we focus here on issues that address recent problems
that initial AVPS deployments have caused in San Francisco street operations. San Francisco
distinguishes readiness metrics from impact metrics that address issues that may reasonably
evolve over time. These include, for example, metrics identifying the occupancy of AVPS trips,
deadheading miles, and their related congestion and energy effects.
To assess how unexpected and unplanned stops obstructing travel lanes impact the
transportation network it is critical to know the location and duration of each unplanned stop.
San Francisco also recommends using a metric that assesses the rate at which these unplanned
stops occur. Given the importance of transit in meeting state climate and equity goals, special
consideration should be given to obstructions impacting transit operations.
For purposes of assessing whether and how well AVs approach the curb for passenger
pick up and drop off, San Francisco recommends a metric that identifies the distribution of these
planned stops in terms of the vehicle distance from the curb. Distance from the curb alone does
not directly measure whether any particular stop is safe or lawful; however, distributional data
on distance from the curb for all PUDO stops may document the overall success of an AVPS
provider in the many skills required to identify and maneuver into available curb spaces on San
Francisco streets. Stakeholders should discuss how such a metric should capture PUDO stops
made in off street locations such as driveways and parking lots, and the metric could also be
refined to focus on the high-volume travel streets where planned stops have the greatest impact
on road safety and capacity.
San Francisco recommends that the Commission adopt the following readiness metrics
as a condition of approval of AVPS deployment permits:
• Unplanned AV stops (including minimal risk condition and vehicle retrieval events)
obstructing travel lanes in relation to driverless vehicle miles traveled;
9
See Deployment Decisions at Conclusions of Law Paragraphs 5(k), 5(m), 7(m), 7(o), 13, and 14; Ordering
Paragraphs 5(k), 5(m) , 7(m), 7(o), and 14; CPUC AV Deployment Data Template and Dictionary 20221012 at Trip-
Level Data Dictionary Page. Microsoft Excel file. Accessed at https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/regulatory-
services/licensing/transportation-licensing-and-analysis-branch/autonomous-vehicle-programs/quarterly-
reporting.
10
• Total lane minutes of obstruction from driverless failures obstructing travel lanes in
relation to driverless VMT;
• Distribution of passenger pick up and drop off stops by distance from the curb; and
• Distribution of passenger pick up and drop off stops by dwell time.
Accordingly, applicants for Phase 1 Driverless Deployment permits should be required to submit
the following information for all driverless operations under any CPUC permit. Monthly data
reporting would best balance the public interest in understanding basic readiness information
when it is relevant to Commission decisions with industry desires to expand quickly:
• All driverless vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for each permit;
• Location and duration of unplanned AV stops (including minimal risk condition
(MRC) and vehicle retrieval events (VRE)) obstructing travel lanes by vehicle and
underlying permit; and
• Passenger pick up stops by location, distance from the curb and dwell time for all
passenger stops.
Both Cruise and Waymo have sought confidential treatment of most detailed
deployment data currently required and have redacted it from their public filings. This includes
the VMT information that would provide context for rates of unexpected and unplanned AV stops
obstructing travel lanes. For example, Waymo has redacted data showing VMT of its drivered
deployment operations and even high level location information, such as information at the
zipcode or census tract level. As a result, the public has no access to information about either
driving achievement or driving problems arising from operations to date that could support
public input on either Tier 2 or Tier 3 advice letters. None of San Francisco’s newly
recommended data fields raise any privacy issues. Although the metrics may reflect on permittee
performance in ways that applicants find uncomfortable, none of these data fields call for
information that can be legitimately described as protected trade secrets. Thus, the Commission
should require applicants to submit this data in public form without opportunity for claims of
confidential treatment.
Section 3: CPED Should Promptly Convene Workshops to Address Recent Industry
Developments, Consider Further Data Collection and Disclosure and Address Disability
Access Issues
If CPED believes new data collection on the safety and congestion issues raised by
planned and unplanned stops obstructing travel lanes cannot be addressed via new permit
conditions in the Advice Letter process, San Francisco urges CPED to exercise the authority
11
delegated by TL-19137
10
to promptly convene the workshop contemplated by that resolution to
address these proposals—before approving the Waymo advice letter—and exercise the authority
delegated to establish data reporting requirements consistent with that resolution.
In addition, the Deployment Decision stated that CPED would hold a workshop to
evaluate the status of the Phase 1 AV deployment operations within a year of issuance of the
decision and authorized CPED to adjust the timing of the workshop as necessary to ensure there
is a meaningful amount of data to discuss. Among other things, the workshop was intended to
address the quality and quantity of data gathered to date, whether and how to revise the data
collection requirements, and whether to revise the program goals and establish targets or make
any other changes to the AV pilot or Phase 1 deployment programs.
11
More than one year has
now elapsed since the Commission approved this language, and if there is not sufficient data to
discuss, that itself warrants prompt convening of a workshop.
In addition to the recommendations addressed in Section 2, San Francisco notes a need
to improve data collection related to trips delivered to people who use wheelchairs. While Cruise
has been working to develop a wheelchair accessible AV, Waymo has given passengers an
opportunity to request a ride through the Waymo One app.
12
Waymo delivers these rides using
conventional WAV vehicles with human drivers. While San Francisco believes delivery of truly
equivalent service in automated WAVs should be a high priority, the use of conventional WAVs
enables Waymo to provide comparable service and learn from WAV users about their needs in
order to avoid the long-standing practice of excluding riders who require wheelchair accessible
vehicles. At this time, WAV trip requests and the number of trips delivered in conventional
wheelchair accessible vehicles are not captured in quantitative AVPS deployment reporting.
These are only a few of many issues about implementation of the Commission’s goal to “expand
the benefits of AV technologies to all Californians, including people with disabilities”
13
that
warrants further discussion at this time.
We encourage CPED to convene a workshop to discuss ways the Commission can avoid
a situation in which its authorizations to deploy commercial AVPS without WAV service not only
fail to serve people who need WAV service but also undermine WAV services provided by taxi
and TNC competitors that, to varying degrees, do provide such services. WAV users who were
excluded from the ability to use TNC services for many years should not face the same exclusion
from the benefits of automated vehicle passenger services. Nor should they face the even worse
situation of having inaccessible AV passenger services drive accessible alternatives out of the
market.
10
Resolution TL19137, p. 14.
11
Deployment Decisions at p. 75, Conclusions of Law Paragraph 11, Ordering Paragraph 12.
12
See Waymo Advice Letter at pp. 2, Attachment B, pp. B-23 - B-25
13
Deployment Decisions at p. 39.
12
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tumlin Tilly Chang
Director of Transportation Executive Director
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Nicole Bohn
Director
Mayor’s Office on Disability
13
EXHIBIT A: San Francisco Downtown Core
From a transportation perspective, the downtown core road network refers to a concentration
of streets and freeway on- and off-ramps of critical importance to the efficient functioning of
the city’s overall transportation network. Its boundaries are Broadway to the north, Van Ness,
Fulton and Laguna to the west, and 14th, Division and Mission Creek to the South.
The importance of these roads can be summarized by four factors:
• High concentration of the high priority network to the city’s Transit First policy, namely,
high priority transit services, and high priority active transportation facilities.
• High concentration of the Vision Zero High Injury Network, meaning, roads in San
Francisco with the highest concentration of injury collisions.
• High concentration of congested streets, i.e. streets where the average speed achieved
is below a Level of Service D.
14
• High concentration of Equity Priority Communities, such as households with low
incomes and people of color.
The map above also shows an extended area in the northeast quadrant of San Francisco which
reflects a broader area of concentration of these priority considerations and the city’s long-
standing Transit First investment and policy focus. The western boundary continues along Van
Ness, and the southern boundary continue along 7th and Mariposa.
