Going Green on San Francisco's Streets

It’s Climate Week in San Francisco! So, in this episode, we’re discussing the work the SFMTA does to give people environmentally friendly transportation options. From Muni to EV charging stations at the curb, it’s not hard to go green while getting around the city. The episode features conversations with SF Environment Executive Director Tyrone Jue, Muni Zero Emission Program Manager Bhavin Khatri and SFMTA Parking and Curb Management Planner Broderick Paolo. 

Transcript

MELISSA CULROSS, HOST: We all can do our part, even if that’s something small, to protect the environment. And when it comes to climate change, you might already be fighting it…simply by taking Muni.

TYRONE JUE, SF ENVIRONMENT DIRECTOR: Every single time you tap your Clipper Card, you are taking climate action. 

MELISSA: Welcome to Taken with Transportation, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s official podcast. I’m your host, Melissa Culross, and it’s Climate Week in San Francisco. So, in this episode, we’re talking climate and the environment.

We begin with Tyrone Jue, director of SF Environment….and ask him first about San Francisco’s climate goals.

TYRONE: We wanna have cleaner air, cleaner buildings by 2040 in a city that is livable. We’ve made tremendous progress on this front. We’ve actually reduced our emissions by 48%, as compared to our 1990 levels. And this is, in part, because of our Climate Action Plan. This is a unifying document coordinating the activities of 20 different city departments, including the SFMTA, on how we reach these goals and what are the actions and strategies to do so. So, it’s a tremendous point of pride for the city that we’ve made this progress because we’re so aligned. 
 
MELISSA: What role does transportation play in the fight against climate change or the production of greenhouse gases.
 
TYRONE: Transportation is a huge driver of emissions within the city. So, about 45% of our emissions from the city come from the transportation sector. Now, I wanna make sure I differentiate that because the transportation sector covers a lot. We have one of the cleanest public transit systems, and that’s actually not the source of the transportation emissions. It’s actually the vehicles on the road. About three-quarters of our transportation emissions comes from those single occupancy vehicles and delivery vehicles that are putting out that carbon pollution. Just imagine a tailpipe and black stuff coming out of that tailpipe. That’s what we’re trying to prevent more of.
 
MELISSA: So, you said something very exciting to me, which is that we have a green public transit system. What kind of impact would choosing to take Muni have on the environment in the city.
 
TYRONE: We don’t think about this way, but every single time you tap your Clipper Card, whether it’s on your phone or, like me, I still use the physical card, you are taking climate action. You are doing something good for the city and doing something good for all your surrounding neighbors ‘cause, again, you’re taking one car off that road. And remember, go back to that tailpipe, you’re taking those pollutants off the road, as well.

MELISSA: Jue just mentioned that almost half of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector. But public transit is responsible for just a small fraction of those emissions. And we mean ALL the public transit systems that operate within the city, including the ferries, BART, CalTrain and Golden Gate Transit. When we’re talking about Muni alone, the percentage is even smaller. In fact, Muni only generates .01% of San Francisco’s overall emissions. Meanwhile, a lot of us here also get around on bicycles, scooters or our own two feet. Choosing to travel in any way other than by private car has an effect both on the environment…and on people.

TYRONE: Every time you bike, you walk…I mean, first of all, we just feel more connected. Like, I enjoy, kind of, just walking through the neighborhoods ‘cause it allows me to connect with people and to our communities. I think that’s something that when we get outside, we’re able to do. We also get that on public transit, too. Because when you’re on public transit, you connect with everyone else that you’re riding public transit with. You’re sharing this space, and you’re all going towards a common destination. We are a Transit First city. But the most important thing is, the reason why we’re a Transit First city is it brings down all of this pollution, right? It’s the most efficient way, actually, to move large groups of people using one bus, in this case, to get to your destination versus put those hundreds of people out on the street, and you’re in gridlock, which no wants, and no one likes.
 
MELISSA: You know, San Francisco is such a small city, and it’s so densely populated. What kind of challenges does that pose in terms of keeping our environment as clean as possible?
 
TYRONE: I look everything half-glass empty, half-glass full. So, I’ll start with the cons. The challenge of being in a very dense city is, you know, you’re bound to bump elbows with people. So, there’s a lot of competition for the space that we have ‘cause there’s limited space. That includes the streets, the sidewalks, even where you build, kind of, housing, right? All of this, you’re, you’re kind of bumping up against someone. And so, it creates challenges of just investing in infrastructure because you might be disrupting someone else’s wellbeing. And so, that’s the one challenge. On the flipside, though, on the positive, it means that every investment that you make scales dramatically. Let’s just step away from transit, and let’s talk about street trees. You know, we were planting hundreds of street trees in District 3 a couple weekends ago. And those trees are not just benefitting the affronting homeowners. They’re going to be there for everyone that walks down that block in the community. And so, by this act of planting, you know, a hundred trees, the multiplier effect in a dense city gets realized. And the same is true for transit, as well.

MELISSA: With all this talk about Muni, we, of course, ask Jue about his own transit use.

TYRONE: My favorite Muni line is the 1 California. So, I grew up in San Francisco Chinatown, and in order to get to the west side of the city, the 1 California was my, kind of, connection line. My current bus line is the 37 because I live up in Twin Peaks. But Muni is how I’ve gotten around since I was a kid. So, I got to school going on Muni. And now I get to lead climate action for the city also on, on Muni. So, if there’s a throughline, in terms of climate action, I might be the living proof of it.

MELISSA: Our environmental efforts are paying off…and the world is noticing. A report released last month by the global initiative Breathe Cities shows that San Francisco is a leader when it comes to cutting air pollution.

TYRONE: We are the only North American city to have achieved a greater than 20% reduction in particulate matter and NO2s, uh, coming from our streets. Alright, that’s a huge accomplishment. It’s a measurable accomplishment. And of that is actually due to the transportation work that we’ve done. So, the expansion of all of the work on our public transit, investing in that infrastructure. The expansion of our biking infrastructure and creating more safe, accessible ways for people to move around. And also, our work on just electrifying everything that is on the road because people still need to get to, however they need to get to, uh, in whatever mode they choose. And sometimes they may need a car. We need to make sure everything on the road is 100% emissions-free. Take that all together, you get the only North American city that has reduced these pollutants by more than 20%. So, hats off to the entire city and the public for, uh, helping lead the charge.
 
MELISSA: What changes in just everyday people’s behavior have you seen in recent years, if any?
 
TYRONE: I always at, like, the 30-year arc. So, this is our 30th anniversary as a department. And when I look back over that 30 years, you know, I look back at that first year, one of the things we did was composting. Right now, we think of composting as this normal San Francisco behavior. It was not that 30 years ago. It was a fight to get there because the system was set up differently. And so, it was hard for people to imagine a different future. And what we’ve shown is, you can change the system if you get at alignment with the public. You have public policy. You have public investment in the future you wanna create. And now look at it. We’re the model for the state and the world. And that’s just one example. We, together as a city, closed down the last two fossil fuel burning plants in the city, These were operating in 2000…up to 2006 and 2010 and burdening our environmental justice communities. And now we have advanced our renewable clean electricity goals in our city. So, it shows that all of this is possible. And it makes me excited for the future and what we do if we get that alignment, we get investment in this infrastructure that’s so vital. And that’s the same for our public transit. Like, we cannot reach our climate goals unless we invest in these systems from the biking infrastructure, making it safe for pedestrians and people to walk and roll, and ride public transit by having a robust system. And I think we’ve made tremendous progress with what we’ve had so far. And that’s because of people willing to embrace this lifestyle. And we need to keep investing in that to keep this growing. 

MELISSA: Jue acknowledges that sometimes life can feel overwhelming for any number of reasons. And in those moments tackling something as big as climate change or other pressing issues might feel impossible. But change and making progress, he says, are very possible.

TYRONE: We’ve done this before when we put that attention and leadership toward it. And this is actually where San Francisco stands apart, and why people look to places like San Francisco on what we choose to do and what we don’t choose to do. And that’s what climate leadership is. It’s leaning in when things are a little bit difficult to show the way for others. And that’s when San Francisco shines. We’re at our best when we believe in this city and the values and the things that make it San Francisco, like our public transit, like our communities and neighborhoods that are connected by it. And when we believe in each other. And so, no matter what’s happening around us, we can always take one positive action, whether it’s tapping your Clipper card on Muni or riding a bike, or whether it’s composting at home.

MELISSA: Since Muni is big part of climate action in San Francisco, we decided to talk to riders about why they choose it.

RIDER-1: I ride Muni because I save money on gas and having a car out here. Don’t have to worry about parking. I get where I need to go quickly and easily.
 
RIDER-2: I love how convenient it is. I love how smooth the ride is. I love that I can basically take one ride with a lot of people and not have to rely on my own car in order to get places. It seems much more efficient and much better for the environment.

MELISSA: And even visitors appreciate Muni, especially those who will be residents one day, as we learned when we met Helena at the 33 Ashbury bus stop at 18th and Church streets.

HELENA: I’m all the way from London but actually living in Vietnam right now, so…
 
MELISSA: And then you are planning to move here, though, right?

HELENA: Yeah, I’m planning to move here and become a teacher here.
 
MELISSA: We’re waiting for the 33. Did you know that every time you take Muni, you are helping the environment in San Francisco?
 
HELENA: I did not know that, but I’m so happy to be a part of that and not pay an expensive Uber fee.

MELISSA: Let’s talk a little more about how Muni is good for the environment. Its fleet is the greenest of any major North American transit system, and Bhavin Khatri explains why. He’s the Zero Emission program manager for Muni.

BHAVIN KHATRI, MUNI ZERO EMISSION PROGRAM MANAGER: We run the most number of zero emission miles, and that's largely thanks to our trolleybus fleet. King County Metro comes second. They have, also have a large, uh, trolley fleet. And then our trolley buses, they run on the high frequency, high ridership network. So actually, that helps with having the most number of miles. And then this really matters because, you know, we've been running this fleet for 85 years, the trolleybus fleet. In fact, our, uh, cable car fleet, our LRV fleet, our historic fleet, they all are zero emission. So, more than 50% of our fleet is already zero emission. So, our fleet is very green. And even our hybrid fleet, we are actually running on renewable diesel. And our hybrid fleet runs on certain routes on electricity. We turn off the engine, and we call them the green zones. And our buses run on those routes and produce no emissions. We actually select those zones based on the environmental impact in that community. And so, we select routes to run this green zone on  that has historically disadvantaged community and has high pollution in the area. So, that also makes our fleet clean. And we've been electrifying long before electric bus existed. Most agencies are just beginning to really electrify their bus fleet. But we began decades ago. So, we aren't just starting the transition. We've been zero emission leader for decades. And so, when we talk about being green, we're not just talking about future plan. We're talking about system that has already delivered zero emission service at scale for decades.

MELISSA: As we discussed with SF Environment Director Tyrone Jue earlier in this episode, San Francisco has a goal of producing net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. At the SFMTA, we’re working toward a similar climate goal. 

BHAVIN: We are fully committed to transition our fleet to zero emission by 2040. But reaching that goal responsibly requires us to align two major factors. So, we have a bus electrification plan and then we have a facilities modernization plan. And we really need to align those to be successful. And biggest barrier to really aligning this effort is funding. And funding for, really, facilities and infrastructure is the major thing here. As you know, some of our yards are very aging facility, and we must undergo reconstruction on those. You know, to just do a seismic upgrade, utility improvement, modern safety standard, and completely new electrical system before really, we can install an electric bus infrastructure at those facilities. And then if you were to electrify yards right now, and let's just say that without modernizing them first, then we would have to come back later, tear it all apart. And that really would be wasteful, disruptive and financially irresponsible. The challenge is bus electrification is regulated from California Air Resources Board while the other isn't. And because there is no mandate for facilities upgrade, there is no stable, dedicated funding source. And facility electrification is progressing much more slowly because of that. And, and electrification is expensive. Federal and state grants are competitive and, and they're oversubscribed. And, and there's just not enough to close the gap. You know, it's not a secret, we're operating at a structural deficit here, uh, beginning 26-27. And so, because of this, our highest priority must be to protect transit service, which is the backbone of our climate strategy. Really, the single most effective way to reduce the emission is to get people to ride transit. Cars are the biggest source of greenhouse gas emission in San Francisco. So, every rider we keep or, or win back, shifts a trip away from private cars which, again, remains the largest source of emission in the city.

MELISSA: So, where do we go from here?

BHAVIN: Our next steps are about balancing urgency with realism, maintaining a reliable service today while building toward full electrification. And we're doing that in several ways. First, we're procuring limited number of battery electric buses. So, we're buying 18 battery electric buses. And then second, we're going to continue to procure hybrid buses at least through 2031. Infrastructure costs and timeline prevents us from buying battery electric buses at scale today. And hybrids allow us to bridge that gap. And, and it allows us to provide reliable service while all facilities catch up. Third, we're modernizing our bus yard in sequence, starting with Potrero, one at a time approach, and then coordinating closely with PG&E and integrating electrification directly into our facility framework, instead of, you know, treating it as a standalone effort. And then fourth, we're investing in yard management and smart charging. So together, you know, these steps are going to position us for a large scale battery electric bus deployment once modernized facility come online.

MELISSA: Now, we know there is more to transportation than just Muni. And we do support people who drive in San Francisco, including by helping them go green when it comes to their personal vehicles. Broderick Paolo is a planner in the agency’s Parking and Curb Management group, and we’re talking to him about charging electric vehicles in the city and our curbside EV charging program.

BRODERICK PAOLO, PARKING AND CURB MANAGEMENT PLANNER: People are currently charging their cars either at retail lots, fast-charging hubs or, if they have the luxury of having a charger at home, they charge at home. Or sometimes employers provide charging at work. Like many people in San Francisco who are either renting or live in multi-family unit housing without dedicated parking, curbside charging gives these people the closest thing to an at-home charging experience as possible. These chargers are very low profile. They’re level-two chargers. So, that means they deliver anywhere from about 15 to 35 miles of range for every hour they’re plugged in. This saves drivers time, money and headaches. So, they’re not running around town looking for a fast-charging hub or a place to plug in. They’re able to do it right in their neighborhood at the curb, right in their backyard.

MELISSA: The curbside EV charging program is still in the pilot stage. But Paolo says our commitment to helping people keep their EVs charged isn’t new.

BRODERICK: We’ve actually been supporting EVs in our garages for over 15 years. We’ve had chargers in our garages for that amount of time. So now, we’re at the point, we want to expand charging beyond the garages and onto our streets. We started off with a feasibility study to explore whether it’s feasible from an operational, financial and regulatory perspective to install, maintain and operate a curbside charging network. And for the pilot, we launched the pilot with the spirit of learn-by-doing to begin testing out a variety of curbside charging models at a handful of locations to inform the greater program, which is happening right now. So, that includes chargers mounted to existing utility poles, pedestal chargers and even a bring-your-own-cord model. So, we have a few more chargers to get in the ground. We’ll wrap up the pilot by looking at data ensuring they are well-kept and well-maintained. And then we’ll close out the pilot and transition to our permanent program.

MELISSA: We’ve headed outside for a moment to Hermann and Fillmore Streets. San Francisco’s first curbside EV charging station is here. It was the first to go into the ground as part of our pilot…and as we are standing here on a sunny afternoon, there are a couple of cars being charged. Just like you might have lunch around this time, they are getting their fuel for the afternoon. And they’re doing it right at the curb. Okay, now back to our conversation with Paolo.

BRODERICK: To accelerate our EV adoption rates, we need about 450 more publicly accessible chargers. The city already has about 1300. Most of those 450 will end up in our off-street lots and garages, but we’re aiming to install a hundred curbside chargers to help close that gap. So, MTA’s Taxis, Access and Mobility Services team is developing a new permanent program that will be citywide. And we have been designing with the idea of accessibility from the very beginning.

MELISSA: As of the recording of this podcast, the SFMTA Board of Directors has approved a permit program for companies that want to work with the city and install curbside charging stations. Legislation that officially creates the permanent curbside charging program needs to make its way through City Hall. In the meantime, we ask Paolo what, if anything, we have been hearing from electric vehicle owners during the pilot.

BRODERICK: We actually just heard a story from a father of a growing family who has an EV and was about to give it up and sell it because the hassle of finding charging when he needed it was becoming too much. Thankfully, we came in with our curbside chargers at Hermann and Fillmore just at the right time to save the day. And so, he didn’t have to switch back to a gas car. Other than that, people are reaching out to us left and right to get chargers in their neighborhoods, so they can also benefit from this amenity.

MELISSA: We said at the beginning of this episode that we all can do our part to protect the environment. Hopefully, all the work we’ve discussed here can make that a little easier for everybody. 

Thank you for joining us on Taken with Transportation. We’re a production of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and you can find the latest episodes at SFMTA.com-slash-Podcast, as well as Apple, Spotify, our YouTube channel or wherever you listen. I’m Melissa Culross, be well and travel well.