The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which manages all surface transportation including the Municipal Railway (Muni), released its Transit Effectiveness Project’s (TEP) Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The TEP is a joint effort by the SFMTA and the City Controller’s Office that aims to transform Muni so that people can get where they want to go more quickly, reliably and safely.

Initiatives under the TEP Draft Implementation Strategy include travel time reduction proposals, service changes and associated systemwide infrastructure, terminal and transfer points improvements, overhead wire expansion and long-term studies. Taken together, the TEP proposals anticipate up to a 20% travel time reduction along eight project corridors and propose a 10% increase in service for the system overall.

The TEP Draft Environmental Impact Report is an objective analysis conducted by the San Francisco Planning Department and is designed to disclose impacts associated with a broad range of Muni project proposals, including traffic and parking changes, as well as other environmental effects. However, the report is not an implementation plan, so not every proposal will be part of the final project.

In the fall, the SFMTA will engage the community to refine the projects described in the Draft EIR to come up with the final implementation plan.

The TEP Draft Environmental Impact Report will be open to public comment from July 11 to August 26, 2013. The public comment period provides decision-makers and the general public with an opportunity to provide feedback specifically on the environmental impacts of the TEP.

A final EIR is expected in early 2014 with Planning Commission certification to follow.