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Daily Planet Staff 

You don’t need a statistician to figure out that myriad Berkeley streets are growing more clogged with cars each year: Just look at the white knuckles of the guy stuck in traffic at San Pablo and Ashby. 

Numbers, nonetheless, underscore the experience: In 1977, there were some 8,500 cars using the stretch of Dwight Way between San Pablo Avenue and Sacramento Street. Now there are 15,800, an 86 percent increase. 

In 1977, 16,000 cars moved daily along Sacramento Street, between Ashby Avenue and Alcatraz Avenue. Today there are 21,600 cars moving every day along that stretch, a 35 percent increase. 

Some of the volume grew because people switched routes. But planners believe most the increase comes from more people driving in the city. Car ownership in Berkeley grew from 46,273 in 1970 to 56,488 in 1990, but that only tells part of the story. 

Some 60 “citizen planners” met Wednesday night at the South Berkeley Senior Center to brainstorm solutions to the car crunch, gathering with planning commissioners and staff to talk about the transportation element of the city’s General Plan. 

The General Plan is the city’s official roadmap to development for the next 20 years. Planning department staff and commissioners are working on the draft for a new General Plan. People can send comments or ideas to Andrew Thomas at the planning department. 

Good affordable public transportation would relieve the streets. But as one bus-dependent citizen pointed out, it takes over an hour to get from her home near Alcatraz and Telegraph avenues to her business at Eighth and Gilman streets. 

To get people to leave their cars at home, bus service needs to be reliable. 

“You need to keep in mind the needs and wants of the employer. If someone is 16 minutes late at Bayer (Corporation), they are docked an hour,” said John Atkinson, Bayer’s transportation director and former director of the employer-funded experimental electric shuttle service, no longer in operation. Bayer now funds compressed gas shuttles that run from the Ashby BART station to Bayer. 

Participants suggested a number of ways to speed up the buses: diamond mass-transit only lanes; “queue-jumper” lanes - the removal of a number of parking spaces at a corner, to allow buses to get around traffic jams; a mechanism on buses that turns the traffic signals green; and signage that says “yield to buses.” 

“AC Transit needs to coordinate its buses so people don’t have to wait more than five minutes to transfer,” said Suzanne Adams, adding to the list of ideas. 

Frequent short-route shuttle buses, similar to the Emery Go-Round, could make taking buses more palatable. And bus shelters, already in the pipeline, will keep commuters out of the elements. 

The cost of public transpiration must go down, people said. 

“Increase taxes on gas,” said Henk Bovenhuis. “The money would go toward public transit. People should get on buses for a quarter and on BART for 50 cents.” 

Another alternative is for the city to adopt a citywide pass, similar to the university “Class Pass.” All students pay $18 per year for access to a pass and can pick it up if they chose. The pass allows them to use AC Transit buses without additional cost. 

All Berkeley citizens could be taxed for access to a citywide pass. Or the pass could be employer-based, with employers opting for a bus plan for their employees. Transportation staff is looking into these ideas. 

Light rail should be a priority, said Roland Peterson of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District. Hybrid electric/gas powered buses should be considered and ferries should be added to the mix, others said. 

How land is used – where people live and work – directly affects how many cars are on the streets. 

Developer Patrick Kennedy and Richard Register of Ecocity Builders said that is why high-density housing should be built near work sites and transportation corridors. 

Satellite parking with frequent shuttle service – Planning Commission Chair Rob Wrenn suggested parking at Golden Gate Fields – could help take cars off the street. 

There were several people representing downtown businesses and arts organizations who reminded the group that the use of cars is a reality, particularly when the business in question targets a regional audience. 

Others responded that planning should emphasize the use of public transportation for people’s daytime employment needs, but could accept that when people go to the theatre they might want to drive their cars. 

“We need to cut down on the number of cars coming into Berkeley and sitting here all day,” Carrie Sprague said. 

If evening theatergoers are to depend on their cars, parking must be available. Wrenn argued, however, that university parking is available, but some lots are underused. The university-owned lot available to the public at Bancroft Way and Fulton Street is very underused on weekends and in the evening, he said, calling for greater coordination with UC Berkeley. 

Cyclists called for a greater emphasis on bicycles in the General Plan, but Wrenn said that since the bike boulevards are already under way, new planning for bicycles is not a priority. 

Participants addressed the problem of speeding cars. Speed humps were once thought to be the answer, but they are now known to harm some physically disabled and elderly persons, when these persons traverse them cars or vans. 

A number of people said they thought the answer is stepped-up police enforcement. 

“Give them a ticket,” Sprague suggested, “then give them a couple of AC Transit passes.” 

Send comments for inclusion in the General Plan to Andrew Thomas, project manager, at the Berkeley Planning Department, 2118 Milvia St., Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94704, with a copy, if possible, to Rob Wrenn at robwrenn@home.com. 

The next general plan meeting will discuss land use. It will be at 7 p.m., May 10, at the Northbrae Community Church at 941 The Alameda.