Turns onto Market Street by private cars barred starting Tuesday

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency workers place no turn signs on Market at 6th streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 6, 2015. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency workers place no turn signs on Market at 6th streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 6, 2015. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Turns onto Market Street by private cars barred starting Tuesday 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Anyone hoping to cruise San Francisco’s motley main drag of Market Street, whether driving through or simply gawking, will likely have to do it aboard Muni, in a taxi, on a bicycle or on foot.

Come Tuesday, in the latest evolution of the thoroughfare, private vehicles will be barred from turning onto Market between Third and Eighth streets — an effort to reduce the number of collisions injuring pedestrians and bicyclists. Commercial vehicles, including delivery trucks, taxis and private shuttles, will be exempt.

Combined with existing forced right turns for eastbound private cars at Sixth and 10th streets, the restrictions will drive most vehicles off Market.

So enjoy that drive down Mission Street, and know that you’re helping to make the city safer and the Muni buses faster.

Ed Reiskin, transportation director for the Municipal Transportation Agency, said the turn restrictions are designed to keep traffic flowing across Market Street, while making the intersections safer by eliminating turns and reducing through traffic.

“As important and central a street as Market Street is for the city, it is also a place where a lot of people are being injured and killed in collisions,” he said. “It’s home to four of the top 20 injury intersections in the city. It’s a safety issue. We have a lot of conflicts, and people are getting hurt.”

Here’s what you need to know before Tuesday:

Mind the signs

They’re covered now, or still being installed, but by Tuesday morning new signs will appear at intersections crossing Market. In addition to the familiar circle-and-slash signs banning left or right turns, others will appear: Stay in lane. No turns onto Market. You get the idea.

The quick version: Drivers can traverse Market on cross streets between Third to Eighth, but can’t turn onto it. For now, a right turn from northbound Fifth Street onto eastbound Market will be permitted but only until Ellis Street reopens; it’s closed for Central Subway construction.

During the first week, parking control officers will be at every intersection directing motorists. Drivers who ignore them risk getting a ticket.

The red tide of transit lanes will continue to roll down Market Street.

The MTA plans to extend those red transit-and-taxi-only lanes, which now end at Fifth Street, all the way east to Third Street. Officials hope the confluence of the red lanes and reduced traffic will speed Muni buses, which, citywide, creep along at an average of 6 mph.

“An ancillary benefit for the people that ride Muni is that by removing traffic from Market Street, we will free up capacity and reduce delays on Muni,” Reiskin said.

After the MTA started pushing eastbound cars off Market at Sixth and 10th streets, it saw travel times for Muni buses drop by 5 percent on Market, but increase 3 percent on Mission.

Taxis yes, Uber no

Taxis will still be able to turn onto Market, and can even use the so-called red carpet transit lanes. But the MTA will not extend the courtesy to ride services, including Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Those services, which are neither licensed nor regulated by the city, must follow the restrictions.

While other ride service companies went along with the plan, Uber objected to its exclusion during an MTA board hearing, and suggested the agency was giving taxis preferential treatment.

Directors pointed out that Uber emphasizes that its drivers aren’t employees and drive their own cars, which makes them private vehicles subject to the restrictions.

Down the road

The MTA has no plans to extend the turn restrictions farther up or down Market, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

Better Market Street, a multiagency city plan to redesign the boulevard, was supposed to have been completed in 2013 in conjunction with a repaving.

But, as is often the case in San Francisco, it’s taking longer than planned. So long, in fact, that Public Works couldn’t wait, and did some preliminary repaving. The MTA didn’t want to wait either, especially after embracing Vision Zero, a plan to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024.

Better Market Street, still in the planning stages and undergoing required environmental studies, could eliminate cars, or widen sidewalks, or install protected bike lanes. Decisions are unlikely for at least a couple of years, and the final design is probably three to four years away — at least.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan