A 'Transfer Point' in the People's Republic of San Francisco

 Joe Eskenazi at the SF Weekly explains:

At times, it's difficult to remember that voters approved the Central Subway. That's because the project, a 1.7-mile extension of the T-line running from SoMa to Chinatown, as described in Proposition K of 2003, hardly resembles its current iteration. A $647 million budget has swelled to some $1.6 billion. An estimated daily ridership exceeding 100,000 is now pegged at 35,100[...]

 Kinda makes you want to sit down and ponder the state of things. And, in the future Union Square/Market Street station, you'll have opportunities to do just that. Sorry, there's not going to be a moving walkway transporting you the thousand feet from the future station to the regular Muni lines at Powell. Instead, per Muni memos, there will be "public benches along the concourse for the comfort of the elderly and other patrons."

A map and chart obtained from Muni via a public records request breaks down this journey into what may well be the world's longest transfer — from Union Square/Market Street to Powell.

Heading from the new to the old requires a walk of 114 feet, leading to a 63-foot ascent on an escalator. Then there's a 541-foot stroll on the concourse, followed by a 21-foot descent on a stairway. Finally, you'll amble 219 more feet to reach Powell and, hopefully, be handed a small cup of Gatorade to sip or pour over your head — 85 feet higher and 1,018 feet away from whence you began.

This trip, Muni calculated, will take an able-bodied person seven minutes and six seconds. In publicity materials, however, Muni has offered the svelter estimate of four minutes, 48 second