Yes, they can be removed, and should be. There is virtually zero automobile cross traffic. Pedestrians could be served by means of a footbridge over Octavia. Or, by submerging Octavia Street into a tunnel for these blocks.

There is plenty of cross traffic for pedestrians, automobiles and MUNI. Taking away those lights is a really terrible idea. To reduce bottleneck, a better idea would be to allow for a right-turn lane onto the freeway from Market, giving motorists an alternative way to get to the freeway other than fighting their way down oak and octavia, which is far too congested, just like the OP stated.

If possible, an on-ramp to the freeway from duboce would help immensely also. If Zeitgeist has to be torn-down, all the better.

But don't take away these traffic lights from the community that lives here. We use them daily and we wouldn't be able to get anywhere east of octavia if they were gone.

Typical, stupid, ego-car-centric Op (and the last comment isn't much better).

Get a clue: this society is slowly realizing that it made a BIG mistake with the automobile (for many reasons, which should be known by all). Some places, like San Francisco, have implemented policy changes which slowly reverse the many decades of planning emphasis given to automobiles. (Much TOO slowly, in my opinion.) The fact that this policy shift is happening at a time when even MORE idiots with (apparently) too much money are buying and driving cars is SF is, frankly, just too damned bad --for everyone driving.

As with so many other things in SF, apparently the only way to get people to change their unhealthy habits is to make the consequences of the habit absolutely unbearable. So: MORE traffic lights. MORE bike lanes. MORE traffic tickets. LESS traffic lanes. LESS garages and parking spaces. LESS fat on your butt!

This request is just silly. *I* cross Octavia all the time, as a driver and as a cyclist, and I see lots of others, too. Without completely re-engineering Market Street at Octavia, you CANNOT allow turns from Market because bicycles and pedestrians need to cross there. There have already been bicycle accidents there from people trying to turn even though it is not legal.

The only thing I can think of, besides crazy raised walk and bikeways, is some kind of minor adjustments to where you are allowed to turn, which streets run which way there, and the timing of the lights.