So back in the day, peds were allowed to cross over 19th Avenue in the Sunset without having to do anything but wait for the green. But these days, ya gotta press the ped actuated button, else you’ll get a solid, non-flashing, ped-only red signal, like this:
The problem is that the SFMTA doesn’t leave the light on for you as much as it used to, leaving peds accustomed to the traditional traffic signal scheme much less time to cross.
The upshot though is that drivers on 19th Ave have green lights more often – that’s the trade-off