This section outlines the core principles, values and long-term aspirations that guide the SFMTA's decision-making and goal-setting throughout the Accessibility Strategy's implementation.
SFMTA Strategic Plan
The SFMTA Strategic Plan is defined by a set of plan elements that outline the high-level concepts and aspirations of the agency (the vision, values and metrics) and the actionable strategies (the goals and initiatives) which are incorporated into the everyday work of agency staff. In addition, the values and strategic goals in the Strategic Plan guide the agency’s near-term financial planning efforts through the prioritization of projects and programs.
Accessibility is one of the many values established by the Strategic Plan and commits the entire agency to focus on the needs of those with the fewest mobility choices, including seniors and individuals with disabilities, to ensure access to all transportation modes.
Figure 1. A Diagram of the SFMTA's Organizational Values
The metrics established by the Strategic Plan track the agency’s progress in upholding our values. To track our performance in ensuring Accessibility, the agency publicly tracks paratransit on-time performance and the operational availability of elevators & escalators at Muni stations.
These metrics are important, as well as all our values and metrics that are integral to promoting and improving accessibility of the transportation network. Performance measures such as customer ratings for feeling safe and secure on Muni, percent of Muni service scheduled hours delivered, and traffic fatalities are also critical to ensure a transportation network that improves the daily lives of older adults and people with disabilities.
Other Relevant SFMTA Plans and Strategies
Accessibility of the transportation network is an underlying goal and responsibility of every SFMTA project and initiative. The following is a summary of how accessibility is infused in SFMTA strategies guiding our current work.
Vision Zero Action Strategy
San Francisco’s Vision Zero Action Strategy outlines the actions the city will take to eliminate traffic deaths. Vision Zero SF prioritizes traffic safety investments in the neighborhoods that are most disproportionately impacted by traffic deaths and severe injuries. Half of all severe and fatal crashes occur in Equity Priority Communities, census tracts that have a significant concentration of underserved populations, including seniors and people with disabilities The city is focusing investment in these areas to ensure streets are safe for all road users.
Muni Service Equity Strategy
The Muni Service Equity Strategy is one component of the agency's commitment to make transit accessible to all of our customers and is an ongoing effort to improve service performance in eight Equity Strategy neighborhoods, including for seniors and people with disabilities citywide. Equity Strategy neighborhoods are for each two-year Muni operations budget based on the percentage of households with low incomes, private vehicle ownership and race and ethnicity demographics. SFMTA staff use customer boarding data and public comments from San Francisco’s non-emergency service provider, 311, to identify routes with needed improvements that are frequently ridden by vulnerable populations.
SFMTA Racial Equity Action Plan
Racial Equity Action Plans are tools to centralize, document and evaluate the agency’s commitment to advancing racial equity, through internal (Phase One) and external (Phase Two) operations. The Phase One Racial Equity Action Plan, adopted in December 2020, focuses on internal equity commitments, including actions related to hiring, recruitment, discipline, belonging and professional development. The Phase Two Racial Equity Action Plan will on focus the agency’s external equity commitments, including — but not limited to — community engagement, service delivery, staff safety and support, system safety, planning, project delivery, climate justice, mobility justice and policy. In San Francisco, disabled people disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It is important to center racial equity and intersectionality when discussing accessibility.
Transportation 2050
Transportation 2050 is an agency financial planning effort based on transportation needs and priorities identified by the community over the last eight years. Transportation 2050 uses the agency’s Asset Management and State of Good Repair assessment and evaluates the resources needed to achieve the community’s vision for transportation. Capital needs include critical accessibility features like redundant elevators at all underground Muni Metro stations.
Biking and Rolling Plan
The San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan is a 2-year planning process to develop a new plan for active mobility in San Francisco. The new plan directs SFMTA future investments in the active transportation network, support facilities, programs, and policies for the next 10-15 years. As part of the Biking and Rolling Plan’s engagement, SFMTA staff are engaging the disability community on how they use the city’s streets, sidewalks and trails to walk, bike, scoot and roll.
Curb Management Strategy
The Curb Management Strategy guides the SFMTA's policies towards allocating curb space to different uses. At present, San Francisco’s curbs heavily favor private car storage over any other use. As San Francisco changes with expanded micro-mobility options, ride-hailing, and on-demand delivery services, the city’s limited curb space must become more flexible, dynamic and responsive to changes. The Curb Management Strategy defines five key curb functions and how those functions are prioritized in different land use contexts. The goal of the strategy is to update the city’s outdated curb allocation to reflect curb needs across the city. Many of the strategies and policies outlined in the Curb Management Strategy aim to increase access for older adults and people with disabilities. These include expanding accessible passenger loading zones, removing Muni “flag stops,” codifying paratransit loading zones and establishing design guidelines for blue zones.
Resolution No. 439-23 Annette Williams Day
On September 19, 2023, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 439-23 celebrating the legacy of former Accessible Services Director Annette Williams. As part of this celebration, the Accessible Services Section made a commitment to building on Annette’s legacy by hosting an annual Accessible Transportation Day. This event aims to celebrate and educate the community on accessible transportation options and provide a new outlet for community engagement. The Accessibility Services team also committed to reporting on accessible transportation progress and challenges in San Francisco to the SFMTA Board annually. This presentation will serve as an opportunity for the SFMTA Board to hear from staff about our work and solicit feedback from members of the public.
Relevant Citywide and Regional Initiatives
There are several citywide and regional investments that impact the accessibility of the transportation network. The following is a summary of the plans and initiatives which influence and shape the SFMTA’s work to provide a high level of service for older adults and people with disabilities.
Transportation Element Update of the General Plan
The Transportation Element is one component of San Francisco’s General Plan and is targeting adoption in 2025. The new Transportation Element will codify the city’s transportation goals, policies and long-term investment priorities over the next 10-20 years. The current Transportation Element was last prepared and adopted in 1995. Since then, there have been significant changes in land use, travel behaviors, and preferences, as well as the types of technologies we have access to, such as bike share, scooters and carshare. The Transportation Element is anticipated to address racial and social inequities as well as climate change. The new Transportation Element will be informed by our current reality to better serve the people of San Francisco.
San Francisco Better Streets Plan
The Better Streets Plan creates a unified set of standards, guidelines and implementation strategies to govern how the city designs, builds and maintains its pedestrian environment. The Better Streets Plan process brought together staff of multiple city agencies to comprehensively plan for streets. The Plan seeks to balance the needs of all street users, with a particular focus on the pedestrian environment and how streets can be used as public space. The Plan reflects the understanding that the pedestrian environment is about much more than just transportation — that streets serve a multitude of social, recreational and ecological needs that must be considered when deciding on the most appropriate design. The Better Streets Plan carries out the intent of San Francisco's Better Streets Policy, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on February 6, 2006. The Final Better Streets Plan was adopted by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors in December 2010, and took effect on January 16, 2011.
MTC Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan
MTC’s Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan (Coordinated Plan) goes beyond its basic federal requirements — considering the mobility needs of seniors, people with disabilities, people on low-incomes and veterans — and designates strategies to guide MTC’s efforts over the next four years. The plan identifies six strategies for MTC and its partners to pursue mobility options for vulnerable populations that are cost efficient for the region.
The Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan
Completed in April 2021, the Bay Area Transit Transformation Plan serves as a roadmap for transit’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan identified five actions under “Accessibility,” including standardizing eligibility practices for programs that benefit people with disabilities and ensuring that the next generation of the Clipper system includes paratransit services. The plan also identified the need to create a new transit governance framework, referred to as “Regional Network Management” to actively manage the region’s transit networks as a unified system, with accessibility as one focus area.
Connect SF
ConnectSF is a multi-agency collaborative process to build an effective, equitable and sustainable transportation system for San Francisco’s future. Project partners include the SFMTA, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, SF Planning, the Office of the Mayor, and San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. ConnectSF has defined a 50-year vision of San Francisco’s future that represents our priorities, goals and aspirations as a city within the larger Bay Area. In sum, it envisions growing and diverse city with a multitude of transportation options that are available and affordable to all.
Access to Employment Program
The City and County’s Access to City Employment, or ACE, program provides an alternate route to permanent, full-time city employment for people with qualifying disabilities. This program allows people with disabilities to bypass an often-lengthy application process to attain Permanent Civil Service status. The ACE program allows the city to remove barriers to employment and build a diverse workforce with a wide array of skills and expertise.
State and Federal Requirements
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Enacted in 1990, the ADA mandates that public transit agencies provide accessible services to individuals with disabilities. This includes requirements for accessible vehicles, such as lifts or ramps, and accessible facilities like bus stops and stations with compliant boarding platforms and signage. Transit agencies must also ensure equal access to services, programs, and information for riders with disabilities, and make reasonable modifications to policies and practices to accommodate them. Titles II and III of the ADA are the primary sections that directly impact public transportation and streets by mandating accessibility requirements for public entities and certain private transportation providers.
Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG)
The United States Access Board develops and maintains accessibility guidelines under the ADA for transportation vehicles and facilities. These guidelines provide detailed standards for accessible design and construction of transportation facilities and vehicles. Specifically, the Access Board’s Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines provide minimum guidelines regarding access to sidewalks and streets, crosswalks, curb ramps and other pedestrian facilities in the public-right-of-way. Key accessibility features specified in the guidelines include pedestrian access routes, accessibility pedestrian signals, transit stops and on-street parking. Once they are adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) — or the four federal agencies that set standards for the federal government under the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 — these minimum guidelines will become enforceable as mandatory standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.