Key Takeaway: Planning Muni service to address issues such as crowding, reliability and stop spacing helps improve transit access for seniors and people with disabilities. The SFMTA centers accessibility in its strategies and policies, including the Muni Service Equity Strategy, Muni Forward improvements and Bus Stop Change Evaluations.
The performance and reliability of the extensive Muni system is important to all riders, but service issues and disruptions can disproportionately impact older adults and riders with disabilities. For example, crowding disproportionately impacts seniors and people with disabilities who require a seat or space to secure their mobility device and can create tension with passengers using strollers. Some riders have less stamina for waiting at a stop or making multiple connections. The SFMTA relies on strategies, policies and processes centered in accessibility and equity to target service improvements that benefit people with disabilities and older adults the most.
Muni Service Equity Strategy
The Muni Service Equity Policy, adopted by the SFMTA Board of Directors in May 2014, calls for the SFMTA to identify disadvantaged neighborhoods and bus routes that serve these neighborhoods and to prioritize resources to improve connectivity, safety, reliability, frequency and crowding.
The resulting Equity Strategy aims to address high priority transit service needs in “Equity Neighborhoods” with tangible improvements that can be implemented quickly within one to two years. Moreover, the strategy establishes a performance baseline for Muni routes serving each Equity neighborhood, which is monitored annually.
- The 2017-2018 Muni Service Equity Strategy identified eight neighborhoods based on with high percentages of households with low incomes, people of color and lower vehicle ownership rates.
- The Equity Strategy then identified routes that serve these neighborhoods as well as routes heavily used by seniors and people with disabilities. Staff identified these Citywide Accessibility Routes by reviewing customer boarding data from Senior and Regional Transit Connection Clipper Cards.
- An analysis was also conducted of lines used by persons with disabilities seniors by tabulating the number of public comments marked as “ADA” complaints from San Francisco’s non-emergency service provider, 311, to narrow down the transit lines that had high senior/disabled ridership.
The Equity Strategy has played a key role in recent transit decisions and has had a direct impact on our passengers who are senior and/or have a disability.
Its most recent utility has been the service changes our agency was forced to make during the pandemic. Like many other transit agencies, severe reduction in ridership and staff availability during the COVID-19 pandemic required the SFMTA to drastically cut service in March of 2020. Muni reduced its network down from 79 routes to 17.
In response, the SFMTA introduced the Essential Trip Card program, a discount program to help seniors and people with disabilities make essential trips in taxis. As resources became available and demand returned service was restored. Each of the six times we restored service, equity routes were prioritized. As of June 2023, eight routes remain unrestored, but only one (the 14X) is an equity route.
Figure 1. 2018 Equity Strategy Report Neighborhoods
Muni Forward
Muni Forward focuses on about 15 core corridors that carry over 75% of riders. Through Muni Forward, we’re expanding the Muni Rapid network, making new connections and giving Muni customers priority on congested streets. The improvements make getting around San Francisco faster, more reliable and safer. Muni Forward improvements also enhance accessibility by incorporating pedestrian and bike safety improvements to address safety concerns on the Vision Zero High-Injury Network. In addition, we are adding and replacing elevators and upgrading escalators at underground Muni stations and constructing new accessible platforms to provide safer boarding, such as Judah & 28th Ave as part of the Sunset Tunnel Trackway Improvement Project.
Improvements are focused on lines with the highest ridership, as well as key Equity Strategy lines, such as the 19 Polk and 27 Bryant. In addition to focusing improvements on the most heavily used lines, the Muni Forward Program targets improvements at the top ten slowest spots in the Muni system. In these short segments, Muni buses slow to an average of four miles per hour or less. By moving Muni more quickly through these hotspots, we can improve travel time and reliability on an entire line, benefiting thousands.
The Muni Forward team collaborates with Accessible Services on the planning and design of transit priority projects. Most projects go through extensive outreach processes, even for small changes like bus stop relocations. The SFMTA also consults the Multimodal Accessibility Advisory Committee (MAAC) and local community groups, including disability rights groups and posts flyers calling for feedback from riders.
To date, more than 100 miles of transit priority projects have been approved since 2014, with more than 90 miles built. Muni Forward improvements get passengers there up to 33% sooner and ridership has increased. On the Muni Rapid network, where many of Muni Forward’s improvements have been focused, overall ridership increased by 23% from 2015 to 2019 — even as transit ridership decreased across the country.
Since the pandemic, ridership has returned faster on lines where we’ve made the most extensive Muni Forward investments. On some Muni Forward routes, such as the 14, 22 and 49, ridership has fully recovered or even exceeds pre-pandemic levels — even as the larger system has only recovered about two-thirds of riders.
Bus Stop Change Evaluation
With the exception of Rapid lines, Muni’s bus stop spacing policy is to maintain approximately 800 to 1,360 feet between stops on grades less than or equal to 10%, and as close as 500 feet on steeper streets. Many stops are spaced closer than current spacing policy. Sometimes stop removal is considered as part of the Muni Forward program or other initiative to improve transit reliability and safety, such as when it is not feasible to build a safe boarding island at an existing stop. If stop spacing will increase by 500 feet or more, staff from the SFMTA review the proposed changes with the Multimodal Accessibility Advisory Committee and local advocacy non-profit Senior Disability Action (SDA) before proceeding to legislation, considering the following factors:
- Spacing If this stop will be removed, how many feet away will the closest stop going in the same direction be for each of the lines served? Does it exceed stop spacing standards?
- Accessibility If a stop is being considered for removal, are there any accessibility concerns with the adjacent stop(s)? Is there a pattern of boarding by wheelchair users, persons with disabilities, and seniors?
- Land Uses Is this stop proposed for removal within 650 ft. of an existing or planned entrance to a hospital, medical facility, grocery store, senior housing, or a center for seniors and people with disabilities? What are the major destinations and landmarks that the proposed stop will serve? What is the most accessible location for a stop that will serve these destinations?
- Steepness Will the proposed stop be located on a grade of over 6%? Will the stop removal result in a longer travel distance on a grade over 6%?
- Amenities How do the nearby stops that would absorb demand compare to the stop proposed for elimination? Does the stop have amenities such as shelters, flat grades, and comfortable waiting areas.
- Ridership What are the average daily on and off numbers for this stop? How does it compare to boardings on the rest of the line — is it a major stop?
- Transfer Points Will the stop removal/relocation impact transfer opportunities between lines that will not be replicated at adjacent stops?
- Intersection Control Does the intersection have stop signs or traffic signals? Bus stops are generally placed nearside at stop signs and far-side of traffic signals to minimize the number of times a bus must stop.
- Project Coordination Is the stop change initiated by SFMTA or another agency project? Streetscape projects may require the removal of stops to accommodate infrastructure improvements.
If decision is to move forward with stop removal, a transit planner works with SFMTA Communications and Engineering staff. Communications staff develops and executes an outreach strategy (often part of a larger, corridor, effort) and the Engineer develops work orders and legislation language. The transit planner then works with elected officials and other major stakeholders to communicate the changes and impacts.
Temporary bus stop changes for construction projects are governed by the Regulations For Working In San Francisco Streets. In these cases, SFMTA may require the contractor to install a temporary bench for riders.