Newly painted Muni flag stop indicating the pilot 1X California Express
Beginning February 21, 2023, a pilot program will offer express bus service on the new 1X California Express between the Richmond neighborhood and the Financial District. The SFMTA plays a significant role in San Francisco’s economic recovery, and this pilot that serves downtown is part of that.
We have been working on improving travel time and reliability over the last several years. Travel times are now 11% quicker on the 1 California thanks to new transit lanes on California, Clay and Sacramento streets. But our work is not done on the corridor! The new 1X California express will provide another option for riders to zoom from the inner Richmond into and out of downtown even faster. We also expect this service to ease crowding on the 1 California as more people head back to the office.
Three morning 1X California Express buses will depart from 33rd Avenue and Geary Boulevard at 8:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. They will make stops along 33rd Avenue, 32nd Avenue and California Street until Arguello Street, then express straight to Downtown.
Three afternoon 1X California Express buses back to the Richmond will depart from Sacramento and Davis streets at 4:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. They will make three downtown stops and then express straight to Arguello and California. The first two outbound stops of the 1X California Express have been aligned with 1 California local stops to improve convenience for Muni customers. The last downtown stop is at David and Pine streets.
You can find more detailed service information on the 1X route page (SFMTA.com/1X).
The SFMTA is monitoring this pilot and will evaluate whether to make it permanent based on the needs of our riders. Let us know what you think at the Muni Feedback page.
We are excited about this opportunity to support the recovery of downtown San Francisco by offering people this swift way to get there.