The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which manages transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), today announced that due to less ridership during the summer breaks for most San Francisco schools Muni will implement minor frequency adjustments, Saturday, June 29 to Monday, August 19. In addition, three routes will see permanent adjustments to provide greater efficiency for those schedules.
The SFMTA Strategic Plan calls for the Agency to make limited schedule adjustments during seasonal ridership lulls in order to be more efficient with public funds. The changes being implemented this summer will be minor and reduce employee overtime and vehicle maintenance during this period—saving the Agency approximately $240,000. The first implementation of such changes made in December matched the reduced demand and saved the Agency approximately $275,000, and the second, during Spring Break, saved approximately $78,000.
“Summer offers another opportunity to better match Muni service with customer demand and improve our effective use of public funds for Muni operations,” said John Haley, SFMTA Director of Transit Operations. “Last December and this spring we learned that by making small service adjustments based on ridership data, we could achieve three important goals – reduced overtime, decreased fuel and maintenance costs and increased operating efficiency.”
The upcoming changes are based on data collected last year that compared the number of people riding Muni during one week in the summer and another in the fall. The data showed a nearly 14 percent decrease in riders at the busiest time during a summer morning and a six percent decrease at the busiest point in the afternoon.
The following lines will have minor frequency adjustments, June 29 to Aug. 19. These routes will revert to their regular schedules on Aug. 20.:
- 14 Mission
- All day: Adjust frequency from 8 to 10 minutes
- No change to 14L Mission Ltd and 14X Mission Express
- 49 Mission-Van Ness
- All day: Adjust frequency from 8 to 10 minutes
- 22 Fillmore
- Approx. 6 to 9 a.m.: Adjust frequency from 9 to 12 minutes
- Approx. 3 to 6 p.m.: Adjust frequency from 8 to 10 minutes
- 29 Sunset
- Approx. 6 to 9 a.m.: Adjust frequency from 10 to 15 minutes
- 48 24th Street
- Approx. 6 to 9 a.m.: Adjust frequency from 10 to 12 minutes
Permanent Muni Schedule Changes
Also starting on Saturday, June 29, the following permanent schedule and route changes will go into effect:
- 5 Fulton weekend service will increase in frequency from 9 to 8 minutes between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
- 9 San Bruno weekend service will use 40-foot buses and increase frequency from 15 to 12 minutes all day.
- L Owl bus service will no longer stop at Forest Hill Station. The nearest stop for service in both directions is at Woodside and Hernandez avenues.
For more information on Muni service, please call the San Francisco Customer Service Center at 311 or visit www.sfmta.com. For additional information on Muni's Accessible Services Program, please call (415) 701-4485 or TTY (415) 701-4730.
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