Passengers exiting the 9 San Bruno from a transit island on Potrero Avenue.
This Transit Month, we’re celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Muni Forward!
Each week, we’ll highlight one of our Muni Forward corridors to share exactly how we worked to improve your trips — and the wins riders are seeing as a result.
Today, we shine the spotlight on the 9 San Bruno. It connects San Francisco’s southern residential neighborhoods to the city’s urban core.
Muni Forward improvements on the 9 San Bruno
The 9 San Bruno runs all the way from Visitacion Valley to the Financial District. The route serves many San Francisco neighborhoods, including Visitacion Valley, the Portola District and the Mission.
The 9 San Bruno Rapid Project — part of our Muni Forward program — has made numerous improvements to this route. The project has boosted efficiency, increased safety and improved accessibility. It’s even made the corridor more comfortable for cyclists.
We improved the 9 San Bruno with a toolkit of proven transit strategies. Some of the most notable upgrades include:
- A rapid line: The 9R San Bruno is part of the growing Muni Forward Rapid Network. Because it makes fewer stops than regular buses, it can cover more ground in less time.
- Dedicated transit lanes: Dedicated transit lanes allow buses like the 9 San Bruno and 9R San Bruno Rapid to skirt traffic.
- The ‘red carpet’ treatment: San Francisco has many dedicated transit lanes. Not all of them are painted red, but an increasing number of them are. This helps indicate to people driving private vehicles that they should steer clear of these lanes so that Muni buses can breeze on by.
- Safer bike lanes: Green bike lanes and cement dividers make portions of the route safer for cyclists. Our goal with protected bikeways is not only to make the roads safer for those who have already embraced biking and rolling. We also hope more people will take up this green way to get around!
- Enhanced pedestrian safety and accessibility: Sidewalk extensions, known as “transit bulbs” and “pedestrian bulbs” make the route safer for people walking. They also make it easier to get on or off the bus. Plus, the extensions make life easier for bus operators. They don’t need to pull over and then merge back into traffic when they pick up riders.
A cyclist uses one of the new bikeshare lanes on Bayshore Avenue.
9 San Bruno upgrades by the numbers
Since the completion of these Muni Forward improvements in 2017, the 9 San Bruno’s ridership has grown. Like all our routes, the 9 San Bruno was significantly disrupted by the pandemic.
But the route has bounced back. Weekday boardings now exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Here are some more promising statistics from the 9 San Bruno and 9R San Bruno Rapid. As part of the 9 San Bruno Rapid Project, the SFMTA:
- Added more than 3 miles of new or upgraded transit lanes, including 2.4 miles of red transit lanes
- Built four new transit islands, 11 transit bulbs and 18 pedestrian bulbs
- Created six new bus stops and consolidated 17 stops to make for a more efficient and accessible route.
- Improved ride times. The slowest trips on the route are now five minutes faster. Travel times have also improved on key sections of the route — including Potrero Avenue from 18th Street to 24th Street, and along Market Street.
The 9 San Bruno is making Muni more equitable
The 9 San Bruno and 9R San Bruno Rapid provide citywide accessibility to Visitacion Valley and the Inner Mission. These are two of the nine key neighborhoods identified within our Muni Service Equity Strategy.
The route ferries Muni riders from some of San Francisco’s most economically isolated regions into the city’s commercial core. Along the way, it also connects people to essential health services at San Francisco General Hospital.
To better serve riders who need to use this equity route, we increased vehicle capacity in the winter of 2022.
We are continuing to develop and evaluate our Equity Strategy. We’re doing this by analyzing Muni data and by engaging the public at our regularly scheduled Muni Equity Working Group meetings.
Collect stamps and experience 100 miles of public transit improvements with the Muni Forward Passport and interactive story map.
Transit Month and the Muni Forward Passport
There are lots of ways to explore and celebrate Muni Forward corridors during Transit Month.
You can check out our special interactive map that shows upcoming events and participating local businesses. You can also pick up a commemorative Muni Forward Passport, which you can get stamped at participating businesses throughout September 2024. You can grab your very own limited-edition Muni Forward Passport at one of our Transit Month events or at participating businesses along the 10 Muni routes highlighted in the passport.
Since 2014, the Muni Forward initiative has made San Francisco’s public transit system faster, more reliable, easier to access and safer for people taking transit, walking, biking and rolling. More than 100 miles of Muni upgrades have been built or approved throughout the city.
To learn more about the Muni Forward Passport and see our interactive map, visit the Muni Forward Anniversary Passport webpage (SFMTA.com/Passport).
Comments are for the English version of this page.