2022 Muni Service Network

We are working to build back our ridership by providing high-quality, reliable service that people can count on. To make schedules more reliable and reduce wait times and crowding, we are working to schedule service that reflects available operator staffing. This means we are only scheduling service we know we have the staff to cover.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to add service as quickly as we had hoped because of our severe transit operator shortage. We want to add Muni service as soon as we can, but in addition to our operator shortage, revenue across all sources is down. When we developed our FY 2023 & 2024 budget, we planned for several revenue scenarios, and what we’re experiencing is the worst-case scenario, impacts that are being felt by transit agencies across the region. It is likely that our revenue shortfall will impact our service plans, so we’re working hard to identify funding—proposing expanding meter hours citywide, advocating for state funding and laying the groundwork for a new local or regional revenue source. We continue to prioritize operator hiring and work with policymakers and the public to identify new ongoing funding sources to support additional transit service that can meet the needs of the future. 

We will continue community dialogue and planning to develop an expansion of Muni's Rapid network and other frequency improvements to address crowding and reduce wait times on Muni. There are many competing needs for our Muni system, and we are doing our best to balance as many of them as possible with the resources that we have. 

As resources allow, our service changes will continue prioritizing the following goals: 

Focus on equity. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have focused on equity, prioritizing service linking neighborhoods identified by our Muni Service Equity Strategy to essential destinations like hospitals and neighborhood commercial corridors.  Additionally, we have increased service on a number of crowded routes.

Accommodate changing travel patterns. We work to adjust our service to meet the needs of the community. Trip patterns have changed over the last two years with a noticeable shift in San Francisco residents traveling neighborhood to neighborhood instead of the peak period downtown-centric travel pattern that was prevalent pre-pandemic. As the city recovers, travel patterns will likely change again, so we are constantly monitoring and shifting Muni service, as resources are available, to respond to these changes.

Get the most out of the subway. We are proud of the dramatic work we've done to the subway since the start of the pandemic, and we are building on that success to continue to get the most out of the subway by embarking on a large-scale process to improve subway performance. Changes during the pandemic dramatically improved efficiency, speed, reliability and throughput, helping us get more out of our existing infrastructure.