Muni Metro Capacity Study

Muni Metro is one of only three “legacy” systems in the country, meaning much of the system’s origins date back over a hundred years to the first era of urban streetcar systems. In the 1970s, when BART was constructed, Muni’s streetcar lines began running in the Market Street subway, and Muni Metro was born. San Francisco has changed dramatically since then and will certainly continue to change over future decades.

San Francisco’s ConnectSF Transit Strategy identified a need to modernize Muni Metro to serve future needs. To that end, the SFMTA formed the Muni Metro Modernization Program, which seeks to address and coordinate multiple Muni Metro improvements.

Some improvements are clearly defined, while others still need to be developed through the Muni Metro Capacity Study.

In 2023, the city approved a Housing Plan to add over 82,000 units of housing for 150,000 people by 2031. Though some of this growth may take longer to realize, we need to be prepared with a vision to accommodate this growth to help the city meet its housing affordability, climate, and equity goals and continue to provide fast, frequent, reliable Muni Metro service.

It is equally important to put forward a clear assessment of the challenges and tradeoffs to any potential changes to Muni Metro, so that these can be carefully considered and addressed in future projects the SFMTA may decide to pursue based on the findings of the Muni Metro Capacity Study.

Ideas Under Consideration in the Study

The Muni Metro Capacity Study is exploring the following ideas and may recommend implementing some of these strategies over the next several decades:

• Longer trains: Longer, three or four car trains where feasible, would expand capacity to prevent overcrowding and pass-ups, but may require lengthening station platforms, consolidating some stops, and/or closing some intersections.
• Service restructuring: Changing one or more Muni Metro lines to be surface-only would allow space in the subway to be maximized with longer three or four car trains. This would help prevent potential future crowding, but some riders would need to transfer to/from the subway, and transfers would need to be improved
• Transit signal preemption: Improving signal timing to give Muni Metro more green lights would keep transit moving quickly and reliably, but people walking, biking and driving may have to wait longer while trains pass.
• Additional transit lanes for on-street Muni Metro: This would help prevent trains from getting stuck in traffic but would require removing some general travel lanes or on-street parking.

After the Study is complete, individual proposals identified through this effort would undergo broader public engagement efforts prior to bringing them forward for approval by the SFMTA Board.

Study Timeline

Late 2023 – early 2025: Study capacity options in consultation with technical experts and public representatives.

Early 2025 – mid 2025: Draft Study recommendations and conduct outreach to share findings with the broader public and gather feedback to refine the recommendations.

Mid-2025: Finalize the Study recommendations, document in a final report, and present to the SFMTA Board of Directors.

Public Outreach and Engagement in the Study

Public input is an important aspect of the Muni Metro Capacity Study. The Study will incorporate public feedback into the Study’s recommendations. The Study report will include a summary of feedback received and how it has been used to shape the final recommendations, along with suggestions for how to possibly address key challenges and tradeoffs identified through outreach.

There are several ways the public can provide feedback on the Study.

• Any member of the public can email us with questions, comments, ideas and concerns.
• 2023-2025: An informal Community Working Group representing a broad cross-section of Muni Metro stakeholders meets every few months to discuss and consider the strategies and tradeoffs we are exploring in the Study, and how best to balance these to develop a future vision for Muni Metro. Read more about the Community Working Group.
• 2024: Multilingual focus groups representing a wide range of Muni Metro rider demographics were convened to solicit feedback on strategies under study. All focus groups included people who ride each Muni Metro line, and people of different ages, abilities, income and education levels.
• 2025: At-large public outreach – online and in-person – to share and seek feedback on our draft recommendations.