Improved Muni Service Begins August 17

Monday, July 15, 2024

People stand in line to board the 48 Quintara at 24th and Mission streets.

We're taking steps to reduce crowding on the busy 48 Quintara-24th Street. We're adding a weekday morning trip to help students.

Starting Saturday, August 17, we will make changes on some Muni routes to:

Improve reliability

Address crowding

Respond to rider and operator feedback

Relieving crowding in advance of the school year

In recent months, some of our busiest routes were so crowded that they were too full to accept more riders. This forced Muni buses to pass up waiting riders – especially during morning commute times. To avoid pass-ups, we are making a few changes as the school year approaches:

48 Quintara-24th Street and 28R 19th Avenue Rapid: more buses in the morning.
We're adding a weekday morning trip to both the 48 Quintara-24th Street and the 28R 19th Avenue Rapid routes. There will be an additional trip to serve riders on both routes during the morning school commute time.
9 San Bruno: more room for riders.
On weekends, we're increasing the size of buses that serve the 9 San Bruno Route. Now, vehicles will be 60-feet long.
1 California: new schedule to reduce crowding on the route’s busiest stretch.
We're adjusting weekday service on the 1 California to reduce crowding on the busiest portion of the route. That section runs between Clay and Drumm streets and Presidio Avenue and California Street.
- On this stretch of the route, buses will now arrive every 5 minutes instead of every 6 minutes.
- As a result, there will be a slight decrease in service for stops that are west of Presidio Avenue. Buses will arrive at these stops every 10 minutes on weekdays. With these changes, we expect riders to see fewer bunches and gaps. That’s when no bus comes for a while and then a couple come all at once.

We continue to face financial constraints that limit our ability to expand service. To improve service on one route, we must decrease service on others. We understand that other routes are also experiencing crowding. For these changes, we focused on the routes and times of day when crowding is most extreme.

43 Masonic bus picks up passengers at a boarding island.

Along Frida Kahlo Way, the 43 Masonic will serve new transit boarding islands. They’re similar to this island on Masonic Avenue.

Making trips safer and more reliable through planned transit and safety projects

We're also making changes that will help us complete work for transit and safety projects. These projects are designed to help:

Enhance traffic safety

Decrease travel times

Improve reliability

Service changes include:

31 Balboa: new stop as the bus heads downtown.
After serving the Eddy St & Jones St inbound stop, the 31 Balboa will make its next stop midway on Eddy between Taylor and Mason streets. The bus will no longer make stops at Eddy St & Mason St or Eddy St & Taylor St. These stops are being consolidated to improve reliability. This change is part of the Safer Taylor Street Project.

43 Masonic: stop changes near City College to improve reliability.
Some stops are being removed and others relocated. These changes support our work on the Frida Kahlo Quick-Build Project.

For a map of the relocated stops and other areas impacted by the project, visit our Frida Kahlo Quick-Build Project Conceptual Design Package webpage.

The goal of this change is to improve reliability and improve traffic safety for everyone on the street. Part of the work includes adding new boarding islands to better serve riders. On August 17, stop changes will be reflected in third-party apps and customer information systems. For now, please follow street signage.

38 Geary/38R Geary Rapid: The 6th Avenue stop for both routes moves across the street.
Now, 38 Geary/38R Geary Rapid buses that are heading toward 48th Avenue will make a different stop on Geary Boulevard and 6th Avenue. Starting shortly after August 17, they will stop on the west side of 6th Avenue. This way, the bus will benefit from traffic signals that help it move faster. The change is part of the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project.
18 46th Avenue, 29 Sunset, 58 Lake Merced: The bus stop at Winston Drive and Buckingham Way moves across the intersection to improve travel times.
The bus stop at Winston Drive and Buckingham Way that serves three eastbound Muni routes (18 46th Avenue, 29 Sunset and 58 Lake Merced) and the SamTrans 122 Route will move across the street. Now, buses will stop at the stop sign instead of afterward. This will improve travel times so that buses have to stop just once at this intersection. It's part of the 29 Sunset Improvement Project.
L Owl: changes for riders heading from downtown to the SF Zoo.
The L Owl will start running at 12 a.m. instead of 10 p.m. To maintain coverage between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m., the L Bus will be extended to 12 a.m. to provide coverage on Taraval Street, and the F Bus will provide service until 12 a.m. on Market and Embarcadero.

Now, if you ride the bus between the SF Zoo and Market Street during these two hours, you can take the L Bus to West Portal Station and transfer to the K Ingleside or M Ocean View for a ride to all Market Street destinations. Those continuing on toward the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf can transfer to the F Bus at all regular F line stops. This change helps us prepare for the completion of the L Taraval Improvement Project this fall.

30 Stockton bus drives by a stretch of planter boxes near an intersection.

The 30 Stockton will extend further into the Presidio beginning August 17.

Other Stop and Route Changes

1X California Express: stop change as the bus heads downtown.
The Bush St & Sansome St stop is moving. Now, the bus will stop on the west end of Bush Street, closer to Montgomery Street. This will improve reliability.
5R Fulton Rapid: additional stop to improve route access.
Now, you can also board the 5R Fulton Rapid at McAllister St & Laguna St. This stop applies for buses heading downtown and toward the beach.
12 Folsom: stop changes to help riders reach the right destination.
- When riders take the 12 Folsom short route toward Main and Howard streets, they can still exit the bus at the Spear St & Folsom St, but they can no longer board the bus at this stop. We're making this stop drop-off only to avoid confusion. Before, some riders would board expecting to take the longer 12 Folsom route through to the Mission.
- For riders taking the 12 Folsom to Valencia and Cesar Chavez streets, they can no longer board or exit at Clay St & Drumm St. That stop is being removed and a new stop is being added to Clay and Davis streets. There will also be a new stop at Sacramento St & Battery St. These changes will better match rider demand in the area.
25 Treasure Island: stop changes due to construction.
To help us avoid construction work happening on the previous route, four stops will be removed. They include Ave M & 4th St, Ave H & 4th St, Ave H & 5th St and Ave H & 9th St. Two new stops will be added at 9th St & Ave D and at Seven Seas Avenue and Johnson Street.
30 Stockton: stop changes on the Presidio end of the route.
- The 30 Stockton will no longer make its last stop at the Sports Basement parking lot. This stop will be removed in both directions. Now, the route ends at a new Presidio Terminal at Crissy Field, which will be served through 8 p.m.
- Two new stops will be added as the bus heads toward the Presidio. They include Mason Street at Tunnel Tops and the new outbound terminal, Presidio Terminal at Crissy Field.
- Two new stops will also be added as the bus heads downtown. They include: Mason Street at Crissy Field and Mason Street at Tunnel Tops.
- This change reflects the completed construction of the new Presidio Terminal at Crissy Field.
67 Bernal Heights: bus takes a new street but makes normal stops.
The 67 Bernal Heights route will change slightly to use 26th Street instead of 25th Street. After serving the 24th St & Mission St stop, the bus will drive south on Mission Street. Then, it will turn left on 26th Street and turn left onto South Van Ness Avenue, where it will continue its previous routing. No stops will be affected by this change.

Bay Area transit agencies are syncing schedules in a whole new way with a focus on improving transfers between systems and making schedule changes at the same time. Most Bay Area transit agencies are rolling out new schedules in August in coordination with each other and are working to align the timing of schedule changes twice each year, once in summer and once in winter. The 28 19th Avenue bus schedule serving Daly City BART station is changing to ensure East Bay riders can catch the last BART train to Oakland late at night.

Twin Peaks Tunnel Upgrades

These August 17 Muni service changes will take place less than a week before several lines will be impacted by the Twin Peaks Tunnel Upgrades. That work is scheduled for August 22 – 29, and it will shut down the Twin Peaks Tunnel.

During construction, the subway will operate from Embarcadero to Castro stations. We will run K, L and M bus shuttles from Castro and Church stations. They will serve Forest Hill and West Portal stations and then make all regular stops. Learn more at our Twin Peaks Tunnel Upgrades webpage (SFMTA.com/TunnelClosure).

As we work to make Muni fast, frequent and reliable, safety is always a priority. If you experience or witness customer or operator harassment on Muni, report it directly to the SFMTA. You can call 311, use the 311 mobile app or fill out our online Muni Feedback form (SFMTA.com/MuniFeedback).