CA: Muni's retooled transit system has reached post-pandemic ridership highs

Riders took more than 150 million trips on Muni buses and trains last year, steering San Francisco's cash-strapped transit system toward a striking recovery.

As of March, Muni had reached 75% of pre-pandemic ridership, with 158 million passenger trips last year — an increase of 13.5 million from 2023. The number of rides crested in September, at which point the agency attained 78% of 2019 levels, driven largely by weekend trips.

Officials at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency have retooled the transit system for an era of hybrid work, focusing on neighborhood routes — such as the 14 Mission and 49 Van Ness — which are reviving faster than downtown commuter lines. The 49, for example, had restored 143% of 2019 ridership in September, in part because new rapid bus lanes allowed it to coast by traffic for part of its run.

"The increase in Muni ridership demonstrates that when we get the basics right on service delivery people will want to take public transit," Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement Monday, in which he underscored public transportation as a top priority.

San Francisco's new transportation chief, Julie Kirschbaum, echoed the mayor's sentiments, touting her agency's speed and reliability. Kirschbaum ran operations of Muni from 2018 until late last year, when she took the reins from her predecessor, Jeffrey Tumlin. Under her tutelage, Muni enhanced customer satisfaction ratings in city surveys, and introduced new technology to evenly space buses, rather than relying on traditional schedules.

Special events have also helped bump Muni ridership. Halloween brought highs across the system, particularly on routes traveling into the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood, according to Simon Hochberg, SFMTA manager of transit performance, technology and analytics. Similarly, Hochberg said, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival boosted ridership on the 5 Fulton during the first weekend last October.

But the agency's resurgence appears clouded by dismal budget projections for Muni. SFMTA planners are contemplating service cuts over the summer that could force some routes to turn around at Market Street, part of an effort to shore up $50 million, as the agency suffers from lost parking and general fund revenue.

More painful decisions lie ahead next year when SFMTA confronts a much larger $320 million deficit.

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