SFMTA concludes 90-day plan to improve Muni

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) concluded its first 90-Day Plan to Improve Muni which is a focused and collaborative effort to implement the SFMTA Strategic Plan through smaller near-term actions within a 90-day period.  

Centered around the SFMTA Strategic Plan, the development of SFMTA’s Plan to Improve Muni resulted in the creation of initiatives that differed in duration and scope. The hallmark of the plan is the near-term initiative, which are a series of bite-sized actions and measurable targets that would be implemented in 90-day periods. By breaking down larger goals and initiatives into smaller near-term actions, the agency is better able to deliver effective, focused and immediate solutions to issues, while still progressing long term plans to improve transit service. 

SFMTA is currently at the end of the 90-day period and says it is encouraged by the results. The initiatives for this cycle focused on safety, service reliability, subway performance, LRV 4 and Chase Center service. 

Emphasis on safety 

SFMTA pursued eight actions aimed at reducing collisions while also improving safety for operators and passengers. SFMTA was able to install more visible bumpers on over 800 buses—as well as add more visible poles to the 60 trolley coaches. 

Service reliability 

Service reliability continues to be a challenge for several reasons, but SFMTA says it has taken significant steps to minimize the impacts throughout the system. It was able to grow the operator classes—meaning more operators are on vehicles and on the streets serving customers. Small changes made to the 27-Bryant route involving stop removal and re-routes has drastically improved north-south connections for the 6,700 weekday riders along that route the agency says. The team’s work on this line was nationally recognized for the outreach efforts connecting to passengers, residents and merchants of different cultural backgrounds, ages and abilities. Additionally, SFMTA continues to receive and accept 40-foot trolley coaches into the fleet, averaging about two new trolley coaches a week. Another milestone SFMTA reached this 90-day cycle was accepting enough new trolley coaches to retire all the older ETI’s, which became less reliable and past their useful life. SFMTA is excited to announce that it met the short-term goal of 96 percent service delivery and took important steps to reduce missed trips. 

LRV 4 

Customers will start seeing more LRV 4 vehicles in service picking up and dropping off passengers at Muni Metro platforms in both directions. SFMTA met the target goal of 35 LRV 4s in service—which helped boost the overall car count to 150 vehicles in service for the rail network. SFMTA has more LRVs in service than ever before. Along with correcting previous issues with the doors and couplers, SFMTA also safety certified a design for additional track brakes. This new design will help keep more LRV 4s on the streets of San Francisco delivering service, instead of in a maintenance shop. SFMTA plans to increase the Siemens to Breda vehicle ratio. Today, SFMTA has 67 expansion vehicles delivered, with 61 ready for service. 

Improving subway performance 

This past August, SFMTA closed the subway early for a period of two weeks to give maintenance staff time to complete critical maintenance tasks that cannot be completed during normal business hours. The extended window gave SFMTA the opportunity to work on overhead lines, tracks, signals and the Automated Train Control System. SFMTA says it is encouraged by the amount of work it has been able to perform with little impact on the overall ridership. The agency is striving to perform this critical maintenance work periodically during slower riding seasons to keep the subway in a state of good repair. 

Delivering Chase Center service 

In the past three weeks, SFMTA provided service to 13 Chase Center events which called for additional rail and bus service, supervision and traffic control. From parking control officers to LRV operators to communications ambassadors, the agency came together operationalizing and implementing this task. Going forward, SFMTA will continue to fine-tune and equitably balance service across the network.  

The next 90-Day Action Plan is scheduled to start on Nov. 1.