The future of what happens next with Muni’s Central Subway is up in the air despite a push from a San Francisco supervisor to city transportation officials to continue studying the possibility of extending the subway to North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf.
At a hearing Monday at the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee, District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter asked the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) about what it would take to restart planning efforts on extending the Central Subway, which currently serves the South of Market, Union Square, and Chinatown. The SFMTA opened the $2 billion Central Subway, an extension of the T-Third rail line, in January 2023, with a soft opening in November 2022.
Sauter said in his opening remarks that he recognized the fiscal challenges the SFMTA is currently facing and that his priority this year was to pass two ballot measures in November to support Muni operations. The agency faces a $307 million budget deficit starting July 1, projected to balloon to $434 million by the 2030–31 fiscal year.
“That being said, I do think it’s important that we also give our transit riders and our voters something bigger to believe in, a system that is ambitious and that acknowledges that we can and should have rail and rapid bus lanes across much more of our city,” he said. “That is the message that will help keep our transit systems alive and keep our city excited for what comes next.”
Sean Kennedy, the SFMTA’s chief planning and delivery officer, said after the completion of the T-Third phase three concept study in 2014, the agency was working on an extension alternative study in 2018, but the study was put on pause due to the pandemic. Kennedy said the agency would like the study to resume but gave no timeline.
He said in the near-term, given the agency’s current funding and staffing resources, that the SFMTA was focused on projects that “improve transit efficiency, so as a way to lower our operating costs” and deal with the agency’s budget deficit.
An exact dollar amount on just how much it would cost to extend the Central Subway an additional mile from Chinatown to Fisherman’s Wharf was not mentioned at the hearing. Kennedy said in 2020 that the agency was looking at a $1.6 billion cost, but given the higher labor and construction costs, that figure will likely be higher.
Sauter questioned Kennedy if the cost could possibly be lowered since tunnel boring machines exited in North Beach at the former Pagoda Theater. Kennedy said it was beneficial that at least half a mile had already been dug to North Beach, but it could possibly just offset the increase in project costs since the 2020 estimate.
Kennedy added that it was important to first complete the paused alternatives study to assess the engineering and identify how costs could be controlled.
At the hearing, many speakers supported extending the Central Subway and completing the project more quickly. One person commented on being 8 years old when construction began on the Central Subway.
“I’m 24 years old, and I hope that I will not be at the Columbus Street station at the age of 40. I hope we can get it done quicker than that.”
In the meantime, the SFMTA is looking to improve the T rail line, including reducing travel times for passengers. Kennedy said a ride on the T from Fourth and King streets to Sunnydale takes about 45 minutes, given that there are 68 traffic signals in that stretch of the route.
The SFMTA is working over the next several months to upgrade the traffic signals with transit priority signals that will help trains get a “green wave” as a train approaches an intersection, Kennedy said.
Additional improvements included ensuring the elevators at the Chinatown/Rose Pak station are operational. Kennedy added that the agency is close to leasing one of its retail spaces at the Chinatown station, while other retail spaces at the station remain unavailable due to flooding.