San Francisco’s transit system is making service changes at the end of this month to address overcrowding and to improve reliability on some of Muni’s busiest routes without spending a dime.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced Tuesday that passengers will see increased frequencies on the 1-California bus route and the N-Judah, which is Muni’s busiest rail line. The 5R-Fulton Rapid will resume serving customers with 60-foot buses, restoring capacity to the route after changes made in February, when 40-foot trolley buses were used following the closure of the Potrero bus facility.
Buses on the 1-California will run every nine minutes instead of 10 minutes, with buses running every four to five minutes between Park Presidio Boulevard and downtown, the SFMTA said. Trains on the N-Judah will also run every nine minutes instead of 10 minutes to address crowding and wait times. The SFMTA is exploring the possibility of additional service improvements on the route as part of its N Judah Transit and Safety Project.
“Downtown travel has been growing over the last year, and we want to make sure that people commuting downtown on Muni have the best experience possible,” said SFMTA director of transportation on Tuesday at the agency’s board meeting.
Kirschbaum added that the service improvements are cost-neutral, adding that the SFMTA’s transit service and planning team have found “creative” ways to make the service improvements.
Additionally, the SFMTA is improving service on the 22-Fillmore, 22-Owl, 29-Sunset, 38R-Geary Rapid, and 49-Van Ness/Mission.
The service changes take effect on Aug. 29.
In addition to the Muni service changes, the SFMTA is also preparing for San Francisco Unified School District students to return to school on Aug. 17. Streets Director Viktoria Wise said the agency recently hired 15 school crossing guards.
Last year, the SFMTA faced a crossing guard shortage that the agency said was due to a slowdown in hiring and faced a high turnover. Wise said schools are covered this year with a few crossing guards doing split shifts given that some schools start at different times.
On Tuesday, crossing guards, including Latasha Kemp, were doing an annual training workshop ahead of the start of the new school year. Kemp has been a crossing guard for six years in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. “I love being a crossing guard seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces and the kids’ faces and being out there for the safety of the kids,” Kemp said.
The SFMTA is also adding a transit stop on the 28R-19th Avenue Rapid route at 19th Avenue and Eucalyptus Drive that the agency said will give Lowell High School another option to get to and from campus. Other route changes for students include eliminating a transfer while traveling from Visitacion Valley to Francisco Middle School that was previously required on the 8AX-Bayshore Express route.
