San Francisco Sunset District residents could have an alternative option to get to commercial corridors and popular destinations like the Stonestown Galleria mall.
Transit planners have been studying since at least 2022 the idea of a District 4 on-demand community shuttle that would, in theory, take passengers around the Sunset District to requested local shops, restaurants, and connect passengers to transit connections. There would be no fixed route. The Bayview neighborhood is already piloting a community shuttle program that launched last November.
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which is preparing a final report on the possibility of a community shuttle service in the Sunset, recently held a public virtual meeting on June 26 with an update on how the service would work and the cost of implementing the service. The idea was borne out of the District 4 Mobility Study, which looked at how the neighborhood could decrease its reliance on private autos. Former Supervisor Gordon Mar requested the study.
Jean Paul Velez, a transportation planner with the SFCTA, said the service would work as an on-demand service where passengers would request a ride through a mobile app or by calling a multilingual call center. The service would not be door-to-door for most passengers.
Instead, passengers would get picked up at the closest intersection. The program could offer door-to-door service for seniors and people with disabilities, Velez said.
The proposed service area would include the entire District 4 and include servicing the area of San Francisco State University and Stonestown Galleria. The boundary would be Lincoln Way in the north, the Great Highway in the west, 19th Avenue in the east, and Lake Merced in the south, Velez said.
Passengers could wait between 10 to 20 minutes for a pickup, and travel time to destinations could be anywhere between 15 to 25 minutes as the shuttle would also pick up other passengers along the way headed to similar destinations. Approximately six vehicles would be in service.
Based on feedback from previous outreach efforts, Velez said the preferred operating times could be from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Passengers would pay for the service using a Clipper card, and the cost for a ride would be $3, which is equivalent to paying a single-ride cash fare for an adult.
Velez said the SFCTA is projecting an average of 300 daily users to use the service.
Funding for the shuttle service is estimated to cost $3 to $3.5 million in the first year. It would start as a pilot program. Velez said the city could seek state grants or discretionary funding from the city to fund the first year of the pilot.
If the pilot is successful and popular, the shuttle service would need a dedicated funding source to continue operating as a permanent service. Examples of a dedicated funding source could include future transportation ballot measures, advertising, higher fares to use the service and increasing parking meter rates in the Sunset to help pay for the service.
Margaret Graf, one of the attendees of the meeting who lives in the Outer Sunset, said she could see a higher fare being charged for service as the shuttle would go above and beyond Muni service, especially if the shuttle goes door-to-door for senior passengers.
“In my mind, in fairness, I think the extra that you get by having someone come to your street corner or door, warrants a little extra pay,” Graf said.
Albert Chow, president of the People of Parkside Sunset merchants group, asked if the service could go beyond the proposed area, given the initial cost of the program.
Velez said that if the service area were expanded with the initial proposed six vehicles, it could affect the service overall, including longer wait times for passenger pickups and longer travel times. He added that expanding the service could be an option for the community, but it may require more vehicles.
The next step is to continue outreach for the rest of July, Velez said. A final report will be presented to the SFCTA board sometime this fall.
