Muni passengers can expect service reductions this summer, including possible cuts to connector routes with low ridership and some local service routes with rapid options. It’s not clear yet which routes will get reduced.
Next Tuesday, transit officials plan to present three potential summer service scenarios to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) board of directors meeting. The agency wants to reduce about 4 percent of service to match its current staffing level and budget as it faces a $322 million budget starting next year in July. The SFMTA is already starting to make some cuts on Feb. 1.
Sean Kennedy, the agency’s chief planning officer, said the potential cuts would be “impactful” to passengers compared to the service reductions being made in February.
“They are not something that we want to be doing, especially as ridership is coming back,” Kennedy said. “Now is not the time to be having to cut service, do not have the funds to continue to deliver 100 percent.”
The SFMTA will start outreach to the public to share the potential service cut plans starting next month to develop a final proposed service plan based on the input. Staff plan to bring a final proposal for approval to the SFMTA board’s March 18 meeting.
Despite having a larger deficit next year, transit officials said they are facing a $50 million deficit in the 2025–26 fiscal year, which starts this July, due to lower parking revenue, less funding from the city’s general fund and less than expected funding from state operating grants.
In the first scenario, transit officials will look to adjust service by ridership demand by suspending routes with lower ridership and parallel routes, including the 2-Sutter, 6-Haight/Parnassus, 21-Hayes and 31-Balboa and 55-Dogpatch. To cover the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood and parts of the Inner Sunset, the agency will extend the 52-Excelsior from Forest Hill station as it did early on the pandemic before the 6-Haight/Parnassus returned in summer 2022. The 66-Quintara would cover parts of Parnassus Avenue.
The SFMTA would also reduce the hours of the Muni Metro subway on weekdays under the first scenario. Muni Metro would open later at 7 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. instead of midnight. Service would end at 7 p.m. for the following nine Muni bus connector routes:
- 35-Eureka
- 36-Teresita
- 37-Corbett
- 52-Excelsior
- 56-Rutland
- 57-Parkmerced
- 58 Lake Merced
- 66-Quintara
- 67 Bernal Heights
Under a second scenario, those same connector routes would continue to run, but their frequency would vary from 30 to 45 minutes. Additionally, the SFMTA would suspend local route service on the 5-Fulton, 9-San Bruno, and 28-19 Avenue but maintain and increase rapid service on the three routes by running buses from every eight minutes instead of 12. Local service on 14-Mission and 38-Geary would decrease, with buses running every 16 minutes. Service on the 14R-Mission Rapid would be readjusted to run more frequently.
In the last proposed plan, the SFMTA could focus on maintaining service in equity neighborhoods known to have a high percentage of low-income households, people of color and seniors, or people with disabilities. Under the third proposal, only four routes would be suspended, including the 2, 21, 28 (local) and 55. Passengers would also see longer wait times on connector routes. The 28 rapid service would run every eight minutes instead of 12.
Kennedy said the final proposal could be one of the potential scenarios, a combination of the three or none of the above.
Muni service cuts may worsen next year if the SFMTA cannot address its budget deficit.
The city’s Controller’s Office and SFMTA have created the Muni Funding Group, which has been meeting for months to discuss the possibility of how the SFMTA should scale back Muni service next year and the possibility of new revenue options.
At the group’s previous meeting last week, officials presented different revenue options that the SFMTA could pursue on its own or through the ballot box. Some ideas were new and some were old.
A regional ballot measure within four Bay Area counties for the November 2026 election is in the works and could be a sales tax and/or parcel tax. City transit officials have said that the regional measure would not be enough to fill the SFMTA’s budget gap and would require new revenue sources. A citywide tax measure would also be explored as a stand-alone measure or to complement the regional measure.
Other potential local ballot measures could be an additional tax to transportation network companies (Uber, Lyft, Waymo). A similar measure, Proposition L, did have support from voters last November but was voided by a measure to overhaul the city’s business taxes, Proposition M.
The city could also explore ballot measures that could increase the tax assessed on privately and publicly owned parking lots from 25 percent to 35 percent and a measure that could add a tax on off-street parking that is available to the public for free. One example would be retail parking lots.
On the parking side, the SFMTA solicited feedback on the controversial idea of extending parking meters at night and on Sundays. Other ideas included increasing the cost of residential parking permits with some members suggesting bundling the permits with monthly Muni passes. The agency estimates it could potentially make upward of $19 million annually from implementing the meter and permit increases.
Some controversial ideas that are years away from being implemented and will be discussed at the next working group meeting include congestion pricing and expanding paid parking for visitors in all residential areas citywide. However, residents would continue to pay less than visitors. Another idea floated was charging delivery and ride-hailing companies for short-term use of the curb.
Alicia John-Baptiste, whom Mayor Daniel Lurie tapped as his chief of infrastructure, mobility, and climate, stressed the importance of keeping Muni running in the city.
“I feel like the question that we are grappling with right now is not only critical to Muni, but critical to the future of San Francisco,” John-Baptiste said. I think most of us in this room understand that Muni truly is the lifeblood of this city. There is no economic recovery without Muni. We don’t meet our social and environmental goals without Muni.”
Jerold Chinn is a freelance reporter who covers transportation in San Francisco.
[This article was updated to add to the list of connector routes where Muni service will be shortened.]