Strollers and making Muni more accessible for families with kids were among the topics last week at a Board of Supervisors hearing.
At the board’s July 13 Land Use and Transportation Committee, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was among three agencies to present its policies and ways it is making transit more family-friendly. District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter called for the hearing.
The hearing was part of Sauter’s Supporting Tomorrow’s Residents with Opportunity, Livability, Learning, Education, and Resources Act, also known as the STROLLER Act, a package of initiatives on how San Francisco can become more affordable and accessible for families, especially people raising young families or who want to start a family.
“Focusing on families is less about prioritizing this group over any other, but rather recognizing that when we make it easier for families to move around the city, we also make it easier for everyone else as a result,” Sauter said at the hearing.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum said the topic was deeply personal to her as her kids have grown up from using strollers to now traveling the city as high schoolers.
“Everything that we’re doing to make the overall system safe, we’re also doing to make my family safe and your family safe,” she said.
Kirschbaum spoke about some of Muni’s youngest riders in strollers, adding that the SFMTA has “worked hard to have a thoughtful stroller policy.”
The agency does not limit the number of strollers onboard Muni vehicles, but priority is given to wheelchair passengers at the front of the vehicle. Strollers are required to be collapsible, but they do not need to be collapsed on the vehicle.
Most Muni buses do have a designated stroller in the middle of the bus. The seat has a stroller etched on it, where a person can pull a yellow lever and lift the seat to park the stroller. Muni light rail vehicles have more space for strollers. On Muni’s 40-foot buses, riders can find the seat near the back door, while the seat can be found near the middle door of 60-foot buses.
Kirschbaum said the SFMTA encourages “parents to use our boarding ramps, which allow for level boarding onto and off of many of our train platforms, and we have for both our customers who use wheelchairs and our customers who use strollers.”
The agency is planning to work on a public campaign on giving families “tips and tricks” on navigating Muni with a stroller and to help families better understand the agency’s stroller policy.
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar said it would be useful for the SFMTA to have signs or an announcement that strollers are allowed on Muni vehicles. She added that she had often seen other Muni riders give “attitude” to riders who board with a stroller.
Kirschbaum also spoke about the SFMTA’s free Muni for youth program, having Muni transit ambassadors on routes that pass through multiple schools, and picking up students before and after school.
BART also presented to the committee on its efforts to ensure elevators and escalators are working properly, while the Metropolitan Transportation Commission presented an update on its wayfinding signage project.
Sauter concluded that the same issues that matter to transit riders, such as reliability and safety, also matter to families, but added that other factors can make a difference for families, including working elevators and escalators, restroom availability and understanding fares.
“I think you have a set of colleagues here who use and love public transit, want to be champions for public transit, and want to make sure it’s more accessible in San Francisco, including our young families,” Sauter said.
