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118-583: West Portal is located at the southern edge of the hills in central San Francisco. The neighborhood is named for the western terminus of the Muni tunnel beneath Twin Peaks that opened in 1918. The ride in the subway from West Portal Station to Castro Station is about seven minutes. By the West Portal Station , the K Ingleside and the M Ocean View go south along West Portal Avenue. The neighborhood

236-554: A 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (2.4 km) race: one took the train, and the other walked along Market from Civic Center to Embarcadero. The two reporters tied as both completed their trips in 23 minutes; this was an improvement compared to the previous week, at the height of the Meltdown, when the same trip on Muni Metro could take three times as long. Mayor Brown re-enacted the race as the pedestrian on September 3; this time, Muni Metro service had improved and train passengers completed

354-691: A Golden State Warriors game. That easily surpassed the previous Saturday record of 319,484 riders, which occurred in October 2012, coinciding with several sporting events and Fleet Week . BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade , surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held. Ridership dropped sharply during

472-507: A heritage streetcar line , which is also standard gauge, is also present here, at street level on Market Street. The rail lines, however, do not physically intersect. Muni operates about 1,200 vehicles: 550 diesel-electric hybrid buses , 300 electric trolleybuses , 250 modern light rail vehicles , 50 historic streetcars and 40 cable cars . All vehicles, except for cable cars, are wheelchair accessible . The electricity to run all of Muni's trolleybuses, light rail vehicles, streetcars, and

590-928: A $ 7 million contract (equivalent to $ 39 million in 2023). It was the third system in the US to use encoded-value magnetic stripe tickets, following the Illinois Central Gulf commuter line in 1964 and the PATCO Speedline in 1968. Although tickets could be refilled at fare machines, riders often discarded tickets with small values remaining. BART formerly relied on unused ticket values on such discarded cards for additional revenue – as much as $ 9.9 million annually in 1999 (equivalent to $ 17 million in 2023). Tickets stopped being sold in December 2020 in favor of Clipper cards, and can no longer be used. A 50-cent surcharge per trip (25 cents for discounted fares)

708-477: A 62.5% discount is provided to seniors and the disabled. The Clipper START program for low-income adults provides a 50% discount. The San Francisco Muni and BART offer a combined monthly "A" Fast Pass, which allows unlimited rides on Muni services plus BART service within San Francisco. In August 2022, BART launched Clipper BayPass, a two-year pilot program to examine the viability of a transit pass that

826-557: A connector downtown to transfer between the Bayshore, Geary, and North Beach corridors. These have since been implemented as a combination of light rail ( T Third and Central Subway ) and bus rapid transit ( Geary and Van Ness ) services. During the late 1990s, with aging equipment and poor management, Muni developed a reputation for poor and erratic service. In 1996 a group called Rescue Muni representing transit riders formed to organize concerns and press for change, advocating for

944-477: A cost of $ 70 million, three times the original estimate. Riders angry over delays confronted one driver during the Monday afternoon commute on August 24; he responded by locking himself in the driver's compartment and refused to move the train, halting all service for half an hour. Otherwise, no delays were attributable to the new automatic control system that Monday. However, by August 26, Mayor Willie Brown

1062-568: A feasibility study for installing a second transbay crossing would commence the following year. By 2019, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) had joined with BART to study a multi-modal crossing, which could also allow Capitol Corridor and San Joaquins routes to serve San Francisco directly. In 2007, BART stated its intention to improve non-peak (night and weekend) headways for each line to 15 minutes. The 20-minute headways at these times

1180-478: A fifth line to the system for the first time in BART's history. The system was expanded to San Francisco International Airport in 2003 and to Oakland International Airport (now San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport) via an automated guideway transit spur line in 2014. eBART , an extension using diesel multiple units along conventional railroad infrastructure between Pittsburg/Bay Point and Antioch on

1298-538: A larger network of manually operated cable cars . The first city-owned line was acquired in 1906, although the current configuration is an amalgamation of several former lines and has operated as such since in 1952. The system was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. There are three cable car lines being the Mason-Powell line,

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1416-411: A legacy of the inadequate 38-Geary bus serving these neighborhoods. Construction on BART's Market street tunnel started in 1967, with two decks tracks – the upper intended to provide local service. Major cost overruns in the BART project forced the state legislature to rescue the project in 1969: curtailing local service in San Francisco and converting the partially constructed stations into the basis of

1534-535: A month later. Despite the fact that Marin had originally voted in favor of BART participation at the 88% level, its marginal tax base could not adequately absorb its share of BART's projected cost. Another important factor in Marin's withdrawal was an engineering controversy over the feasibility of running trains on the lower deck of the Golden Gate Bridge , an extension forecast as late as three decades after

1652-430: A municipal rail line down Geary. Three years later in 1912, the city declined to renew the franchise that bestowed cable car operator Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway the privilege of operating on Geary Street. The route was converted into a municipal electric streetcar line, the first line of Muni. (In 1912, the average speed of the city's public transit was approximately 8.5 miles per hour – slightly faster than

1770-406: A nationwide decline in mass transit ridership in the second half of the decade. The Washington Post and LA Streetsblog attributed the national decline in ridership to changes in commute patterns, the fall in gasoline prices since 2014, and competition from the private sector in the form of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. Ride-hailing has especially affected ridership on the lines to

1888-595: A new light-rail subway called the Muni Metro to connect the downtown stations to the Twin Peaks Tunnel and continuing along reserved tracks to St. Francis Circle. Construction on the metro began in 1970, but the project suffered from further cuts and design changes throughout the 1970s. The Muni Metro finally opened in February 1980, for one line (N-Judah), with other lines following later in 1980, but

2006-701: A number of major engineering challenges, including excavating subway tunnels in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley; constructing aerial structures throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties; tunneling through the Berkeley Hills on the Concord line; and lowering the system's centerpiece, the Transbay Tube connecting Oakland and San Francisco, into a trench dredged onto

2124-411: A paper-plastic composite with a magnetic stripe . The tickets were sold by fare vending machines. When exiting, fare gates read the magnetically stored value on the card, encoded the new value with the fare subtracted, and printed the new value on the card. Tickets with no remaining value were retained by the machine rather than being returned. The entire fare system was designed and built by IBM under

2242-603: A small city itself. Though small, the neighborhood has many banks, restaurants of many types, coffee shops, salons, post office (temporary closed), elementary school, drug store, bakery, ice cream shop, real estate agents, and spas. West Portal Avenue is dotted with locally owned and operated businesses which include a record store, book store, toy and craft store, clothing boutiques, produce market, candy shop, and hardware store. West Portal Avenue also has many professional services such as dentists, lawyers, accountants, optometrists, and urgent care facilities. The frequent fog helps keep

2360-627: Is 23.1% by a diesel-electric hybrid bus on the 67 line, 22.8% by a trolleybus on the 24 line and 21% by a cable car on the Powell-Hyde line. The busiest Muni bus corridor is the Geary corridor . The two major routes that operate on the corridor, the 38 and 38R , travel 6.5 miles (10.5 km) in the east–west direction along the Geary corridor, and has an average speed of only 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), taking over 50 minutes to travel from

2478-574: Is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California . BART serves 50 stations along six routes and 131 miles (211 kilometers) of track, including eBART , a 9-mile (14 km) spur line running to Antioch , and Oakland Airport Connector , a 3-mile (4.8 km) automated guideway transit line serving San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport . With an average of 169,800 weekday passenger trips as of

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2596-618: Is a barrier to ridership. In mid-2007, BART temporarily reversed its position, stating that the shortened wait times would likely not happen due to a $ 900,000 state revenue budget shortfall. Nevertheless, BART eventually confirmed the implementation of the plan by January 2008. Continued budgetary problems halted the expanded non-peak service and returned off-peak headways to 20 minutes in 2009. In 2008, BART announced that it would install solar panels at two yards, maintenance facilities, and Orinda station (the only station that receives sufficient sunlight to justify installation cost). In 2012,

2714-437: Is a stylized, trademarked "worm" version of the word muni . This logo was designed by San Francisco-based graphic designer Walter Landor in the mid-1970s. To cater to the large Hispanic and Latino American and Asian American populations in San Francisco, bus announcements are in four languages: English , Spanish , Cantonese and Tagalog . Bus and trolleybus lines have number designations, rail lines have letters and

2832-457: Is applied to all journeys made on paper tickets. However, due to supply chain shortages resulting in a lack of plastic Clipper cards, BART started issuing tickets again at the SFO station in October 2022. Sales of paper tickets again ended on September 30, 2023, and they were no longer usable after November 30. BART first piloted a smart card for fare payment called EZ Rider in 2006; this program

2950-531: Is at 41% of pre-pandemic levels, Saturday ridership is at 63%, and Sunday ridership is at 75%. In a 2022 survey, 31% of riders report household income below $ 50,000 (up from 26% in 2018), and 44% did not own a vehicle (up from 31% in 2018). Compared to the region, BART riders are more likely to be Black or Latino, and less likely to be White or Asian. The entirety of the system runs in exclusive, grade-separated right-of-way. BART's rapid transit revenue routes cover about 131 miles (211 km) with 50 stations. On

3068-631: Is compatible with all the public transit agencies in the Bay Area. The program was initially made available to around 50,000 college students and affordable housing residents. The primary fare media for BART is the Clipper card , which is used by most Bay Area transit agencies. Clipper is a contactless smart card ; passengers tap in and out at card readers on fare gates. Clipper cards in Apple Pay and Google Wallet electronic wallets can also be used. BART's original fare system used tickets made of

3186-444: Is either a Clipper card, MuniMobile, Muni Passport, or paper transfer. One fare entitles a rider to unlimited vehicle transfers for the next 120 minutes. Cable cars are $ 8 one way, with no transfers, unless the rider has a Muni Passport or a Muni monthly pass. As of July 2019 monthly passes cost $ 81 for adults ($ 98 with BART privileges within city limits), $ 40 for low-income residents ("Life Line Pass"), or $ 40 for youth, seniors and

3304-619: Is located one block from Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. Several transit agencies offer limited commuter-oriented bus service from more distant cities to outlying BART stations; these include VINE from Napa County, Solano Express from Solano County, Rio Vista Delta Breeze , Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority from Stanislaus County, and San Joaquin RTD from Stockton. Many BART stations are also served by privately run employer and hospital shuttles, and privately run intercity buses stop at several stations. BART also runs directly to two of

3422-507: Is planned to be completed by 2036. Plans had long been floated for an extension from Dublin to Livermore, but the most recent proposal was rejected by the BART board in 2018. Other plans have included an extension to Hercules, a line along the Interstate Highway 680 corridor, and a fourth set of rail tracks through Oakland. At least four infill stations such as Irvington and Calaveras on existing lines have been proposed. With

3540-440: Is separated from the rest of the line. BART has elements of both traditional rapid transit (high-frequency urban service with close station spacing) and commuter rail / regional rail (lower-frequency suburban service with wider station spacing). Trains on each primary service run every 20 minutes, except the busy Yellow Line, which operates every 10 minutes on weekdays. Segments served by multiple lines have higher frequencies,

3658-572: Is served by the 48 Quintara/24th Street and 57 Parkmerced Muni bus lines. Because of its small size and collection of mom and pop stores, restaurants, and saloons, the neighborhood is often described as having a village-like atmosphere. The neighborhood is served by the West Portal Branch of the San Francisco Public Library . Like Glen Park , West Portal is a San Francisco community that almost functions as

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3776-789: Is the primary public transit system within San Francisco , California . It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses ), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable car lines , and two historic streetcar lines. Previously an independent agency, the San Francisco Municipal Railway merged with two other agencies in 1999 to become the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). In 2018, Muni served 46.7 square miles (121 km ) with an operating budget of about $ 1.2 billion. Muni

3894-673: Is the seventh-highest-ridership transit system in the United States , with 142,168,200 rides in 2023, and the second-highest in California after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . Most bus lines are scheduled to operate every five to fifteen minutes during peak hours, every five to twenty minutes middays, about every ten to twenty minutes from 9 pm to midnight, and roughly every half-hour for

4012-496: Is underground in the lower level of the Market Street subway), Muni Metro 's 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge (also underground in the upper level of the subway), and the San Francisco cable car system 's 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge (at street level a few hundred feet away to the north of Market Street in both cases). The F Market and Wharves ,

4130-467: Is working to implement a 30-minute "grace period" before the fare is charged. Unlike many other rapid transit systems, BART does not have weekly or monthly passes with unlimited rides. The only discount provided to the general public is a 6.25% reduction when "high value tickets" (only available on Clipper cards with autoload) are purchased with fare values of $ 48 and $ 64. 50% discount is available to youth aged 5–18 (children age 4 and under ride free), and

4248-630: The California Zephyr , Capitol Corridor , and San Joaquins – stop at Richmond station ; the Capitol Corridor also stops at Oakland Coliseum station . Transfer between BART and the Caltrain commuter rail service is available at Millbrae station . BART and most lines of San Francisco's Muni Metro light rail system share four stations ( Embarcadero , Montgomery Street , Powell Street , and Civic Center/UN Plaza ) in

4366-405: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , the BART equipment was mostly undamaged. A 2010 study concluded that along with some Bay Area freeways, some of BART's overhead structures could collapse in a major earthquake, which has a significant probability of occurring within three decades. Seismic retrofitting has been carried out since 2004 upon voter approval to address these deficiencies, especially in

4484-658: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns beginning in March 2020, during which BART was forced to drastically cut service. Ridership in the weeks immediately following the start of the Bay Area's lockdown (on March 17, 2020) fell by as much as 93%. If ridership does not recover and additional revenue is not obtained, in the worst case the agency projected it would only be able to sustain trains on three lines running once an hour from 5am to 9pm weekdays, and would have to close nine stations. As of May 2024 , weekday ridership

4602-797: The California Transportation Commission announced that they would provide funding for expanding BART facilities, through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority , in anticipation of the opening of the Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension . $ 50 million would go in part to improvements to the Hayward Maintenance Complex. In March 2019, BART announced that they would begin updating ticket add-fare machines inside

4720-685: The Doolittle Maintenance and Storage Facility . eBART vehicles use a facility in Antioch. BART has distance-based fares , which requires riders to use fare gates to both enter and exit, with a flat fare of $ 2.15 for trips under 6 miles (9.7 km). A surcharge is added for trips traveling through the Transbay Tube ($ 1.40), to/from Oakland International Airport ($ 6.70) or San Francisco International Airport ($ 4.95), and to/from San Mateo County ($ 1.45, except $ 1.25 for Daly City). The maximum fare, including both airport surcharges and

4838-1087: The Market Street subway ; connections are also available to three lines at Balboa Park station and one line at Glen Park station . A tunnel at the Powell Street station connects to the Union Square/Market Street station on the Muni Metro T Third Street line. In the South Bay, Milpitas station provides a connection to the Orange Line of VTA light rail . BART is served by bus connections from regional and local transit agencies at all stations, most of which have dedicated off-street bus transfer areas. Many connecting routes (particularly in suburban areas) serve primarily as feeder routes to BART. Larger bus systems connecting to BART include Muni in San Francisco, AC Transit in

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4956-789: The Richmond District to the Transbay Terminal when operating on schedule. As of 2015, the corridor has a total of 55,270 average daily boardings, making it the second busiest transit corridor west of the Mississippi after the Los Angeles Metro Wilshire transit corridor. At Powell and Market Streets and California and Market Streets, three types of rail gauges come within a few hundred feet of each other: Bay Area Rapid Transit 's 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge (which

5074-481: The Salesforce Transit Center . The original Early Bird Express network introduced in February 2019 had fifteen routes, but some were eliminated later that year due to low ridership. Intermodal connections to local, regional, and intercity transit – including bus, light rail , commuter rail , and intercity rail – are available across the BART system. Three Amtrak intercity rail services –

5192-482: The paid area to accept debit and credit cards for payment (for Clipper cards only). In December 2020, BART completed the changeover to Clipper and stopped issuing magstripe paper tickets. Existing paper tickets remained valid. In April 2021, BART began accepting Clipper cards on Apple Pay , Google Pay , and the Clipper app at all BART stations. By December 2023, the fare system was entirely Clipper-only. During

5310-565: The 1950s and 1960s, the regional BART system was conceived as a much more extensive system than was eventually built, with plans for express trains through San Francisco and local service within San Francisco. Because it was assumed BART would provide local rail service, investment in Muni infrastructure failed to keep pace with major urban redevelopment projects. For example, BART was intended to provide Richmond district and Western Addition service as part of its Golden Gate Bridge/Marin line. This leaves

5428-544: The 1970s, and direct service from Daly City to Richmond and Fremont was not phased in until several years after the system opened. Some of the early safety concerns appeared to be well founded when the system experienced a number of train-control failures in its first few years of operation. As early as 1969, before revenue service began, several BART engineers identified safety problems with the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system. The BART Board of Directors

5546-495: The 1990 fiscal year. Ridership would not drop back to previous levels after the repair of the bridge until the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the Bay Area in March 2020. Between 2010 and 2015, BART ridership grew rapidly, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area. In 2015, the system was carrying approximately 100,000 more passengers each day than it had five years earlier. High gasoline prices also contributed to growth, pushing ridership to record levels during 2012, with

5664-617: The All Nighter system except for the Antioch – Rockridge and Bay Fair – Dublin/Pleasanton segments plus Warm Springs/South Fremont station . The Early Bird Express network provides service to major BART stations between 3:50 am and 5:30 am. Two San Francisco/Peninsula routes and seven Transbay routes run between a limited number of major BART stations, with the San Francisco/Peninsula and Transbay routes meeting at

5782-595: The BART system opened, planners projected several possible extensions. Although Marin County was left out of the original system, the 1970 Golden Gate Transportation Facilities Plan considered a tunnel under the Golden Gate or second deck on the bridge, but neither of these plans was pursued. Over twenty years would pass before the first extensions to the BART system were completed to Colma and Pittsburg/Bay Point in 1996. An extension to Dublin/Pleasanton in 1997 added

5900-670: The BART system. The district initially began with five members, all of which were projected to receive BART lines: Alameda County , Contra Costa County , the City and County of San Francisco , San Mateo County , and Marin County . Although invited to participate, Santa Clara County supervisors elected not to join BART due to their dissatisfaction that the peninsula line only stopped at Palo Alto initially, and that it interfered with suburban development in San Jose , preferring instead to concentrate on constructing freeways and expressways. Though

6018-624: The California State Senate, California Public Utilities Commission, and National Transportation Safety Board. Hearings by the state legislature in 1974 into financial mismanagement at BART forced the General Manager to resign in May 1974, and the entire Board of Directors was replaced the same year when the legislature passed legislation leading to the election of a new Board and the end of appointed members. Even before

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6136-592: The California State line, and the Powell- Hyde line. Popular areas from the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf are served by cable cars. In the system, there are 62 allocated stations. The system accrues five million annual riders and has always been a tourist destination as well as a convenient means for travel around the city. Additionally, Muni operates two heritage streetcar lines distinct from

6254-836: The Clipper system. Fares can also be paid with a mobile app called MuniMobile since 2015. The app is developed by moovel, who have built mobile ticketing apps for a number of other transit agencies such as Caltrain and TriMet. The app is planned to be deployed until around 2021 when the next generation Clipper card mobile app is planned to launch and replace agency-specific ticketing apps. Muni operates 14 express lines, 5 Rapid lines, and 12 Owl lines, which run between 1 am and 5 am. For San Francisco Giants games, additional "baseball shuttles" supplement N Judah and T Third service to Oracle Park . Express lines only run during peak hours ; during mornings they run towards downtown (the Financial District ) and during

6372-823: The East Bay, SamTrans in San Mateo County, County Connection and Tri Delta Transit in eastern Contra Costa County, WestCAT in western Contra Costa County, WHEELS in the Tri-Valley, VTA in the Santa Clara Valley, and Golden Gate Transit . Smaller systems include Emery Go-Round in Emeryville, Commute.org on the Peninsula, San Leandro LINKS , Dumbarton Express , and Union City Transit . The Salesforce Transit Center regional bus hub

6490-681: The Future", were unveiled in April 2016. The first cars were expected to be in service in December 2016, however, glitches and a failed CPUC inspection delayed introduction to January 19, 2018. A total of 775 cars were ordered from Bombardier (which merged with Alstom during production): 310 cab cars (D-cars) and 465 non-cab cars (E-cars). As of July 23, 2024 , BART has received all 775 D and E cars, of which 769 have been certified for service. To run its peak service, BART requires 400 cars. Of those, 384 are scheduled to be in active service;

6608-668: The Muni Meltdown had passed and service was uneventful, albeit with fewer LRVs than normal and with drivers onboard each train. Muni officials apologized for the rough transition and promised to continue to improve service; privately they called the Meltdown "the biggest fiasco in the railway's history." In an effort to improve service, Muni began to replace its troublesome fleet of Boeing-Vertol light rail vehicles with newer Italian Breda light rail vehicles in late 1996. The two-decade-old fleet of Flyer trolleybuses were replaced with Electric Transit, Inc. (ETI) trolleybuses in

6726-649: The Muni Metro: the E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves , however the former has been suspended since April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formerly run for the Historic Trolley Festival , in the 1980s, regular service of heritage equipment began in 1995. Streetcars do not utilize tunnel segments and the F line utilizes infrastructure optimized for trolleybuses along Market Street (the former routing of all downtown streetcar lines before

6844-724: The R-Howard line. Trolleybuses had been running in San Francisco since 1935, but operated only by the Market Street Railway Company (MSRy), successor to the URR. By 1944, the MSR was in financial difficulties. Thus, at 5 am on September 29, 1944, Muni acquired its commercial competitor. Along with the routes and equipment, Muni adopted its competitor's more expensive seven-cent fare. Following national trends, Muni replaced most of its rail lines with trolleybus service in

6962-451: The SFMTA since August 15, 2019 has been Thomas Maguire, appointed by the SFMTA Board as the interim replacement for Director of Transportation Edward Reiskin. On April 29, 2019, Director Reiskin announced that he would step down at the end of his contract in August 2019. On November 13, 2019, the agency announced that Jeffrey Tumlin would take over as the new director on December 16, 2019. The day-to-day operations of Muni are overseen by

7080-480: The San Francisco County Transportation Authority released The Four Corridor Plan , a vision to extend Muni Metro service along four major routes in the city: Bayshore (north-south along Third from the county line to California), Geary (east-west along Geary from 48th to Market/Kearny), North Beach (extending the new north-south Bayshore line along Kearny and Columbus to Fisherman's Wharf), and Van Ness (north-south along Van Ness from 16th and Mission to Aquatic Park), with

7198-420: The San Francisco International Airport and the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. At SFO, ride-hailing services grew by a factor of almost six or nearly 500% at the airport between 2014 and 2016. BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of airport transit. Stations in the urban cores of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have

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7316-562: The Transbay Tube . BART projects that Transbay Tube retrofits are expected to be completed in 2023. The mainline BART network operates with electric powered, self-propelled railcars . For most lines, six cars are coupled together in a train, except the Yellow Line, which uses eight-car trains. BART trains have gangway connections , and passengers can move freely between cars. The cars have three doors on each side, bike racks, 54 seats per car, and interior and exterior displays giving information. The new cars, branded by BART as its "Fleet of

7434-551: The Transbay Tube nearing capacity, long-range plans included a new four-bore Transbay Tube beneath San Francisco Bay that would run parallel and south of the existing tunnel and emerge at the Transbay Transit Terminal to connect to Caltrain and the future California High-Speed Rail system. The four-bore tunnel would provide two tunnels for BART and two tunnels for conventional/high-speed rail. The BART system and conventional U.S. rail use different and incompatible rail gauges and different loading gauges . In 2018, BART announced that

7552-474: The Transbay Tube to the San Francisco Peninsula. This service complements the Red Line during daytime hours and replaces that line when it stops operating after 9pm. The first inbound trains leave outer terminals around 5:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on Saturdays, and 8:00 am on Sundays and most holidays. The last trains of the service day leave their terminals around midnight; the final Yellow and Orange Line trains in both directions meet at MacArthur station , and

7670-428: The Transbay surcharge, is $ 17.60; the maximum without surcharges ( Antioch – Berryessa/​North San José ) is $ 10.30. As of June 2022 , the average fare paid is $ 3.93. Because of the varied fares, it is possible to enter the system with enough stored value for a shorter trip, but not a longer trip. Passengers without sufficient fare to complete their journey must use an add-fare machine to add value in order to exit

7788-423: The Transit division of the SFMTA, which is currently headed by Director of Transit Julie Kirschbaum. Muni has its origins in the period following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Until then the city had been served by several commercial horsecar , cable car and electric streetcar operators. Many of these had been amalgamated into the United Railroads of San Francisco (URR) company. In 1909, voters approved

7906-413: The U.S. economy, growing modestly during periods of economic expansion and dropping slightly during recessions. A major exception occurred in 1989 in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake , which severely damaged the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge , causing its closure for a month. BART became the only direct route between the East Bay and San Francisco, resulting in a nearly 17% ridership jump for

8024-425: The Yellow Line, opened on May 26, 2018. BART's most significant current extension project is the Silicon Valley BART extension on the Green and Orange Lines. The first phase extended the Fremont line to Warm Springs/South Fremont in early 2017, and the second phase to Berryessa/North San José began service on June 13, 2020. The third phase to Santa Clara is contingent upon the allocation of funding as of May 2020 , but

8142-464: The area green in the usually rainless summer months, and on a clear day, West Portal Park, above the Twin Peaks Tunnel, provides a view of the Marin Headlands and the Farallon Islands in the Pacific . The neighborhood is served by the Muni train lines M Ocean View, S Shuttle, K Ingleside, and L Taraval. San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway ( / ˈ m juː n i / MEW -nee ; SF Muni or Muni ),

8260-425: The average speed of 8.1 in 2007.) Muni soon started on a large building program. On December 29, 1914, the new Stockton Street Tunnel under Nob Hill opened, allowing streetcars from downtown to go to North Beach . The new line also served the Marina District , the site of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition . On February 3, 1918, the Twin Peaks Tunnel opened, making the southwestern quarter of

8378-426: The busiest of which is the section between Daly City and West Oakland, which has around 15 trains per hour (one train about every four minutes), per direction at peak hours. The Oakland Airport Connector runs "on demand", typically on headways of 10 minutes or less. Timed cross-platform transfers are available between the Orange Line, which operates only in the East Bay, and the Yellow Line, which operates through

8496-812: The cable car powerhouse comes from the hydroelectric dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park . All of Muni's current internal combustion buses use diesel-electric hybrid powertrains, fueled with renewable diesel fuel made from bio-feedstock sources, including fats, oils and greases. The combination of hybrid technology and renewable diesel fuel helps reduce fuel consumption and cut vehicle emissions. Weekday mode share on Muni services in 2019 In November 1999 San Francisco voters passed Proposition E setting standards for performance of having at least an 85% on-time record In July 2012 Muni vehicles were on-time 60% of

8614-534: The cities and suburbs. Marvin E. Lewis, a San Francisco trial attorney and member of the city's board of supervisors spearheaded a grassroots movement to advance the idea of an alternative bay crossing and the possibility of regional transit network. Formal planning for BART began with the setting up in 1957 of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District , a county-based special-purpose district body that governs

8732-570: The city available for development. On October 21, 1928, the Sunset Tunnel opened, bringing the N Judah streetcar line to the Sunset District . These improvements plunged Muni into direct competition with the URR on the entire length of Market Street. The two operators each operated their own pair of tracks down that thoroughfare, which came to be known as the "roar of the four". In 1941, Muni introduced its first trolleybus line,

8850-456: The city vary from Metro stations with raised platforms in the subway and at the more heavily used surface stops, to small shelters to signposts to simply a yellow stripe on a utility pole or on the road surface. 70% of stops are spaced closer than recommended range of 800–1,000 feet (240–300 m) apart. The system is popularly known as "Muni", a shortening of the "Municipal" in "San Francisco Municipal Railway" (and not an acronym). Muni's logo

8968-586: The city; they are good on all regular-service lines without surcharge, including cable cars. As of September 2018, Passports cost $ 23 for a 1-day pass, $ 34 for a 3-day pass, or $ 45 for a 7-day pass, with discounts for using Clipper card or MuniMobile. Muni has implemented a dual-mode smart card payment system known as Clipper (formerly TransLink). The transponders have been in use since at least 2004, and replaced most paper monthly passes in 2010. BART , Caltrain , Golden Gate Transit , VTA , AC Transit , SamTrans , SMART and San Francisco Bay Ferry also utilize

9086-614: The delays frustrated many commuters. On Friday, August 28, 67 of the 131 LRVs (55 Boeing and 12 Breda) in the Muni Metro fleet were out of service for the morning commute; Mayor Brown personally rode from Civic Center to Embarcadero in the afternoon to experience the chaos for himself. Muni riders abandoned the underground system for carpools, taxis, buses, and F-Market streetcars after LRVs were delayed and stopped with no communication as to when they would resume service; transit times from 4th and Irving to Powell swelled to 120 minutes. On August 31, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters staged

9204-507: The disabled. Passes are valid on all Muni lines—including cable cars—and the $ 98 adult pass allows BART transit entirely within San Francisco (between Embarcadero and Balboa Park ). Other passes and stickers are valid on all Muni lines, including cable cars, but not on BART (with the exception of BART-Plus ticket types). Cable car fare is $ 8 per trip, with no transfers issued or accepted. "Passports" are folding scratch-off passes that can be purchased by mail, or at various places throughout

9322-548: The early 2000s. Likewise, the diesel bus fleet saw an infusion of 45 new NABI buses from AC Transit in 1999. Construction on a sixth light rail line from Caltrain Depot in Mission Bay to Visitacion Valley and Bayview/Hunters Point was completed in December 2006. The new line, named the T Third Street , consisted of 19 new high-platform stations at street-level. BART Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART )

9440-406: The evening they run away from downtown. All express lines have an "X", "AX", or "BX" following the line's number. Some lines are divided into A and B Expresses. The B Express line is shorter and has stops that are closer to downtown, while the A Express makes stops further away from downtown and will make few or no stops in the area where the B Express stops. The 8 Bayshore, as the 8X Bayshore Express,

9558-547: The exception of several lines serving locations in the northern part of neighboring Daly City , and the 76X Marin Headlands Express line to the Marin Headlands area on weekends and major holidays. Most intercity connections are provided by BART and Caltrain heavy rail, AC Transit buses at the Salesforce Transit Center , and Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans downtown. Bus and car stops throughout

9676-400: The final Orange and Blue Line trains in the southbound direction meet at Bay Fair station , for guaranteed transfers. Two different bus networks operated by regional transit agencies run during the overnight hours when BART is not operating. The All Nighter network provides basic overnight service to much of the Bay Area. Most BART stations are served (directly or within several blocks) by

9794-507: The fleet. In September 1982, the cable car system was shut down for 21 months for rebuilding, and there were massive line reorganizations as Muni restructured their route network to provide stronger cross-town services. In 1983, Muni temporarily ran streetcars down Market Street as part of the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival, initially conceived of as a substitute attraction for tourists during

9912-656: The floor of San Francisco Bay. Like other transit systems of the same era, BART endeavored to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by building lines that paralleled established commuting routes of the region's freeway system. BART envisioned frequent local service, with headways as short as two minutes between trains through the Transbay Tube and six minutes on each individual line. Passenger service began on September 11, 1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont . The rest of

10030-439: The formation of Muni Metro). The longest Muni line is the 24.1-mile (38.8 km) 91 Owl a nighttime-only route that blends several other routes together, while the longest daytime route is the 17.4-mile (28.0 km) 29 . The shortest route is the peak-hour only 88 BART Shuttle at 1.4 miles (2.3 km), while the shortest off-peak route is the 39 Coit at 1.6 miles (2.6 km). The steepest grade climbed by Muni vehicle

10148-545: The heavy rail services run through Oakland , and all but the Orange Line cross the bay through the Transbay Tube to San Francisco. All five services run every day until 9 pm; only three services operate evenings after 9 pm. All stations are served during all service hours. The eastern segment of the Yellow Line (between Antioch and the transfer platform east of Pittsburg/Bay Point) uses different rolling stock and

10266-451: The highest ridership, while suburban stations record lower rider numbers. During fiscal year 2017, the busiest station was Embarcadero with 48,526 average weekday exits, followed by Montgomery Street with 45,386. The busiest station outside of San Francisco was 12th Street Oakland City Center with 13,965 riders, followed by 19th Street Oakland with 13,456. The least busy station was Oakland International Airport with 1,517 riders, while

10384-416: The late night "owl" routes. On weekends, most Muni bus lines are scheduled to run every ten to twenty minutes. However, complaints of unreliability, especially on less-often-served lines and older (pre-battery backup) trolleybus lines, are a system-wide problem. Muni has had some difficulty meeting a stated goal of 85% voter-demanded on-time service. All Muni lines run inside San Francisco city limits, with

10502-537: The least busy standard BART station was North Concord / Martinez with 2,702 weekday exits. BART's one-day ridership record was set on Halloween of 2012 with 568,061 passengers attending the San Francisco Giants' victory parade for their World Series championship . This surpassed the record set two years earlier of 522,198 riders in 2010 for the Giants' 2010 World Series victory parade. Before that,

10620-473: The lower deck of the Bay Bridge , but the system was dismantled in the 1950s, with its last transbay crossing in 1958, and was superseded by highway travel. A 1950s study of traffic problems in the Bay Area concluded the most cost-effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a new, high-speed rapid transit system linking

10738-422: The many design compromises and piecemeal planning led to long-term operational challenges and inefficiencies. In 1970, Muni also suffered a severe diesel bus crisis. Muni experienced a diesel bus availability crisis in 1981–1982 when most of their diesel buses, 401 GMC and Flxible "New Looks" purchases in 1969, reached the end of their 12-year design life and funds for their replacement were not available. Most of

10856-517: The one summer when no cable cars would be in operation. The service became so popular that the festival was repeated for several years following. Anticipating the return of permanent streetcar service on Market Street, Muni began rehabilitating tracks in 1987, a process that culminated in the opening of the F line in 1995. The first modern Muni shelter was installed in front of the War Memorial Opera House in 1987. The F line

10974-541: The others are used to build up spare trains (used to maintain on-time service). The previous BART fleet, consisting of A, B, and C cars, was built between 1968 and 1996. It was retired from regular service on September 11, 2023, with the final revenue runs on April 20, 2024. The Oakland Airport Connector uses a completely separate and independently operated fleet of cable car-based automated guideway transit vehicles. It uses four Cable Liner trains built by DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car , arranged as three-car sets, but

11092-745: The passage of Proposition E in November 1999, Muni has been part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), a semi-independent city agency created by that ballot measure. The agency, into which Muni, the Department of Parking and Traffic, and the Taxicab Commission were merged, is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. The acting Director of Transportation of

11210-628: The record was 442,100 riders in October 2009, following an emergency closure of the Bay Bridge . During a planned closure of the Bay Bridge, there were 475,015 daily riders on August 30, 2013, making that the third highest ridership. On June 19, 2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors championship parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list. BART set a Saturday record of 419,162 riders on February 6, 2016, coinciding with Super Bowl 50 events and

11328-477: The rest of the BART system. The withdrawals of Marin and San Mateo resulted in a downsizing of the original system plans, which would have had lines as far south as Palo Alto and northward past San Rafael . Voters in the three remaining participating counties approved the truncated system, with termini in Fremont , Richmond, Concord, and Daly City, in 1962. Construction of the system began in 1964, and included

11446-416: The rest of the fleet were undersized 36-foot AM Generals purchased for neighborhood routes, and their use on heavier lines exacerbated conditions. The trolley bus fleet was in good order and had excess capacity at the time so Muni improvised a few temporary services with them to help out. One such service was a trolley 14-Limited that used the abandoned trolley overhead on South Van Ness. The diesel 82-Chinatown

11564-561: The role of diesels in the total operation. Three trunk diesel lines were converted to trolley bus service in the next twelve years. But these efforts have not been as successful as hoped. Out of necessity most of the fleet, 330 standard bus equivalents out of 506, were replaced in just two years in 1985–1986. (Standard bus equivalents factor the 30-foot and 60-foot into their equivalent capacity in 40-foot buses). And seven years passed without any new buses coming on board before Muni started its next full diesel fleet replacement cycle in 1999. This

11682-571: The station . As of June 2022 , entering and exiting at the same station incurs an "excursion fare" of $ 6.40 – significantly higher than many station-to-station fares. This was originally introduced to allow people to tour the then-futuristic system; it was kept to discourage undesired behaviors such as tech bus riders using BART parking lots. The excursion fare has been criticized for negatively impacting riders who leave stations during service disruptions (although station agents can allow riders to exit without fare payment). As of December 2022, BART

11800-525: The succeeding decades. A few lines with dedicated rights-of-way (including those serving the Twin Peaks and Sunset tunnels) continued as rail lines running 1940s-era PCC streetcars through the 1970s. These lines became the foundation of the Muni Metro. During World War II, because male employees had been called to serve in the military, both MSRy and Muni hired female 'motorettes' and conductors, including poet and author Maya Angelou in 1943. In

11918-665: The successful 1999 Proposition E that formed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and set service standards for Muni. In August 1998, San Francisco residents witnessed a protracted malfunction of Muni Metro after switching to an automatic train control implemented by Alcatel Transport Automation , culminating in an event that is now known as the Muni Meltdown . Automatic control of Muni Metro light rail vehicles began on Saturday, August 22, three years behind schedule and at

12036-541: The system can accommodate four-car trains in the future. The eBART extension uses eight Stadler GTW diesel railcars . The Stadler GTW vehicles are diesel multiple units , which operate over standard gauge tracks (as opposed to BART's broad gauge). The initial BART system included car storage and maintenance yards in Concord, Hayward, and Richmond, with an additional maintenance only (no car storage) yard in Oakland. The Daly City car storage and maintenance yard opened in December 1988. The Oakland Airport Connector uses

12154-401: The system expanded into Santa Clara County in 2020, as of June 2024 it is still not a district member. In 1962, San Mateo County supervisors voted to leave BART, saying their voters would be paying taxes to carry mainly Santa Clara County residents (presumably along I-280 , SR 92 , and SR 85 ). The district-wide tax base was weakened by San Mateo's departure, forcing Marin County to withdraw

12272-404: The system opened in stages, with the entire system opening in 1974 when the transbay service through the Transbay Tube began. The new BART system was hailed as a major step forward in subway technology, although questions were asked concerning the safety of the system and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network. Ridership remained well below projected levels throughout

12390-539: The system recording five record ridership days in September and October 2012. After six straight years of expansion, ridership growth began to slow in late 2016, dropping by 1.7% in October 2016 from the prior year. Although the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, showed an average weekday ridership of 423,395, the second-highest in BART's history, this was a 2.3% drop from FY 2016. Ridership continued to decline by approximately 3% per year between 2016 and 2019, mirroring

12508-498: The third quarter of 2024 and 48,119,400 annual passenger trips in 2023, BART is the sixth-busiest rapid transit system in the United States . BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District which formed in 1957. The initial system opened in stages from 1972 to 1974. The system has been extended several times, most recently in 2020, when Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José stations opened as part of

12626-552: The three cable car lines are typically referred to by name only (Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and California). Except for cable cars, cash fares are $ 3.00 for adults; $ 1.50 for seniors over 65, people with disabilities, and Medicare card holders; and free for low- and moderate-income seniors, youth aged 18 and under, and people with disabilities residing in San Francisco. Clipper card and MuniMobile fares are $ 2.50 for adults and $ 1.25 for seniors, and people with disabilities. Proof-of-payment , which fare inspectors may demand at any time,

12744-611: The three major Bay Area airports ( San Francisco International Airport and San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport ) with service to San Jose International Airport provided by a VTA bus route available at Milpitas station . Some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System . This early 20th-century system once had regular transbay traffic across

12862-734: The time and in August 2012, they were on-time 57% of the time. A report conducted by the San Francisco Municipal Transport Agency in early 2013 noted that Muni was on time only 58% of the time. It delayed its customers a total of 172,195 hours and reduced the city's economic activity by US$ 50 million per year. In 2013 the performance hit an all-time low of 57%, the on-time performance improved to 60% in January 2014, 60% in February 2014, and 60% in March 2014. Muni Metro on-time performance as of June 2022: Since

12980-595: The trip in just seven minutes. At the request of the San Francisco Examiner , a member of the executive committee for Rescue Muni tracked the length of each ride on her eight-stop daily commute to the Financial District from the Sunset that week. Four of the ten trips took longer than 40 minutes, and the best time was 15 minutes. By the third week of operation under automatic train control,

13098-769: The under construction Silicon Valley BART extension in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). BART serves large portions of its three member counties – San Francisco , Alameda , and Contra Costa – as well as smaller portions of San Mateo County and Santa Clara counties. The system has 50 stations : 22 in Alameda County, 12 in Contra Costa County, 8 in San Francisco, 6 in San Mateo County, and 2 in Santa Clara County. BART operates five named heavy rail services plus one separate automated guideway line. All of

13216-463: Was abandoned in 2010 in favor of a regional farecard. In 2009, BART became one of the first five transit agencies to accept TransLink (later renamed Clipper) cards for fare payment and began phasing out tickets. By December 2020, all BART ticket machines, except for add-fare machines inside of paid areas, were converted to Clipper use only. Tickets were no longer accepted starting in December 2023. For most of its history, BART's ridership has reflected

13334-417: Was dismissive of their concerns and retaliated by firing them. Less than a month after the system's opening, on October 2, 1972, an ATC failure caused a train to run off the end of the elevated track at the terminal Fremont station and crash to the ground, injuring four people. The "Fremont Flyer" led to a comprehensive redesign of the train controls and also resulted in multiple investigations being opened by

13452-428: Was fourteen years after the previous cycle instead of the twelve years that buses are designed to last. Muni is now aware that they must expect to keep diesel buses past their design life and have also found that funds granted for mid-life rebuilds require that the buses be kept longer still. As the fleet replacement cycle begins again in 2013, Muni has arranged for life-extending rebuilds of 142 buses, by count over 30% of

13570-486: Was reintroduced in 1995 as a heritage streetcar service. Initially designed as a temporary tourist attraction to make up for the suspension of cable car service for rebuilding, the F has become a permanent fixture. E line service, initially known as the Muni Metro Extension, started in January 1998 initially as a shuttle between Embarcadero station and Caltrain's 4th and Townsend station. In June 1995,

13688-424: Was replaced with short runs of the 30-Stockton. But the trolleys could only go where their wires went. Muni adopted some policies to alleviate future service issues due to an aged fleet. They would stagger bus purchases so not as large a portion of the fleet would hit retirement age at once. They would arrange for mid-life rebuilds to keep the buses more serviceable in their final years. And they would work to reduce

13806-438: Was the only Express route that ran daily until April 25, 2015, the date when it was no longer an Express route. Rapid lines (having an R following their route number) are limited-stop services. They stop at only a subset of the stops of their corresponding "standard" line‍—‌typically every third stop and at transfer points. Muni also operates the San Francisco cable car system , a heritage streetcar system descendant of

13924-543: Was threatening to sue Alcatel. Alcatel and Muni instead blamed delays on malfunctioning train cars. In addition, a proof-of-payment fare enforcement system went into effect that week, compounding rider confusion. Finally, riders who had previously been able to secure a seat by riding in the opposite direction (outbound) to Embarcadero station were forced to disembark there because of the E/Muni Metro Extension service that had begun in January; these changes and

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