Skip to main content

Muni Highlights in 2021: More Service to More Destinations

Muni Highlights in 2021: More Service to More Destinations
By Jonathan Streeter

Photo of a traffic control officer guiding a 49 Van Ness bus through an intersection

Our goal for Muni in 2021 was to match the service we offer with the changing travel patterns of an unpredictable era, as San Franciscans grappled with a second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.  To achieve this, we expanded on the core routes that formed the nucleus of our early 2020 pandemic network by adding and improving service in key areas throughout San Francisco. We focused on access in neighborhoods where essential workers live, as well as on adding service in busy corridors and even creating new lines.

At the beginning of the year, even with our reduced schedule, 91% of San Franciscans were within two or three blocks of a Muni stop. This included 100% of residents in San Francisco’s neighborhoods identified by the Muni Service Equity Strategy. By summer 2021, we added enough additional service so that 98% of San Franciscans were within two or three blocks of a Muni stop.

To the relief of many, and as an early sign of the city’s return to some sense of normalcy, we brought back Muni Metro service in the subway in May 2021, with access to all stations from Embarcadero through to West Portal. The SFMTA worked to address longstanding subway congestion issues that were a major cause of delay pre-pandemic by exclusively running two-car trains in the subway, including a combined KT Ingleside Third, and as-needed shuttle service. In doing so, we were able to increase capacity and improve on-time performance over the course of the year. The J Church is scheduled to return to the subway in February 2022 while efforts to address longtime subway service challenges continue.

To help support the economic recovery of the city, local tourism and small businesses we also brought cable cars back to the hills of San Francisco in September 2021 after extensive maintenance and testing. These iconic cars not only serve as a symbol of our city, they also provide an important link on steep streets between downtown and Fisherman's Wharf, as well as to Cathedral Hill.

On the street, San Francisco traffic returned to near pre-pandemic levels. To keep transit service fast and reliable for essential workers and those with the fewest transportation choices, we implemented temporary emergency transit lanes (TETLs). These lanes are dedicated to Muni vehicles to help keep our customers moving, as well as helping other buses and, in most cases, taxis.

Of the nearly 10 miles of lanes initially implemented, almost six miles of these transit lanes have been made permanent because of their success in protecting transit travel-time savings. That’s the fastest expansion of transit lanes in the city’s history! These transit lanes give nearly two-thirds of Muni riders priority on congested streets and improve the speed and reliability of bus service; getting you to your destination faster.

A significant aspect of transportation in 2021 was the continued shift by Muni riders toward using buses and trains for essential trips and to stores, appointments, schools and recreational destinations rather than to downtown for office work. We responded to these changes by modifying routes.

For example, we launched the temporarily combined route the 36/52 Special which served the hilltop neighborhoods of Forest Hill, Miraloma and Sunnyside in a loop between Forest Hill Muni Station and Glen Park BART Station before service was restored to the 36 Teresita and 52 Excelsior in August. As travel patterns shifted over the year, SFMTA’s transit planners developed creative solutions to meet San Francisco’s evolving transportation needs with available resources.

The SFMTA continued to face resource limitations in 2021 that curtailed our ability to bring service back to our original network. Without enough operators and other key staff, we had to make tough choices about which lines to serve and how much frequency to provide. Muni ridership has also not fully recovered. As of December 2021, ridership throughout the network is still at about only half of pre-pandemic levels.

We asked San Franciscans in fall 2021 what we should prioritize when we’re able to add more Muni service in 2022. Based on feedback from meetings, emails, phone conversations and more than 4,500 survey responses, we developed a plan that focuses on restoring connections and meeting the needs of all San Franciscans, especially people with disabilities and seniors. We also heard a call for increased frequency to reduce crowding and wait times on high ridership Muni lines.  That proposal was approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors on December 7, 2021. 

Throughout the year, Muni customers have shown that they are increasingly ready to return to riding buses and trains and are eager for our network to serve all their desired destinations in San Francisco. We are grateful for the cooperation of the public with revised schedules, mask mandates and other changes that the pandemic has necessitated. We are also incredibly grateful to the people who drive our vehicles through city streets with professionalism, courtesy and safety every single day.

To read more about how we “met the moment” review our 2021 Annual Report.



Published December 30, 2021 at 04:15AM
https://ift.tt/3qCDUpy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

L Taraval Improvement Project Update

L Taraval Improvement Project Update By Sevilla Mann Roundtable at the Community Parklet Shares Project Updates  This past week, the SFMTA hosted a media roundtable discussing updates about the L Taraval Improvement Project at the community parklet located in front of the The Rolling Out Café  on Taraval St.   Segment B construction began in February 2022 and is scheduled to be completed Fall 2024. Sewer and water infrastructure work is currently taking place. Future work includes track work, overhead line work, the construction of new boarding islands and streetscape improvements.    On hand to answer questions and provide updates was District Four Supervisor Gordon Mar, SFMTA Board Director Sharon Lai and Director of Transportation Jefferey Tumlin.   The Roundtable  Supervisor Mar opened the discussion by highlighting the many benefits that the local community will receive with the planned infrastructure upgrades along the corridor. These benefits include:   Replacing sew

FOX NEWS: Cincinnati zoo renames sloth habitat after late 1-year-old who loved sloths The sloth habitat at Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo will be named after a toddler who recently passed away.

Cincinnati zoo renames sloth habitat after late 1-year-old who loved sloths The sloth habitat at Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo will be named after a toddler who recently passed away. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3DLAshi

IPL 2020 | KKR, SRH search for first win to get off the mark https://ift.tt/333a9nc

Having suffered defeats in their opening games, the Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad will lock horns on Saturday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. While Kolkata faced a tough 49-run loss to defending champions Mumbai Indians, the Sunrisers suffered a monumental batting collapse against Royal Challengers Bangalore, losing the game by 10 runs.

FOX NEWS: Decadent double chocolate mint cookies for National Chocolate Day National Chocolate Day on Oct. 28th calls for a serious dose of chocolate.

Decadent double chocolate mint cookies for National Chocolate Day National Chocolate Day on Oct. 28th calls for a serious dose of chocolate. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3nEJxSB

Muni’s Equity Toolkit Helps Essential Employees Get to Work

Muni’s Equity Toolkit Helps Essential Employees Get to Work By Mariana Maguire The latest data from SFMTA’s new  Equity Toolkit  shows that Muni service changes are helping people in neighborhoods identified by our  Muni Service Equity Strategy  access more jobs and support the city’s recovery.   In winter 2020, we launched the  SFMTA Equity Toolkit  to understand how service decisions are affecting neighborhoods where there is likely a high prevalence of essential workers who rely predominantly on Muni to get to their essential jobs. Our goal is to make better service decisions based on the trends and impacts we see in the Equity Toolkit.   Recently, the greatest increases in access to jobs via Muni have been in Hunters Point and Western Addition. The Hunters Point neighborhood saw the largest gains from the addition of the  15 Bayview-Hunters Point Express , as demonstrated in the table below. Thanks to the return of key Muni lines and increased frequencies on connector routes, I

Powered Scooters Charge City’s Transportation Recovery

Powered Scooters Charge City’s Transportation Recovery By Jason Hyde The SFMTA is releasing its next round of Powered Scooter Share permits on July 1. Scooters remain a sustainable mode of travel and a complement to Muni and public transit service as the city recovers from the pandemic and San Franciscans begin to travel more. The SFMTA’s Powered Scooter Share Program is essential in ensuring that shared scooter operations support the city’s economic recovery in a safe, sustainable, and equitable way.  The SFMTA received four submittals for the permit program and will issue permits to two operators : Spin and Lime. Permits will be in effect for a one-year term, with the option to extend for another year at the discretion of the SFMTA based on compliance with various program metrics. While the new permit program does not set a limit on the number of scooters each operator may deploy, it does limit the overall citywide fleet size at 10,000. Starting at a base of 2,000 scooters per

New top story from Time: 3 Killed in Northern California as Wildfires Force Thousands to Evacuate

https://ift.tt/34at2Uy (SAN FRANCISCO) — Northern California’s wine country was on fire again Monday as strong winds fanned flames in the already scorched region, destroying homes and prompting orders for nearly 70,000 people to evacuated. Meanwhile, three people died in a separate fire further north in the state. In Sonoma County, residents of the Oakmont Gardens senior living facility in Santa Rosa boarded brightly lit city buses in the darkness overnight, some wearing bathrobes and using walkers. They wore masks to protect against the coronavirus as orange flames marked the dark sky. The fire threat forced Adventist Health St. Helena hospital to suspend care and transfer all patients elsewhere. The fires that began Sunday in the famed Napa-Sonoma wine country about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of San Francisco came as the region nears the third anniversary of deadly wildfires that erupted in 2017, including one that killed 22 people. Just a month ago, many of those

Traffic Collisions have Decreased on San Francisco’s Slow Streets

Traffic Collisions have Decreased on San Francisco’s Slow Streets By Julia Malmo   As a whole, Slow Streets are safer than they were before being designated Slow Streets  Streets that are part of the SFMTA’s  Slow Streets Program have become measurably safer since the program began in 2020, with the number of traffic crashes falling by almost half. On average, these corridors have seen a 48% drop in collisions following their designation as Slow Streets, compared with a 14% drop in collisions citywide over the same period. Slow Streets also are more welcoming for people who walk, bike and roll. Fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day use all but four of the current Slow Streets (20th Street, Minnesota Street, Noe Street, and Page Street).  The goal of the program is to create safe, shared streets that are comfortable and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities, using any mode of transportation. We now can see how it’s doing in a new evaluation report . When the SFMTA Board appr

New top story from Time: How History Is Repeating Itself for Haitian Migrants Trying to Enter the U.S.

https://ift.tt/3upRk9U In the past 11 years alone, Haitians have suffered natural disasters, rising gang violence, outbreaks of cholera and COVID-19, and political instability, including the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moïse . The crises left many in the hemisphere’s poorest nation feeling they had no option but to leave—despite the difficulties they face in fleeing to other countries. In late September, Americans were confronted with the reality of those difficulties too. An estimated 15,000 people arrived in Del Rio, Texas, during the month, below a bridge connecting the city to Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña. A majority were Haitian nationals, migrants and asylum seekers who ended up living in tents or under tarps, in conditions similar to those in other camps that have formed along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read more: Caught Between U.S. Policies and Instability at Home, Haitian Migrants in Tijuana Are in a State of L

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J कोरोना सकंट में TV सीरियल की शूटिंग शूरू, मास्क लगाकर पहुंचे स्टार्स- निया, पार्थ से लेकर रश्मि-PICS

कोरोना वायरस के चलते जारी लॉकडाउन में टीवी व फिल्मों की शूटिंग बंद थी। कोरोना के खतरे को देखते हुए तमाम सीरियल की शूटिंग रोक दी गई तो वहीं फिल्मों को रिलीज अटक गई। एंटरटेंमेंट इंडस्ट्री को कोरोना के चलते करोड़ों from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/tv-shooting-starts-kasauti-zindagi-kay-naagin-nia-sharma-parth-samthaan-rashmi-desai-pics-090604.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.11.231.156&utm_campaign=client-rss