Seven in 10 riders rate Muni ‘good’ or ‘excellent’

San Francisco Muni riders surveyed this year continue to give the transit system high marks.

About 70 percent of San Francisco residents surveyed gave an overall rating of Muni service as “good” or “excellent.” It’s the highest rating since the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency started using a four-point system to rate the overall Muni service in 2005.

The SFMTA’s annual ridership survey spoke with 543 adults on the telephone who had used Muni in the last six months. Corey Canapary & Galanis Research conducted the telephone surveys between July 5 and Aug. 24 in English, Spanish and Cantonese.

In the report, 210 out of the 543 residents surveyed said they used Muni five or more days during the week and gave Muni service rating of “good” or excellent — an increase of three percentage points from the 2015 survey. Another 133 residents who use Muni several times a week, gave a 73 percent rating of “good” or “excellent.”

In the report, 210 out of 543 residents surveyed said they took Muni five or more days during the week. Of the 210 residents, 66 percent of them rated Muni service as “good” or “excellent.”

Seventy-three present of the 133 residents, who said they took Muni several times a week, rated Muni service as “good” or “excellent.”

About 20 percent of residents said they would like to see more frequent Muni service, which was the top answer that residents would like to see improved on Muni. It was the same top answer as last year’s survey.

Residents would like to see overcrowding improved on Muni vehicles and a better on-time performance, which sat at 57 percent for month of October.

The data also showed an increase from last year of residents preferring to use ridesharing services if Muni were not available during their last trip.

Approximately 29 percent of residents said they would take a ridesharing service such as Uber or Lyft, an increase of 11 percentage points form 2015.

An alternative mode that did see a decrease was driving with 14 percent of residents saying they would drive if Muni were unavailable during their last trip. Last year, 21 percent of residents surveyed said they would drive.

Fifty-one percent of residents said they have downloaded a Muni-related app on their cell phone.

Most of the residents said they used NextBus, Routesy and the SFMTA’s own Muni Mobile app.

The SFMTA’s Board of Directors will hear a presentation of the 2016 annual ridership survey at its Tuesday board meeting next week.