Muni to offer free rides for vaccination appointments

Beginning Tuesday, Muni will offer free rides to passengers heading to Covid-19 vaccination appointments, Mayor London Breed announced Friday.

Passengers will be required to show proof with either a physical vaccine card or email appointment confirmation. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin said in a statement:

“Getting San Franciscans vaccinated is the City’s highest priority at the moment, and we’re doing our part to support saving lives and saving jobs. By allowing free Muni access to and from all vaccination sites, we are eliminating transportation and cost barriers from receiving this life-changing vaccine.”

Senior and disabled residents can also use Essential Trip Cards for discounted taxi fare during the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants pay 20 percent of the cost of a regular taxi fare for essential trips to places such as grocery stores, pharmacies and medical appointments. The card is loaded with $60 worth of trips, but participants pay just $12.

SF Access Van Service will also offer eligible participants free rides to and from vaccination sites. Riders need to indicate while booking their reservation that the trip is for the purpose of a Covid-19 vaccination. Staff will then alert the driver that the rider is not required to pay fare.

The mayor said in a statement that The City wants to make transportation to and from vaccination sites as convenient as possible, adding:

“Thanks to the SFMTA, we’re making roundtrip travel to vaccination appointments free and further reducing the barriers that might keep someone from getting vaccinated. The easier we make it for people to get vaccinated, the quicker we can put an end to this pandemic and get on the road to recovery.”

The City is currently vaccinating those over the age of 65 and health care workers. Officials announced they plan to move into the state’s Phase 1B, tier one stage next Wednesday, which will extend eligibility to workers in education, child care, emergency services, food and agriculture sectors.

Anyone eligible can make an appointment by visiting https://sf.gov/getvaccinated.

In the East Bay, AC Transit will offer free shuttles to and from the Oakland Coliseum large-scale vaccination site that opened this week. BART is also providing free return rides from the Coliseum site.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.