Leave the driving to Bay Area transit agencies on New Year’s Eve as many will offer free or extended service through the night and early morning of New Year’s Day.
For the 24th year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will offer free Muni rides from 8 p.m., Dec. 31 through 5 a.m., Jan. 1. The SFMTA reminds passengers not to tag their Clipper cards during those hours or purchase a MuniMobile ticket. Fare gates to the subway will be open throughout the night during the free service hours.
Additionally, the SFMTA said they will provide more Muni Metro train service by running S Shuttle trains between West Portal station and Fourth and King streets and between Chinatown-Rose Pak station and Third and Mariposa streets. Eleven Muni routes on the OWL network will have extra service from midnight to 5 a.m.
AC Transit, SamTrans and Caltrain will also offer free service, beginning at 8 p.m. Caltrain will offer extended service to and from San Francisco and San Jose Diridon.
BART will run its normal Sunday schedule until midnight. At 1 a.m., the agency will offer extended service from San Francisco to the East Bay for passengers returning from the fireworks show in the city. BART will not be free. The last East Bay-bound train will pass through downtown San Francisco around 1:30 a.m., according to the agency.
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.