Muni boosts schedules for school-serving routes – but at a cost

In response to crowding issues amid increasing student need, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is rolling out changes to key Muni routes that serve schools.

As students return to classrooms, the SFMTA says these changes are designed to reduce overcrowding and pass-ups during peak hours before and after school.

Effective Jan. 20, the SFMTA will increase the frequency of a half dozen Muni routes, including the 24 Divisadero, 29 Sunset, 38R Geary Rapid, 44 O’Shaughnessy and 49 Van Ness/Mission during specific weekday times. The frequency on the 28 19th Avenue will increase on weekends.

The SFMTA wrote on its website that they have heard families and observed crowding on some Muni routes that serve students, which has led to buses passing up passengers waiting at transit stops.

Rex Ridgeway, president of the Abraham Lincoln High School Parent Teacher Student Association, spoke last year publicly at the SFMTA Board of Directors meetings of the crowded Muni buses that Lincoln students contend with, especially on the 48 Quintara/24th Street bus route.

At the Nov. 7 SFMTA Board of Directors meeting last year, Ridgeway spoke about the continued pass-ups students faced on the 48 and asked the SFMTA to possibly consider running longer buses.

Ridgeway told directors:

“We’re really, really continuing to struggle with this. The term is pass-ups. We’re continuing to deal with them. Any help would be appreciated.”

A Lowell High School parent at the same meeting also spoke about the 48 and how it takes about an hour and a half for her son to get to school and how it skips other students from other schools as the bus serves Lincoln and Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts students, adding:

“How do we want our students to get to school? Obviously, we want them to take the bus. Making that bus reliable, making it get there on time, making it have space for these students is critical.”

To increase the frequency on the school routes, the SFMTA said they will have a decrease in the frequency of service on other routes as the agency continues to struggle financially.

The combined frequency of the 5 Fulton and its rapid route will change from every 4-1/2 minutes to six minutes, while the 9 San Bruno and its rapid route will see its combined frequency decrease from 5-1/2 minutes to six minutes.

Additionally, Muni passengers waiting for the 33 Ashbury/18th Street will have to wait longer for the bus as the frequency will change from 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

Muni passengers should not expect the agency to add any new Muni service over the next two years due to the agency’s financial constraints, said Sean Kennedy, transit senior planning manager for the SFMTA, who spoke about the January Muni service changes last October.

He said any Muni service changes will need to be cost-neutral in order to address issues such as crowding.

Chief Financial Officer Bree Mawhorter for the SFMTA said last month that the agency is projected to run out of one-time federal funding relief by the 2025-2026 fiscal year. By then, the SFMTA would be unable to fund the level of Muni service they currently provide.

This year, the SFMTA board will discuss and approve its two-year budget, which will include a discussion on potential revenue measures to plug budget shortfalls over the next two fiscal years.