San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 7
th
Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 SFMTA.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SFMTA Contact: Michael Roccaforte
**PRESS RELEASE**
Muni connects communities during Lunar New Year and Black History Month
The SFMTA is offering free Muni service, parking and improved connections between
neighborhoods.
SAN FRANCISCO – As San Francisco prepares to celebrate Lunar New Year and continues to
honor Black History Month, Muni service supports San Francisco’s diverse communities.
Supporting Lunar New Year
The Year of the Dragon begins February 10
th
, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation
Agency (SFMTA) is providing a range of support for the celebrations. The first two hours of
parking are free at Portsmouth Square Garage every day in February, and Muni will be free on
February 24
th
in honor of the Chinese New Year Parade, thanks to funding from the Board of
Supervisors. Bus reroutes and additional train service will begin at 2 p.m. on February 24
th
, and
Community Youth Center of San Francisco will provide ambassadors to assist Muni riders.
Muni Service Equity Strategy
The SFMTA developed the Muni Service Equity Strategy to improve the transit routes most
critical to households with low incomes, people of color, seniors and people with disabilities. The
strategy focuses on Muni lines serving the Tenderloin/SoMa, Chinatown, Western Addition,
Inner Mission, Excelsior/Outer Mission, Oceanview/Ingleside, Bayview, Visitation Valley and
Treasure Island.
Compared to all routes systemwide, Muni Equity Routes are consistently prioritized for service
increases and restoration. At a systemwide level, Muni Equity routes performed better than non-
Muni equity routes, and the percentage of service hours allocated to equity routes has
increased since the pandemic, according to the FY 2023-24 Muni Service Equity Strategy
update.
Central Subway connects communities
More than 1.2 million people have used the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station since it opened in
January 2023 as part of the new Central Subway. The SFMTA partners with Community Youth
Center of San Francisco (CYC) to provide ambassador service at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station,
helping riders navigate to their destinations and provide tourist information as needed. To
celebrate Lunar New Year, CYC has lined up community activities and activations throughout
February and March, including a Chinatown Lunar New Year Carnival, the first day of the Lunar
New Year celebration, library book giveaway, and community preparedness workshop day.
The 1.7-mile Central Subway has four stations that welcome riders at 4th & Brannan, Yerba
Buena/Moscone Station, Union Square/Market Street Station and Chinatown-Rose Pak Station.
Each station features public art that depicts the residents, histories, and character of the station
neighborhoods. The Central Subway offers riders a direct connection between Chinatown and
Visitacion Valley, and between the Bayview and Union Square, expanding access to jobs and
opportunities for some of San Francisco’s lowest-income residents.
New Bayview Transportation Resource Center
The SFMTA opened the Transportation Resource Center in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunter’s
Point District in the summer of 2023. The Center, located at 5009 Third Street, makes
information and services for transportation easily available for neighborhood residents, with
staff on site to help navigate forms and requirements. The Center, which is run by the SFMTA in
partnership with CYC, is a one-stop-shop where people can sign up for Clipper Cards and Muni
Transit Passes, access Paratransit services and learn how to use the Muni system, the
MuniMobile app and how to access Scootershare and Bikeshare services. It is part of the
SFMTA’s larger Bayview Community Shuttle Program, which is expected to begin operating in
2024 and will help Bayview-Hunter’s Point residents connect with public transit.
As Muni gets better, ridership grows
Muni ridership rose 25% in 2023 compared with 2022, to 433,000 average weekday riders, the
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) reported in its latest data. The agency’s
ridership continues to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ended last year
with 71% of pre-pandemic (2019) ridership. Weekday ridership is at 68% of 2019, while
weekend ridership is at 86% of 2019. This growth reflects improvements in Muni speed and
reliability, and a shift in service planning to focus on connecting neighborhoods.
“Few cities have been more impacted by work-from-home than San Francisco. The loss of
downtown commuters severely impacted Muni transit ridership and our finances,” said SFMTA
Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin. “Yet in many ways, Muni is back and better than ever,
with ridership on lines like the 22-Fillmore at 138% of pre-COVID weekend numbers. We've done
this by rearranging service to match today's travel patterns, and a relentless focus on making
transit: fast frequent reliable clean and safe”
ABOUT SFMTA
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a department of the City and
County of San Francisco responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the city.
The SFMTA has oversight over the Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit, as well as bicycling,
paratransit, parking, traffic, walking, and taxis. Established by voter mandate in 1999, the
SFMTA aggregated multiple San Francisco city agencies, including the Department of Parking
and Traffic, Muni, and since 2007, the Taxi Commission.
