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Women Pioneers at Muni: Adeline Svendsen and Muni’s First Newsletter By Jeremy Menzies To close out Women’s History Month, here’s a look back at one woman whose work to bring Muni staff together in the late 1940s created a legacy that lives on to this day. Adeline “Addy” Svendsen was founding editor of Muni’s first internal newsletter, “ Trolley Topics .” Adeline Svendsen sits at her desk in the Geneva Carhouse office building in this 1949 shot. Trolley Topics was a new venture when it started in February 1946. As Svendsen wrote in the first issue it was created, “to bring a little fun, a little news, and a lot of good will to all our fellow employees in the Railway.” Just two years prior in 1944, Muni merged with the Market Street Railway Company, expanding the small municipal operation into the largest transit provider in the city with hundreds of employees, vehicles of every shape and size, and dozens of facilities scattered across town. The newsletter was meant to help unite

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The Van Ness BRT Will Soon Welcome You By John Gravener We will be celebrating the new Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit system with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the War Memorial on April 1, at 9:15 a.m., and you are invited ! This immense civic improvement project has not only brought the first Bus Rapid Transit corridor to San Francisco, it also presented the opportunity to do much-needed underground and utilities work. This project looks towards San Francisco’s future with an eye towards climate resiliency and transit efficiency The Bus Rapid Transit corridor provides a globally proven solution to improve transit service and address traffic congestion on Van Ness Avenue. With the new, physically-separated transit lanes along the Van Ness corridor, buses will be able to travel without getting caught up in traffic and passengers will be able to board buses more easily. Other benefits include improved lighting, sidewalk extensions (bulb-outs), new countdown signals for people crossing V

SFMTA to Replace All Parking Meters in the City By Jessie Liang San Franciscans will see new parking meters on city streets beginning in early March 2022. Staff from the SFMTA’s Parking Meter Shop will replace the meters at all the nearly 27,000 paid parking spaces in the city because those meters have reached the end of their useful lives, and because many of the meters rely on 3G communications technology that soon will be phased out by the wireless companies. The first new meters will be installed in the South of Market and Mission Bay neighborhoods.  SFMTA staff will provide notices on vehicle windshields when the new meters are activated.  The new meters will provide several benefits, including larger and more legible screens, more intuitive user interface, more powerful batteries, and more resistance to vandalism.   The following neighborhoods will move to a pay-by-license-plate system with new paystations. South Beach SoMa Mission Bay Civic Center Hayes Valley Fisher

Virtual Permit Transition Summary By Stephen Chun Effective April 1, 2022 the SFMTA will transition annual Residential Parking Permit (RPP) permits from physical stickers to virtual permits. This will streamline the RPP application and administration process. This change will not apply to other permit types—including 1 Day, Visitor, Press, City Vehicle, Teacher and Contractor permits.   Currently, about 70,000 San Francisco residents living in RPP areas purchase an annual parking permit in sticker form each year. Those renewing their permit at the same address can pay online and receive their permit in the mail.  People buying new permits can do so (a) in-person at the Customer Service Center, where the customer receives their physical sticker at time of purchase, (b) by-mail, or (c) online, and receive their permit in the mail.   Virtual permits have several benefits, such as:  Permit is active as soon as it is paid. No waiting for a permit to be mailed.  Permits can be purc

Share Your Feedback on Geary Boulevard's Transit and Safety Improvements By Amy Fowler Geary Boulevard is a critical east-west arterial and one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, connecting downtown San Francisco to the Richmond District. The SFMTA has been busy working on the second phase of planned improvements on Geary, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project , to improve Muni’s 38 Geary bus service and address traffic safety between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street.  The project is building on the success of the Geary Rapid Project , which was recently completed on time and on budget and has already shown promising travel time savings on the eastern half of the Geary corridor.    Last fall, we asked neighbors in the Richmond about their priorities for transit, safety and driving issues on Geary via pop-up events on the corridor and a Virtual Open House. Thanks to input from over 600 community members , the SFMTA has used this feedback to draft the detailed

Geary Boulevard Improvement Project Update By Amy Fowler Geary Boulevard is a critical east-west arterial and one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, connecting downtown San Francisco to the Richmond District. The SFMTA has been busy working on the second phase of planned improvements on Geary, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project , to improve Muni’s 38 Geary bus service and address traffic safety between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street.  The project is building on the success of the Geary Rapid Project , which was recently completed on time and on budget and has already shown promising travel time savings on the eastern half of the Geary corridor.    Last fall, we asked neighbors in the Richmond about their priorities for transit, safety and driving issues on Geary via pop-up events on the corridor and a Virtual Open House. Thanks to input from over 600 community members , the SFMTA has used this feedback to draft the detailed, block-by-block project design. 

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You! By Kharima Mohamed As part of the Next Generation Customer Information System project, over 700 new Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) signs will display real-time information at Muni transit shelters. Approximately one-third of these signs will be double-sided to provide additional visibility at the highest-ridership stops and major transfer points. This week we installed a single-sided prototype at Eddy and Larkin streets. Serving the Tenderloin, an Equity Neighborhood , this sign will feature real-time predictions for the 19 Polk and 31 Balboa routes. The primary purpose for installing this prototype is to conduct in-field hardware testing, especially with rain, wind and colder temperatures.    We know there is an urgent need for more effective signage and are excited to roll out the new customer information system later this year.  The new LCD signs will eventually replace all existing NextBus Light Emitting

Muni Customer Satisfaction Survey By Jeanne Brophy The results of the 2021 Muni Customer Satisfaction Survey reflect ridership impacts and concerns during the global pandemic and a local shelter-in-place order. As a result, Muni reduced service and experienced significantly lower ridership demand.  Muni was able to provide service to essential workers along with protecting its front-line workforce and the overall financial outlook for the agency. Survey respondents gave us a 57 percent overall positive satisfaction rating. Topping the customer list of most important attributes were accessibility, cleanliness, and operator helpfulness. Highlights of the 2021 Muni survey: 57 percent of Muni riders rate its overall service as “good” or “excellent” – a 2% decline from 2019 Low-income riders rate Muni service higher now than before the pandemic indicating our data-driven service delivery was aligned to the public need of focusing on essential workers and the transit dependent: <

More 20 MPH Streets Coming Soon Near You By Christine Osorio Last October when California Assembly Bill 43 (Friedman) was signed into law, we posted a blog about which gave cities new flexibility in setting speed limits—specifically reducing them. “Speed Management,” a reference that is still in development, focused on reducing speed limits in key business activity districts where at least 50% are dining or retail. Since the bill went into effect last month, we’ve already started lowering speed limits by 5 MPH (from 25 MPH to 20 MPH) in the first phase of approved corridors, four of which have been implemented:  San Bruno Avenue, from Silver to Paul avenues (Completed January 2022)  Polk Street, from Filbert to Sutter streets (Completed January 2022)  Haight Street, from Stanyan Street to Central Avenue and from Webster to Steiner streets (Completed February 2022)  24th Street, from Diamond to Chattanooga streets and from Valencia Street to San Bruno Avenue (Completed

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SFMTA Budget Priorities for FY 2023 to FY 2024 By Andrea Buffa It’s budget season!  Every two years, the SFMTA develops a consolidated budget to guide the agency’s decisions about where to focus our funding to best meet the transportation needs of all San Franciscans. We’re developing a budget that’s designed to support San Francisco’s economic recovery, increase transportation equity, protect the environment and keep the agency on sound financial footing.   We presented the base budget (projected revenues and expenditures for the next two years if we made no changes and continued our current policies) to our Board of Directors in early February to get their feedback and are now seeking input from the public. Your feedback will help us understand what to change in our base budget: which investments are most important to San Franciscans and which new revenue sources you think we should pursue. We’re considering both fare increases and decreases as well as changes to parking fees. 

The Golden Gate Park Shuttle: Back and Better than Ever! By Eillie Anzilotti Over the months of outreach that the SFMTA and our colleagues at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department conducted for the Golden Gate Park Access & Safety Program , we heard a lot of feedback on the park shuttle. Specifically, that it needed some TLC.   Now, the Golden Gate Park free shuttle is getting the major overhaul it deserves. This past weekend, Rec & Park and the SFMTA began rolling out some key improvements to the shuttle—starting with expanded service, a longer and more connected route, more stops, and shorter wait times. These upgrades were informed by feedback from the numerous older and senior residents and members of the disability community, and will create a more accessible, reliable, and enjoyable experience of Golden Gate Park and its cultural institutions.  Here are some more details on all the improvements:   New weekday service from noon to 6 p.m. with pickup eve

SFMTA's Newest "Revenue" Service on Wheels By Stephen Chun San Francisco’s Bayview and Silver Terrace neighborhoods will be the first communities to experience SFMTA’s first Mobile Sales Van . Just launched yesterday, this van will bring SFMTA services to underserved locations in San Francisco, so customers don’t have to travel to downtown or the Civic Center area to purchase their monthly Lifeline stickers.  Available Services will include:   Pre-loaded Clipper cards ($11 value for $10)   Monthly Lifeline passes (for the month of March 2022)   $5 Day Passes (valid on all Muni vehicles, except Cable Car)  Parking meter cards ($25/$20)  Pick-up/Drop-off parking and fare discount program applications  Parking/Transit Citation Payments (customers must present a ticket or letter listing the citation number)  Customers can pay with cash, credit/debit card or commuter check Schedule below as advertised:   Sunday Feb. 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: