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Shelter-in-Place Allows Muni to Analyze Sources of Delay By Bonnie Jean von Krogh During shelter-in-place, San Francisco has set the pause button. Besides essential workers, people have stayed home, causing daily traffic congestion to feel like a distant memory. Over these months, Muni has continued to serve approximately 100,000 passengers a day for essential trips on a network of core routes. As traffic has virtually disappeared, Muni delays have disappeared with it.   These highly unusual circumstances allowed the SFMTA to analyze data for Muni travel times and key sources of delay in ways that would otherwise be impossible. By monitoring Muni travel times during shelter-in-place, we were able to quantify the impacts congestion has on Muni service during normal times. What we’re learning can help bring back our transit system in a way that addresses past problems, as the city begins to recover.   With fewer cars on the road, peak Muni travel times were reduced citywide by an av

A Data-Driven Transportation Recovery By Bradley Dunn Responding to the Covid-19 public health crisis has radically changed o ur transportation system. No one wants a disaster to put lives at risk and disrupt everyday life . Data is guid ing t he SFMTA , not just during our reaction to the crisis, but how we will thoughtfully recover.       Transit’s Recovery When shelter - in - place began and the SFMTA was forced to reduce Muni service, we identified how to focus our service reductions using data. Our Muni Core Service Plan prioritized our available resources based on locations of medical facilities, Muni’s Equity Strategy and data from shifting customer travel patterns observed during the first weeks of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order. Our service plan kept all of San Francisco within one mile of an active Muni stop. As additional resources have become available, guided by the same data as well as additional information from our operato

Celebrating the life and legacy of Harvey Milk By Sophia Scherr Today we celebrate and remember the life of San Francisco LGBTQ+ advocate and icon, Harvey Milk. One of our city’s most revered politicians, Milk's legacy as the first openly gay San Francisco supervisor and elected official in California helped in breaking down discriminatory barriers and usher LGBTQ+ politicians in government positions. Milk also advocated for equitable transportation, as he rode Muni exclusively since he did not own a car. He was a firm believer that affordable mobility was important in creating a thriving and livable city. Below is Harvey Milk with Curtis E. Green, General Manager of the Municipal Railway promoting Muni’s “Fast Pass”. Mr. Green was a barrier-breaking figure in his own right, by becoming the first African American appointed to Muni's top position from his beginnings with the Agency as a bus operator. With his 1974 appointment, Green also became the first African American to s

With Memorial Day Around the Corner Muni is Still for Essential Trips By Erin McMillan With Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, many of us are eager to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and wide open spaces. But as we enter the biggest holiday weekend since the shelter-in-place order, it’s still important to be acutely aware of how our individual actions can and will affect our communal ability to address the impacts of COVID-19. While we hopefully will arrive at a new normal soon, the shelter-in-place order is still in effect and it’s still important as ever that we remember to physically distance ourselves while out in our neighborhoods and to only make essential trips.   In early April, we temporarily reduced Muni service to our Core Service network which serves the highest ridership lines and supports essential trips to places like hospitals, healthcare facilities, grocery stores, restaurants and other essential services. Thanks to increasing staffing availability,

Moving San Francisco Forward By Jeffrey Tumlin Your city transportation leaders are focused on caring for this city while we fight the coronavirus pandemic. And, we’re also busy strategizing on what comes next. The city needs to be able to move in order to function. San Francisco must take this moment to rebuild our transportation system purposefully and facilitate a resilient recovery. The SFMTA has been working with city leaders and public health officials to devise how best to do that in our new fiscal and public health reality.    The SFMTA is developing a Transportation Recovery Plan which includes a series of levels that coincide with future allowances of economic activity by state guidance and our local public health officials. For each level, there are associated service and operational strategies. We will expand Muni service intentionally to address past problems, like subway crowding. Our plans actively respond to ridership data and community input and feedback. This

Reimagine Potrero Yard with Us – Spring 2020 Update By Adrienne Heim During this difficult time, we must do everything we can to maintain our health and wellness. In response to COVID-19, many of our city services have been temporarily transformed, but despite this pandemic, it’s important that we continue to invest in our infrastructure to keep current and future generations moving throughout San Francisco. Potrero Yard, one of Muni’s oldest bus yards, is indeed an essential project that will continue to move forward. Improvements proposed through the Potrero Yard Modernization Project offer solutions to ensure we maintain our fleet of buses as efficiently as possible, accommodate our new buses that will be delivered in the next six years, enhance our resilience to climate change and natural disasters, and ensure our staff is able to perform their work in a safe and efficient way. Potrero Yard Today Potrero Yard operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to support six Muni routes

The Next Phase of Slow Streets By Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the way we get around and where we are going are changing. Many San Francisco residents need to walk and take other modes of transportation for their essential trips. However, sometimes it is difficult to maintain the six feet of social distance on many sidewalks. Because of this, many pedestrians are choosing to walk in the street, exposing themselves to swiftly moving vehicle traffic. Our Slow Streets program aims to limit through traffic on certain residential streets and allows them to be used more as a shared space for foot and bicycle traffic.  At the start of the program, we released a survey and have happily received over 1,300 Slow Streets suggestions from San Franciscans. We heard broad support of the program from many residents and businesses, and we are pleased to announce the following future Slow Streets corridors, many generated by you:  20th Street, from Valencia to Potrero  23rd Avenue, from La