While San Francisco has been under its shelter-in-place order, traffic has virtually disappeared along with transit service delays.
These unusual circumstances have allowed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (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, SFMTA was able to quantify the impacts congestion has on Muni service during normal times. What the agency is learning can help bring back the transit system in a way that addresses past problems, as the city begins to recover.Â
With fewer cars on the road, peak Muni travel times were reduced citywide by an average of 15 percent compared to pre-COVID-19. Most travel time savings came from reduced traffic delay, with less than 5 percent coming from fewer people getting on and off the bus. Specific transit corridors saw much higher time savings. For instance, the 28 19th Avenue line experienced some of the most dramatic travel time reductions, with peak time savings of up to nearly 50 percent in some areas. But many heavily traveled Muni corridors throughout the city saw significant travel time reductions, as well. This data underscores that much of Muni’s delay and reliability issues are caused when buses are stuck in traffic congestion.