Youth for San Francisco: Public Transportation Report

Written By Families for San Francisco
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An analysis of youth experience with our current public transit system

Lead Author: Hayden Miller
Authors: Ewan Barker Plummer, Astrid Utting
Data Analyst: Aidan Sondheimer

Introduction

In April 2021, Families for San Francisco launched our youth engagement program: Youth for San Francisco. Both Families for San Francisco and Youth for San Francisco were founded on the basis that collective action is more powerful than individual dissatisfaction. The needs of young San Franciscans are often overlooked by city leaders and our voices are often ignored, but together we can be a powerful voice shaping the future of our city.

Soon after Youth for San Francisco formed, we began researching issues around public transit in San Francisco–a service that youth especially depend upon. After hearing concerns from many young San Franciscans, Youth for San Francisco created a public survey asking about youth experiences on Muni. The survey was then advertised and received over 100 submissions from youth. We used this information to guide us in gathering data from SFMTA and other publicly available information. We then requested and received over 1,800 complaints submitted to the San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center and the SFMTA’s website regarding routes that had high youth ridership (such as the 29 Sunset and 48 Quintara-24th Street). Using these complaints, we sorted them into categories identifying the three main issues youth experience when taking Muni: reliability, accessibility, and communication. Between 2019 and July 2021, more than 70% of Muni complaints fell into these three categories.

This report was created to summarize our findings and contribute to the advocacy already occurring around transit equity. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has recently made progress incorporating youth voices, through the new Youth Transportation Advisory Board. City leaders have stepped up, like Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Myrna Melgar’s Free Muni for Youth plan. However, there is still work to be done. We hope this report will give further insight into the issue and contribute to the current conversation.

Problem 1: Reliability

One of the most commonly cited issues with Muni is its reliability (or lack thereof). Issues from missing runs to overcrowded buses plague the agency and are compounded by inaccurate prediction times and poor communication. In fact, according to a survey by “The Lowell”, Lowell High School’s student-run newspaper, of students who ride the 29 Sunset (the Muni line with the highest youth ridership), more than 80% have been passed up. This places a significant burden on youth, including over 50% of SFUSD high-school students, who depend on Muni to get to and from school. Another example comes from a student who rides the 23, who reported to 311 “It's hard for us to get home…especially if the bus driver skips a lot of stops. The driver skipped about 6 stops…. This has been going on for the past week.”

Muni has attempted to resolve some of the issues of overcrowding by providing “school trippers”, extra buses that start empty at 16 of the 37 SFUSD K-8, middle, and high school campuses just after dismissal. This service is helpful for the students attending schools where school trippers are available and aids in reducing overcrowding and passups at more schools. SFMTA Director of Transit, Julie Kirschbaum, told the Examiner, “What is useful about the school trip being such a narrow window is we can add a lot of service without a lot of expense,” this is especially important given the SFMTA’s limited resources. Unfortunately, the SFMTA has recently eliminated 3 school trippers as part of their COVID-19 service plan leading to more crowding and passups for students.

Another major reliability issue is speed, or Muni’s lack thereof. Muni is extremely slow: In 2010 the average speed was just 8.1 MPH which has only declined since then. For comparison, Santa Clara VTA currently averages 11.6 MPH. This makes Muni the slowest transit system in North America. While Muni has implemented some improvements, including bus stop bulb-outs, transit only lanes, and traffic signal priority improvements, these improvements can barely keep pace with the returning traffic congestion. There is still much more work to be done to speed up service.

Problem 2: Accessibility

Youth also suffer from Muni service reductions that have occurred during COVID-19. These service changes have made many trips slower, more confusing, or simply not possible. One example of this is the truncation of the 23 Monterey to end at West Portal Station instead of continuing down Sloat Blvd to the Zoo. This change will directly harm students at schools including Waldorf, Lowell, and Lakeshore, among other schools, by forcing students to make up to two additional transfers or walk over a mile to reach their destination. This change may have a particularly negative impact as the 23 connects these schools to Muni’s equity strategy neighborhoods including Bayview and Hunters Point.

Another example of inaccessibility is the shortening of the 43 Masonic which no longer serves the Presidio and Marina district. This cuts off access to schools including Marina Middle School, where over 60% of students depend on Muni to get to school, and The Bay School in the Presidio. It also reduces access to open space and cultural institutions located in the Presidio National Park. 

Problem 3: Outreach & Communication

Muni fails to adequately communicate service disruptions — especially on bus lines — and has poor outreach that fails to extend to youth. For example, Muni, like other transit agencies, often misses scheduled trips due to operator shortages, breakdowns, and various other reasons. However, unlike other transit agencies, Muni does not alert riders to these missed runs ahead of time leaving riders waiting at stops for “ghost buses”. Missed runs are only communicated to riders if Muni is directly asked on twitter about a missing bus or train.

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Example of SFMTA’s current missed run alert system:

Only communicated via twitter when prompted by riders.

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Example of missed run alert from Santa Clara VTA: 


Alert includes route start time as well as scheduled arrival times for major stops. 

Youth are often unaware of service changes until the very last minute. For example, many high school students who relied on the 23 Monterey to get to school were not made aware of the August 2021 changes that severely disrupted their daily commutes.

Another issue with communication is the 311 and online customer service system. These systems enable riders to report incidents like passups, overcrowding, unsafe driving, and vehicle cleanliness/maintenance issues, however many youth do not know how or simply do not report issues through these systems. This means that ongoing issues of overcrowding and passups are often left unaddressed.

Why does this matter?

Youth who have other transportation options, such as cars, or parents to drive them, have the privilege of being able to work around the issues in our transportation system. However, youth who rely solely on Muni for transportation are left with no other options. This unreliable and inaccessible cycle not only places a heavy, stressful burden on youth, but unfairly takes up their time and severely limits access to jobs, internships, school choice, extracurriculars, and other opportunities that require transportation.

Public transportation provides independence and access to opportunities around the city, making it the ticket to freedom for many San Francisco youth. From late buses to poor communication, it is clear that our current public transportation system isn’t serving the needs of its youth riders. This is an equity issue. We need Muni to be an accessible and reliable public transportation system for all. We do not believe this is too much to ask. Youth are the future of this city and we are eager to be part of the solution. We encourage youth to make their voices and concerns heard. Below are a few ways you can take action.

Take Action

Want to be involved in efforts to improve San Francisco public transportation and other youth related issues? Sign up for more information here. 

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