Pack it in, bitches. Muni ridership is back!
If you’ve hopped onto the N-Judah or the 38-Geary recently and found yourself forced into a levels-of-intimacy-usually-reserved-for-a-second-date situation with a total stranger, it’s not just in your imagination. The data’s in, and it’s official: Muni is packed!
This is great news for us public transportation girlies, at least on a policy and paper level. Not so much, admittedly, for we who rely on Muni to get to work. It’s already miserable and humiliating having a stranger smell your armpit when you’re jostling for a handhold on the bus. Now the bus might even ghost you.
According to the latest data release from SFMTA, San Franciscans have officially abandoned their la-di-da work-from-homebody personas and are piling back onto Muni in droves. Whether it’s for events or just daily commute, the bus is So Back. In fact, over the last three months, Muni ridership didn't just tick upward; it hit a nearly pre-pandemic stride. Thank god it’s the coldest July on the books because otherwise we’d be smelling a lot more sweat.
Let’s look at three metrics:
Weekend Warriors: Up 100.5% of pre-pandemic levels. Damn! You guys are back to partying, you weekend warriors you.
Weekday Slog: Weekday boardings averaged an astounding 538,000 trips, making it the third-highest weekday ridership peak since the pandemic. This is the one that’s most annoying for me. Come on, people! I’ve got places to be.
Light Rail Luxury (Not): The Muni Metro Light Rail hit a post-pandemic record of 126,000 daily trips. Go, T, go!
The largest ridership spikes are in the neighborhoods you'd expect: FiDi, SoMa, the Western Addition, and the Castro. Translation: whether you’re commuting to your hybrid tech job or heading to get browned out on a Saturday afternoon, you’re doing it cheek-to-jowl within the usual spots best serviced by our Muni.
Why oh why?
We’re speculating but gas prices are up under the Trump regime, parking remains a fucking nightmare, and commuter bennies cover a clipper card. Plus Muni is cool, haven’t you heard?
Here are some tips as we navigate this overcrowded shitshow:
Pay your fare. Simple as tapping. Don’t be a dodger.
Take off your fucking backpack, man.
Put your headphones on. You’re insane for watching TikToks raw, brother. Nobody wants to hear that!
Thank your bus driver!
