SAN FRANCISCO—The city of San Francisco announced its new central subway line on Saturday, January 7, with Mayor London Breed, City Attorney David Chiu, and State Senator Scott Wiener in attendance for the line’s ribbon cutting ceremony.  

“The Central Subway is a transformative project for our city and a critical bridge to connect our neighborhoods and bring people together,” said Mayor Breed. “This project is also about our economic recovery. As our city is still recovering from the impacts brought by the COVID-19 global pandemic, our recovery efforts rely on an efficient and reliable transportation system. It’s also about making life easier for residents. Not only will it help traffic congestion on our streets, it will also provide a faster and more convenient way for us to get to where we need to go.”

“The Central Subway will help make San Francisco even more connected and vibrant,” said Senator Scott Wiener. “Residents and tourists alike will have quicker and more reliable access to Chinatown – one of the densest neighborhoods in the city. We’ve worked hard to make this happen for two decades. This is a victory for all San Franciscans and for the future of our city.”

The ceremony included a musical performance by the Curtis Family C-notes Band and was followed by a Native American blessing performed by the culture director of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, Gregg Castro.  

Service on the new T-Third line runs Mondays through Fridays, 6 a.m. to midnight every 10 minutes and Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to midnight every 12 minutes. 

Four new stations were built for the T-Third line that features art by local, national, and international artists. Artwork for the Central Subway Public Art Program were commissioned through the San Francisco Art’s Commission’s 2 percent-for-art program, a 50-year-old city program that ensures public artwork is integrated into publicly funded capital projects.

Muni began the project in 2010 and it was scheduled to be completed by 2018. Its original opening was delayed due to COVID and a series of fires at one of the subway’s stations. Nearly $1 billion in federal funding was used for this project.  

The new line launched partially in November 2022. Officials stated that the route’s partial opening was used to train staff.