SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, May 18, the San Francisco’s Municipal Transit Agency began restarting routes as the city slowly opens back up. The SFMTA stopped running 17 different Muni bus routes amidst San Francisco’s stay-at-home order issued back in mid-March.
On April 8, the Transit Agency enacted the “COVID-19 Core Service Plan,” slashing cable car, subway, and rail routes completely. According to the Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin, this was done due to a lack of operators and bus/car cleaning services available.
On Tuesday, May 19, Tumlin released a statement detailing new developments on a city-wide Transportation Recovery Plan. The plan’s summary comes in six levels “that coincide with future allowances of economic activity by state guidance and our local public health officials.”
Tumlin added that bus services will expand to address issues such as crowding, fare costs, and travel times.
Levels 1 and 2 will focus on maintaining Core Service routes, such as routes to health care facilities as well as other essential services. Levels 3 and 4 include two more routes in addition to Core Service routes, reopening of railways, and increasing coverage to neighborhoods and schools. The last two levels, 5 and 6, will include final expansions and special service plans for large events.
These changes started rolling out earlier this week.
