List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines

The San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) is the primary public transit system for San Francisco, California. Muni is part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which is also responsible for the streets, parking, traffic signals, and other transportation in the city. In 2019, Muni had the eighth-highest ridership among systems in the United States, with an average weekday ridership of 684,600.^[1][2] Service is operated to all parts of San Francisco - including Treasure Island - as well as small sections of Daly City and Marin County.

Muni operates seven light rail lines in the Muni Metro system, two streetcar lines (E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves), and three cable car lines. Daytime bus service includes 44 local routes, 5 limited-stop "Rapid" routes, and 15 peak-hour express routes. Four additional express routes provide weekend service to the Marin Headlands, service to Oracle Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) and the Chase Center (home of the Golden State Warriors) and supplement BART in the early morning. Overnight night bus "Owl" service - part of the All Nighter network - includes eight 24-hour routes, two night-only routes, three bus replacements of Muni Metro lines, and five weekend early-morning Muni Metro replacement lines. Fourteen local routes (two only at certain times), one rapid route, and four Owl routes run as electric trolleybuses. Muni service operates out of ten yards and garages: one cable car barn, three light rail / streetcar yards, two trolleybus garages, and four bus garages.^[3]

Routes have two-part names like "19 Polk" and "N Judah", where the second portion is usually a street served by the route (or in some cases, a neighborhood or landmark). Light rail and streetcar lines are lettered, while bus routes are numbered. The letter/number scheme was created by Muni, while the two-part naming scheme was created by the Market Street Railway, which Muni absorbed in 1944.^[4]: 127 The three cable car lines are largely known by name (Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde, and California), though they are abbreviated to PM, PH, and C on maps, and have internal numbers 59–61 for operational purposes.^[5]

Muni began service on December 28, 1912, when the A Geary-Park line was inaugurated, running between the Financial District and the Richmond District on the western side of the city.^[4]: 27 The streetcar system was expanded over the next 16 years, including the Stockton Street Tunnel in 1914, Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 and the Sunset Tunnel in 1928. Muni began operating buses in 1917, and trolleybuses in 1941.^{[4]: 89, 111} The city acquired the competing Market Street Railway in 1944, doubling the size of Muni; its purchase of the bankrupt California Street Cable Railroad in 1952 made it the city's sole transit operator.^[6] Replacement of streetcars by buses in the 1940s and 1950s left only five streetcar lines; they were converted to Muni Metro light rail in 1980 with the completion of the Market Street subway. Numerous services changes over the lifetime of Muni gave rise to the lines in use today; a number of other lines have been discontinued.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, service was initially reduced to a limited set of "core service" routes, then gradually expanded. As of August 2021, six Muni Metro routes, one streetcar route, one bus replacement for a Muni Metro route, three cable car routes, 37 local bus routes, four Rapid routes, and one express route are in operation.^[7] Many of those routes have been temporarily modified. Twelve overnight Owl routes and one early-morning express route are in operation.^[7]

Cable car lines[]

A cable car on Powell Street in 2015

All three cable car lines are based out of the cable car barn at Mason and Washington.

Muni Metro and historic streetcar lines[]

A PCC streetcar and an ex-Milan streetcar on the F Market & Wharves line at the Ferry Building

An N Judah train at Powell station in 2017

Muni runs six Muni Metro light rail lines (J, K, L, M, N, and T), plus a shuttle service (S). The K and T are normally interlined; trains switch designation at West Portal station (inbound) and Embarcadero station (outbound). The S Shuttle operates as additional subway service at peak hours; extended S service is also used to serve events at Oracle Park (primarily San Francisco Giants games) and Chase Center (primarily Golden State Warriors games).

Two streetcar lines (E and F) use historic streetcars but serve as full transit routes rather than mere tourist attractions. Muni Metro lines are based out of two yards at Balboa Park (Green Division and Cameron Beach Yard) plus Muni Metro East; the historic streetcar lines are based at Cameron Beach Yard.

All routes except the E Embarcadero and L Taraval are in operation; bus replacements operate for the L Taraval.^[7]

	Route	Inbound terminal	Outbound terminal	Links
	E Embarcadero	Jones and Beach	4th and King station	Link
	F Market & Wharves	Jones and Beach	17th Street and Castro	Link
	J Church	Church and Duboce	Balboa Park station	Link
/	K Ingleside / T Third Street	Sunnydale station	Balboa Park station	Link
	L Taraval	Embarcadero station	46th Avenue and Wawona (SF Zoo)	Link
	M Ocean View	Embarcadero station	San Jose and Geneva (Balboa Park station)	Link
	N Judah	4th and King station	Judah and La Playa station (Ocean Beach)	Link
	S Shuttle	Embarcadero station	West Portal station	Link

Local bus lines[]

A route 5 Fulton bus at the street-level bus plaza at the Transbay Transit Center in 2018

A route 18 bus on 46th Avenue in 2018

Route 21 Hayes and 31 Balboa trolleybuses at Ferry Plaza in 2019

A 30-foot (9.1 m) route 37 Corbett bus in Cole Valley in 2018

A route 49 bus on red transit-only lanes in the Mission District in 2017

Muni operates 44 local bus routes. Most routes operate on weekdays and weekends; the 41 and 88 operate only during weekday peak hours. A number of routes have different terminals during evenings and/or weekends. Route 2, which uses diesel hybrid buses, is supplemented by short turn trolleybuses at peak hours. Route 5 uses trolleybuses only during evenings and weekends.

Key to table notes

	Electric trolleybus routes
♦	Community routes using 30-foot (9.1 m) buses
^	Routes using 60-foot (18 m) articulated buses
N	Routes not operating during COVID-19 pandemic
M	Routes with modified routing during COVID-19 pandemic

Route	Note	Inbound terminal	Outbound terminal	Ridership[3]	Links
1 California		Clay and Drumm	Geary and 33rd Avenue	23,500	Link
2 Clement	N	Steuart and Market (Ferry Plaza)	Clement and 14th Avenue (Park Presidio)	5,200	Link
2 Sutter	N		California and Presidio
3 Jackson	N	Sutter and Sansome	Presidio and California	2,500	Link
5 Fulton		Transbay Transit Center	Fulton and 6th Avenue (weekday daytime)	8,400	Link
5 Fulton	^		Cabrillo and La Playa (other times)
6 Haight/Parnassus	N	Steuart and Market (Ferry Plaza)	Quintara and 14th Avenue	7,800	Link
7 Haight/Noriega	^	Transbay Transit Center	Ortega and 48th Avenue	9,400	Link
8 Bayshore	^	Kearny and North Point	City College (Unity Plaza)	22,800	Link
9 San Bruno		Market and Steuart (Ferry Plaza)	Bayshore and Arleta (weekday daytime) McLaren School (other times)	9,700	Link
10 Townsend	N	Jackson and Fillmore (weekday daytime) Jackson and Van Ness (other times)	24th Street and Potrero	6,500	Link
12 Folsom/Pacific		Van Ness and Pacific	Mission and 24th Street	6,300	Link
14 Mission	^	Steuart and Mission (Ferry Plaza)	Mission and San Jose (Daly City)	24,900	Link
15 Bayview Hunters Point Express		Sutter and Sansome	Palou and 3rd Street	N/A	Link
18 46th Avenue		Legion of Honor (daytime) 33rd Avenue and Geary (evenings)	19th Avenue and Buckingham Way	3,200	Link
19 Polk		Beach and Polk (Aquatic Park)	Galvez and Robinson (Shipyard)	6,900	Link
21 Hayes	N	Steuart and Market (Ferry Plaza)	Fulton and Shrader	6,600	Link
22 Fillmore		Fillmore and Bay	Mission Bay North and Third Street	16,000	Link
23 Monterey	M	Palou and Third Street	Great Highway and Sloat (San Francisco Zoo)	3,800	Link
24 Divisadero		Jackson and Webster	Third Street and Palou	12,000	Link
25 Treasure Island		Transbay Transit Center	Avenue H and 13th Street (Treasure Island)	2,800	Link
27 Bryant	M	Jackson and Van Ness	Cesar Chavez and Bartlett	6,200	Link
28 19th Avenue		Van Ness and North Point	Daly City station	11,700	Link
29 Sunset		Bowley and Lincoln (The Presidio)	Fitzgerald and Keith	17,500	Link
30 Stockton	^	Townsend and 4th Street	Crissy Field in The Presidio (daytime) Divisadero and Chestnut (evening) Van Ness and North Point (some trips - as 30S)	20,400	Link
31 Balboa	M	Steuart and Mission (Ferry Plaza)	Cabrillo and La Playa	8,800	Link
33 Ashbury/18th Street		Sacramento and Cherry (weekday daytime) Arguello and California (other times)	25th Street and Potrero	5,700	Link
35 Eureka	M ♦	Castro station	Glen Park station	1,100	Link
36 Teresita	M ♦	Forest Hill station	Valencia and Cesar Chavez	1,500	Link
37 Corbett	♦	Masonic and Haight	Parkridge and Burnett	2,200	Link
38 Geary	^	Transbay Transit Center	32nd Avenue and Balboa (daytime) Fort Miley Hospital (daytime) 48th Avenue and Point Lobos (evenings)	21,500	Link
39 Coit	♦	North Point and Stockton	Coit Tower	500	Link
41 Union	N	Main and Howard	Lyon and Greenwich	3,500	Link
43 Masonic	M	Marina and Laguna (Fort Mason)	Munich and Geneva	12,600	Link
44 O'Shaughnessy		6th Avenue and California	Hudson and Third Street	15,500	Link
45 Union/Stockton		Townsend and 4th Street	Lyon and Greenwich	10,000	Link
47 Van Ness	N	Powell and Beach	Townsend and 4th Street	11,900	Link
48 Quintara/24th Street	M	20th Street and Third Street	Great Highway and Rivera	7,600	Link
49 Van Ness/Mission	^	Van Ness and North Point	City College (Unity Plaza)	25,000	Link
52 Excelsior	M ♦	Forest Hill station	Dublin and La Grande	2,000	Link
54 Felton		Newhall and Hudson	Daly City station	6,800	Link
55 Dogpatch		16th Street Mission station	20th Street and 3rd Street	1,900	Link
56 Rutland	M ♦	Visitacion Valley Middle School	Thomas Mellon Circle (daytime) Arleta and Bayshore (evenings)	400	Link
57 Parkmerced	M	West Portal station	Sloat + Sunset	2,100	Link
58 Lake Merced		Stonestown Galleria	Mission and San Jose	N/A	Link
66 Quintara	M ♦	9th Avenue and Judah	Vicente and 30th Avenue	800	Link
67 Bernal Heights	♦	24th Street Mission station	Ellsworth and Crescent	1,400	Link
88 BART Shuttle	N	Balboa Park station	Sickles and Alemany (AM) Mission and Sickles (PM)	400	Link

Rapid bus lines[]

A route 9R bus on Market Street in 2019

On five high-ridership corridors, local buses are supplemented with rapid buses with limited stops. The Rapid routes largely follow the route of the local buses, with some variations; at times when the 5R and 9R operates, the 5 and 9 are cut back to a shorter route. The 5R, 9R, and 28R operate only on weekdays until 7pm; the 14R and 38R operate every day until 7pm.

Route	Note	Inbound terminal	Outbound terminal	Ridership[3]	Links
5R Fulton Rapid	^	Transbay Transit Center	Cabrillo and La Playa	12,900	Link
9R San Bruno Rapid	^	Main and Mission	Sunnydale and McLaren School	11,700	Link
14R Mission Rapid	^	Mission and Main	Daly City station	18,900	Link
28R 19th Avenue Rapid	N	California and 6th Avenue	Balboa Park station	4,500	Link
38R Geary Rapid	^	Transbay Transit Center	Point Lobos and 48th Avenue	29,500	Link

Express bus lines[]

A route 8BX bus at Balboa Park station

A route N^x bus on 19th Avenue in 2018

Muni operates several types of express routes. Twelve routes operate between outer neighborhoods and downtown. The local sections in the outer neighborhoods overlap with local routes of the same number, while the non-stop express sections operate on expressways or major arterials. They operate only during weekday peak hours, with service only in the peak direction. Buses in the opposite direction run deadhead except for the 8AX and 8BX, which are paired with the local route 8 in the non-peak direction. Eight of the express routes are paired into 'A' and 'B' types, which have different local segments on the same corridor. All express routes except route 78X are suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[7]

Three additional routes provide shorter-distance express service between the Caltrain commuter rail terminal at 4th and King station and business areas near Market Street. Like the outer express routes, they operate only at peak hours. The 81X and 82X operate only in the peak direction (the 81X operates only in the morning peak); the 83X has bidirectional service.

A route 76 bus (renamed 76X in 2012) at the Rodeo Beach parking lot in the Marin Headlands in 2007

Three express routes provide specialized service. The 76X, which runs only on weekends and holidays, provides service to recreational and tourist areas in the Marin Headlands. The 78X and 79X provide service to the Chase Center; they run only before and after events at the arena.^[8]

Owl bus lines[]

A route K Owl bus on Market Street in 2019

Owl routes provide night bus service from 1am to 5am daily (including holidays) as a part of the Bay Area's All Nighter network.

The 90 Owl route is a combination of the daytime 47 Van Ness and 9 San Bruno routes, while the 91 Owl route is a combination of the daytime K Ingleside, 8 Bayshore, T Third, 30 Stockton, and 28 19th Avenue routes. The 5 Fulton, 24 Divisadero, 44 O'Shaughnessy, and 48 Quintara-24th Street Owl routes are truncated from their daytime counterparts.

Route 714 is part of the Early Bird Express system, which provides service while BART performs seismic retrofit earthquake work in the Transbay Tube. It runs a limited number of trips during the early morning between 4am and 5am, while BART is closed.^[9]

The K, L, and N Owl motor coaches replace daytime light rail service and run on surface streets, making local stops, rather than in the Market Street subway, Twin Peaks Tunnel, and Sunset Tunnel. The L Owl also covers the route of the daytime F-Market line. The L and N Owl buses run all night, while the K Owl runs only a small number of trips in the early morning and just after the subway closes.

Route	Note	Inbound terminal	Outbound terminal	Links
5 Fulton		Jones and McAllister	Cabrillo and La Playa	Link
14 Mission		Steuart and Mission	Mission and San Jose	Link
22 Fillmore		Fillmore and Bay	Mission Bay North and Third Street	Link
24 Divisadero		Divisadero and Sutter	Cortland and Bayshore	Link
25 Treasure Island		Transbay Transit Center	13th and Gateview (Treasure Island)	Link
38 Geary			Point Lobos and 48th Avenue	Link
44 O'Shaughnessy		Glen Park BART	Hudson and Newhall	Link
48 24th Street Owl		Castro and 24th Street	Third Street and 20th Street	Link
90 San Bruno Owl		Van Ness and North Point	San Bruno and Bayshore	Link
91 Third Street/19th Avenue Owl		Holloway and 19th Avenue	West Portal station	Link
714 BART Early Bird	^	Transbay Transit Center	Daly City station	Link
K Owl	N	Steuart and Mission	Balboa Park station	Link
L Owl		Jones and Beach	Wawona and 46th Avenue	Link
N Owl		4th Street and Townsend	Ocean Beach	Link

Early morning lines[]

In addition to the Owl service, buses normally provide weekend service along all Muni Metro lines from 5am until rail service begins (6am on Saturdays, 8am on Sundays) to allow for overnight maintenance work in the subway.^[10] The K, L, and N Bus routes differ slightly from the nightly Owl routes and do not make local stops along their surface street detours, instead stopping only at stops used by the normal L and N daytime light rail routes.

Separate early-morning L and M bus service is not operated during the COVID-19 pandemic, as these routes are replaced by buses during all operating hours. J Church Bus service is also not operated because J Church rail service is only operating on the surface. K, N, and T bus service also operates nightly between 9pm and 10pm. Early-morning K Ingleside Bus service operates only on weekends.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

• SFMTA - Muni Routes & Stops