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The San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is commonly known, is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2000, it served 46.7 square miles (121 km²) with an operating budget of $380.9 million. In terms of ridership, Muni is the 7th largest transit agency in the United States. In 2002, ridership amongst all forms of transit totaled 233,015,740 persons, with markedly decreased ridership on weekends. Muni operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Muni is an integral part of public transit throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, connecting with regional services such as BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and AC Transit. Many weekday riders are commuters, as the daytime weekday population in San Francisco exceeds its normal residential population. Muni shares some stations with BART, which can lead to confusion amongst visitors. Travelers can connect to San Francisco International Airport and nearby Oakland International Airport via BART.
Muni operates about 1,000 vehicles: diesel and electric buses, light rail vehicles known as Muni Metro streetcars that run both under and above ground, PCC streetcars running on the F Market heritage line, and the San Francisco cable car system which is a tourist icon for the city. Many buses are diesel powered, but more than 300 are zero-emissions electric trolleybuses powered by overhead electrical wires. All Muni lines run roughly inside San Francisco city limits, except for occational weekend service to the Marin Headlands area, a popular hiking and biking destination. Most intercity connections are provided by BART and Caltrain heavy rail, AC Transit busses at the Transbay Terminal and Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans downtown.
During the late 1990s, amid aging equipment and allegedly poor management, Muni developed a reputation for declining service. San Francisco residents responded in 1996 by organizing Rescue Muni, a transit riders association. Infrastructure has since improved. Muni's previous Boeing streetcars were criticized as being unreliable, and are now replaced by newer Italian Breda streetcars.
Fares are currently $1.25 for adults and $0.35 for seniors over 65, youth aged 5-17, and disabled persons. Fares were increased in 2003 in the face of municipal and state budget cuts. Proof-of-payment (POP) is handled through a transfer slip, either a piece of newsprint, torn to indicate expiration time (buses and streetcar) or print on thicker, card-board-like paper (subway stations and a few outdoor stops such as San Francisco State University), any of which is potentially checked by fare inspectors. Frequent riders can get a Fast Pass for every month at a cost of $45 for adults and $10 for youth and seniors. Cable car fare is $3 per trip, with no transfers issued or accepted, or $9 for a one-day pass good on all regular-service MUNI lines. A one-week pass is available for $12, but requires a surcharge on cable cars. "Passports" are folding scratch-off passes that can be purchased by mail, or at various places throughout the city; they are good on all regular-service lines without surcharge, including cable cars, and cost $9 for a 1-day pass, $15 for a 3-day pass, or $20 for a 7-day pass.
All Muni lines except for Cable Cars and a few bus lines are wheelchair accessible. Nearly all bus lines have bicycle racks, but streetcars, Muni Metro lines, and Cable Cars do not.
The longest Muni line is the 24.1 mile 91-owl, a nighttime only route that blends several other routes together, and during the day the longest route is the 17.4 29 Sunset. The shortest route is the 89 Laguna Honda at .6 miles. The steepest grade climbed by Muni vehicle is 23.1% by a bus, 22.8% by a trolleybus, and 21% by a cable car.
The Muni publishes a highly detailed map of the city, which folds to pocket-size, and shows all Muni, BART, Caltrain, and connecting service routes, with extensive color coding. The same map in a slightly different form is mounted on the shelters at most major bus and car stops.
Bus and car stops throughout the city vary from Metro car stations with raised platforms in the subway and at the more heavily used surface stops, to small shelters, to simple signs, to nothing more than a yellow stripe across the tracks, on a utility pole, or on the roadway.
Two interesting interections of note: Powell and Market Streets and California and Market Streets. At these two intersections, three types of rail gauges meet: Bay Area Rapid Transit's 5 feet, 6 inch (1.676 m) rail gauge, Muni Metro's standard gauge, and the San Francisco cable car system's (narrow gauge, 1067 mm (3'6")).
Muni lines
The Muni network consists of the following lines:
Usage notes
Muni is often incorrectly written with all capital letters as MUNI, as if it were an acronym. Actually, it is short for Municipal. This is done both by members of the public and Muni employees. Possibly contributing to this confusion is their stylized, trademarked worm logo [1] (http://transit.511.org/providers/logos/SF_930200335551.png), which uses all capital letters.
"The Muni" (with the word the), in popular usage could mean the agency as a whole, or could refer to the Muni Metro. For example (overheard on a Muni bus), passenger to driver: "Does this bus go to the Muni?"
Some people use the term streetcar or trolley for cable car or vice versa. The terms actually have distinct meanings and if one asks a veteran driver for directions to the trolleys, expect wrong directions, as many dislike term substitution.
External links
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![[1]](http://transit.511.org/providers/logos/SF_930200335551.png){kind=link}