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A pamphlet, the Muni rider's guide, is also available.
"I just want to get from point A to point B"
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and its partners can help plan your trip for you.
- Using your smartphone or PDA:
- Download the 511 Transit App from the Android market or, once available, the iPhone app. Visit the 511 Transit App fact page for more information, a fact sheet and FAQs
- Go to the 511 Mobile website m.511.org from your device’s browser and select Transit Trip Planner
- If you do not have access to the internet or for trip plans impacted by temporary reroutes, call the San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center.
- Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Voice within San Francisco: 311
- Voice, Bay Area outside San Francisco 511. Say "Muni" then "operator"
- Voice, outside Bay Area: 415.701.2311
- TTY: 415.701.2323.
Where does Muni go?
- Muni only serves San Francisco, California.
- There are a few stops along the north edge of San Mateo County, in Daly City.
- On Saturdays, Sundays and major holidays, Muni also serves the Marin Headlands recreation area.
- Muni doesn't go to the airport. See airport service.
- Muni goes to many San Francisco points of interest.
- For travel elsewhere in the Bay Area, visit 511.org
- To figure out which Muni rail lines or bus routes you need to take, see:
When does Muni go there?
How much will my Muni trip cost?
- Bus, historic streetcar, and Metro trips for adults cost $2.00, including a free transfer.
- Bus, historic streetcar, and Metro trips for seniors (65 or older), youth (5 to 17), persons with disabilities and Medicare card holders cost $0.75, including a free transfer, when you show valid ID.
- Cable car trips cost $6 per single ride.
- Before 7 a.m. and after 9 p.m., cable car trips for seniors, persons with disabilities and Medicare card holders cost $3 per single ride when you show valid ID.
- Cable cars do not accept or issue transfers.
- Special event service (Candlestick Park expresses and other selected events) has special fares.
How do I pay my fare?
- If you ride Muni or other Bay Area transit regularly, get a Clipper® card.
- If you are visiting, or ride rarely, get a Limited Use Muni Ticket to board Muni in the subway; you can also use this ticket to board on the surface.
- Fares can be paid on the surface with any US coins.
- On the surface, fares can be paid with US $1 bills plus additional coins to add up to your fare.
Exact change is required. Drivers and station agents do not provide change.
- The SFMTA has installed Muni Ticket Vending Machines in all Muni Metro subway stations. These let you pay with cash, credit card or debit card. Exact change is not required.
- A free paper transfer, which you obtain at the time you pay a cash fare on the surface, will serve as proof of payment for 90 minutes of riding.
- If you pay with a Clipper card or Muni Ticket, a 90-minute transfer is automatically registered on your card or ticket.
How do I know if my bus or streetcar is on time?
NextMuni.com provides arrival predictions for all Muni streetcars and several Muni bus lines. Muni plans to extend this service to all lines over the next few years.
You can get Muni predictions for the F, J, K, L, M, and N lines by phone. Dial 511, then say "Muni" and then "Arrival Times."
How do I find a bus stop?
- Look for a bus (or streetcar) shelter. These are in the middle of the sidewalk and made of glass. The line numbers served by that bus shelter will be listed on the glass overhead at each end of the shelter.
- Look for a signpost. These will have a small metal "flag" at the top with a list of the lines that serve that stop. The flag may be brown or gray.
- Look for a painted pole. This may be a telephone pole or a concrete pole with a yellow band around it. The lines serving that stop will be painted below the yellow band.
- Look for a yellow rectangle on the street. The rectangle will read "Bus Stop" or "Car Stop" and have a list of lines served painted below it. It may be surrounded by a large white rectangle reading "Bus Zone".
- Not all stops are at corners. Sometimes they are in the middle of the block.
- Buses don't stop at every corner. This helps us provide faster service. You may need to walk a block or two.
- Call and ask the San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center. They can look up the stop on their system and tell you where your stop is, which direction your bus will be going, and what type of stop to look for at your particular stop.
- We don't currently have a list of stops that you can look at online.
- We do have a map of stops on downtown Market Street as a GIF or as a zoomable PDF.
How do I exit the bus (or streetcar)?
- Pull the signal cord after the bus passes the stop before yours.
- Pull the cord even if you see people are waiting at the stop. This lets the driver know they need to activate the back door when they get to the stop.
- If you are not sure where your stop is, then, when you board the bus, ask the driver to announce your stop.
- You do not need to pull the signal cord in the subway.
- Exit through a rear door if at all possible.
- In the subway, the driver will open the doors at all stops, once the streetcar has reached the proper position on the platform.
- On the surface, you will need to open the rear door:
- Step down. This will open the door on historic streetcars and on many buses.
- If the door doesn't open, then gently push the door handle.
- On a bus, the handle will be in front of you.
- On a modern streetcar, the handle will be to your left side and your right side. Use whichever handle is closer
- If the door doesn't open at this point, make sure you push the door handle in the movable middle portion, not at the very ends.
- If that doesn't work, call out "Back door!" to notify the driver of the problem, then repeat step 2.
"I need a map"
"I have a special need"
- "I lost something"
- "I have a disability"
- "I want to bring my bike along"
- "I need to bring my service animal along"
- "I want to bring my pet along"
- "I need parking information"
- "I want to load schedules or maps or trip plans onto my pocket computer or PDA or iPod or smart phone"
- Muni does not currently offer this capability.
"I want to avoid 'gotchas'"
Don't we all. This may seem like a lot at first, but you'll be a seasoned customer before you know it.
- Check for alerts to advise you of a service change. Alerts for your particular Muni line will also show up in the schedule for that line.
- Be at your stop a few minutes early.
- Exact change is required on the surface. Muni drivers do not make change.
- Make sure you board the right bus. Some stops serve multiple lines. Some lines have not only local but express and limited service, and a few lines have multiple branches. For example:
- 38 GEARY serves all stops. It also has 3 branches west of 33rd Avenue.
- 38L GEARY LIMITED serves only selected stops between 33rd Avenue and Powell Street.
- 38AX GEARY "A" EXPRESS runs non-stop between 25th Avenue and the Financial District.
- 38BX GEARY "B" EXPRESS runs non-stop between Presidio Avenue and the Financial District.
- Always ask for a transfer when you pay your fare.
- Notice the expiration time of the transfer.
- Transfers are good for 90 minutes of riding, in any direction including a round-trip.
- If your transfer is going to expire before the end of your ride, you need to pay a new fare and get a new transfer.
- Your transfer serves as your Proof of Payment.
- Always board by the front door
- However, if it's a Metro (J, K, L, M, N, T) line and you have Proof of Payment, you can board by any door at street level.
- There's a lighted white button on either side of the doors. Push it to make the doors open.
- And you can board a cable car, or a streetcar in the subway, through any entrance.
- Never enter the paid area, the part of the station within the fare gates, of a Muni Metro underground station without Proof of Payment.
- If an agent is present, you must show that Proof of Payment to the agent.
- There is a fine for evading or attempting to evade fare payment or to bypass Muni fare collection and inspection policies.
- Please follow the rules. There are fines for breaking some of them.
- San Francisco has many hills. If you have difficulty climbing steep streets, you may want to call the San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center. They have information about steep streets near stops.
- Know the cross street or neighborhood where you want to go. For example, if you ask a driver if their bus goes to Third Street, you might wind up on the wrong bus. Do you want Third Street in Downtown, in Dogpatch (near Potrero Hill), or in Bayview? Third Street, like many streets in San Francisco, is a long street.
- Know the difference between numbered avenues and numbered streets. San Franciscans tend not to say "Street" or "Avenue," but sometimes we have to. "Third Street," which runs along the east side of San Francisco, is miles away from "Third Avenue," which is in San Francisco's western neighborhoods. Even with numbered streets and avenues, we tend to drop "Street" or "Avenue" if you name an intersection, such as "Third and Folsom" (Third Street) or "Third and Geary" (Third Avenue).
- If you want a street in The Presidio, be sure to specify you mean The Presidio. Several streets in The Presidio have the same name as a street elsewhere in San Francisco - Mason Street for example - but can be miles away from the same-named street elsewhere in San Francisco.
- Streets in the South of Market (SoMa) area run diagonally, but many people have a mental picture of them running north-south or east-west. This is called logical directions.
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