Taking You Out To the Ball Game
San Francisco is and has always been a baseball town. Before the NFL, NBA and NHL established teams in the region, “the one constant through all the years,” as poignantly extolled by James Earl Jones in the movie Field of Dreams, “has been baseball.” From the Seals to the Giants, each home opener reaffirms the city’s love affair with the game.
While fans eagerly anticipate the sights, sounds and smells (and another World Championship!) of the season, the SFMTA knows that the pilgrimage of forty thousand plus people along the city’s waterfront places greater demand on SF transportation, in particular Muni’s Metro service—the light rail system that provides more than 127,000 trips a day and operates through the Market Street subway.
In order to meet game-day demand, the SFMTA follows a detailed baseball service plan designed to facilitate safe, timely and reliable service to and from the ballpark while at the same time ensuring that customers not going to the ballgame can get where they need to go.
Accomplishing this is no small task. Effective implementation of this plan requires a team of nearly 70 people strategically located along King Street between 2nd and 6th streets. Members of this team represent all areas of the agency: transit, revenue, parking and traffic, maintenance and security, plus Muni’s Operations Central Control and Transportation Management Center (TMC) as well as Muni-assigned SFPD officers.
A small example of this coordinated effort is the on-scene transit inspectors working closely with Central Control and the TMC to track the progress of the six ballpark shuttle trains assigned for each game as well as the N Judah and T Third lines to monitor how full the trains are and to verify that an even flow of service is occurring in both directions. If not, then the necessary service adjustments are made.
Parking Control Officers are on scene to help vehicle and pedestrian traffic keep moving. This, in turn, helps to ensure that trains have an easier time making it through the area. Maintenance crews are on standby ready to react at the drop of a hat to clear any track, signal or mechanical issue that may arise. Transit Fare Inspectors and ambassadors assist with crowd control and answer customer questions so that everyone can get to and from the ballpark as safely and quickly as possible. This is especially important after games.
All this is to make sure that you can get to the ballpark and join us as we “root, root, root for the home team!”
Cable Car Grip, Ken Lunardi, and everyone at the SFMTA is excited for Opening Day!