Color Lights Installation Coming to Muni Metro Escalators

San Francisco Muni escalators are getting a full overhaul and pretty colored lights. Working with the Castro community, we first installed rainbow colored lights on the Muni escalators at Castro in February, and then at Powell in early March. We are now rolling out colored lights to Muni escalators throughout the system.

Colored lights on the escalator at Powell Station

As part of Phase 2 of the Muni Metro Escalator Rehabilitation Project, 17 escalators will go through rehabilitation at Montgomery, Powell, Hallidie Plaza, Civic Center, Van Ness, Church and Castro (video about the rehabilitation). Originally, the contract required the single white color lights be installed for illumination. However, as the rainbow lights installed as an experiment become an instant success on the first rehabbed escalator at Harvey Milk Plaza in 2015, the SFMTA decided to replicate the color lights to all four escalators at Castro, thanks to the recommendations by Castro Merchants and other community stakeholders. The plan was extended later on to add color lights to all Muni escalators in the subway.

The lights featured nine colors at Castro resemble the rainbow flag flying over Market and Castro streets. The rest of the stations will have three-color lights that can be adjusted to reflect local culture and festivities. For instance, the prominent colors at Powell Station next to the Cable Car Turnaround feature the cable car yellow and burgundy.

Rainbow lights at Castro represent San Francisco's cultural diversity

While the escalator rehab project continues, work to add the color lights onto the rehabbed escalators will take place through the end of March or early April. The four outdoor escalators at Halide Plaza will come first, followed by the two platform   escalators at Church and the inbound platform escalator at Montgomery. The escalator under construction will be out of service for two or three days.

Most of the old escalators at Muni Metro stations have been on the job for over 40 years. They are outdated and easily break down. The new units equipped with state-of-art technology will make the Muni system safer, more reliable and accessible, especially for seniors and people with disabilities.

Work continues to install color lights to Muni escalators in the subway