California's efforts on transit safety data
Senate Bill (SB) 434, created by Senator David Min (D-Irvine) required California's ten biggest transit agencies— including the SFMTA — to collect and publish information about how safe riders feel and whether they’ve experienced harassment while using transit.
This law was passed in 2023 and required information by the end of 2024.
It was partly driven by the SFMTA's Safety Equity Initiative. The Initiative regularly surveys riders on how safe they feel, encourages them to report harassment, and works with local groups to raise awareness.
Aligning with state law
In early 2023, the SFMTA partnered with UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies to conduct our first Muni rider survey.
In 2024, we updated our existing Rider Safety Survey with parts of the Mineta Transportation Institute's Street Harassment Survey. This helped meet the requirements of SB 434 and maintain the integrity of our existing data.
Between November 2024 and April 2025, we surveyed almost 2000 Muni riders. We offered the survey in English, Cantonese, Spanish, Filipino, and Vietnamese. Civic Edge Consulting helped conduct the survey. Ambassadors surveyed riders on the 15 Muni lines where we know harassment is higher. FM3 Research helped analyze the survey data.
We reached out to over 100 community-based organizations. Dozens promoted the survey among their members.
We also partnered with six community groups to help host focus groups, listed below. We held a focus group in Chinese and a focus group in Spanish. We also held focus groups in English with youth, LGBTQ+ and transgender people, and people with disabilities. We chose these communities based on existing data of Muni riders most affected by harassment.
- Coalition for Community Safety and Justice (Chinese language)
- Good Samaritan Family Resource Center (Spanish language)
- Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco - Tenderloin Clubhouse
- Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
- The Transgender District
- Lighthouse for the Blind
One of the requirements of SB 434 was to publish the data collected by December 31, 2024. We met this by publishing an initial set of data and a summary of the highlights of our research up to that point. Read more about our initial survey effort and findings.
We have updated the published data and highlights to reflect the completed data set. You can find this linked below.
Get in touch
For questions and feedback: Please email TellMuni@SFMTA.com. Use the subject "2024/2025 Muni Rider Safety Survey."