As of 2025, San Francisco Muni ridership has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Signs of returning to pre-pandemic levels contribute to the overall regrowth of tourism and popularity in San Francisco.
Lines including the 22 Fillmore, 49 Van Ness, and the 14R Mission hold large percentages of the growth. According to SFMTA Data average daily weekday ridership counts have reached about 486,000 and 318,000 on weekends. These numbers have hit around 80% of the number of riders pre-pandemic.
In 2021, SF Muni drastically changed their fare prices making its public transportation free to students under 19 years of age and cheaper for senior citizens. SF Muni has also worked with Chase Center in stating that the event ticket is also your muni ticket, says junior Winnie Chun.
“Every time I go to the Chase Center for a Warriors game or a concert my fare is always free,” Chun said. “Even though I am a student, my ticket indicates that any muni is free.”
In addition to fare prices becoming reasonable, many specific city events such as the Portola Music Festival, Sunset Night Market and Outside Lands have boosted ridership according to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s press release.
“San Francisco’s public transportation system is super convenient,” junior Lillian McConathy said. “Especially when where I am going has a lot of traffic or has little parking, taking the muni is very efficient.”
Although ridership has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the SFMTA still faces a $50 million budget deficit according to SFMTA. Proposals that outline the cutting of services and muni lines to address this deficit have been discussed by the SFMTA Board of Directors.
“On my bus ride to school, I noticed fare enforcers come on to ask people for copies of their bus fares,” junior Lily Liao said. “It is super casual but a good way to get an understanding of Muni’s ridership.”
Riders who do not pay the fare are fined an undisclosed amount, in efforts to revive the SFMTA budget while also holding riders accountable for their use of public transport. According to SFMTA, they have allocated money towards hiring an additional three dozen inspectors to contribute to these efforts.
“Hopefully if lines are cut, they are replaced with new ones that still cover the same amount of ground,” Chun said. “It would still maintain the convenience that it has right now.”
