Rolling Traveler

As I mentioned on Monday, San Francisco has a comprehensive public transport network that includes MUNI bus services to every neighborhood and two light railways, MUNI Metro and BART. These three interact well: the city’s BART and MUNI stations and major stops are all on bus routes, and the weekly and monthly MUNI FastPass is good for all the bus and Metro lines and for the BART within the city limits. The network is wheelchair accessible, with the buses rating Good, the Metro rating Good, and the BART rating Very Good. There are a few things to note about each service when planning a journey.

Tickets

On buses and MUNI Metro trains, you can buy a ticket from the driver if you don’t have a pass, but you need exact change. Take and keep the ticket as it is good for a period of time, not just for one journey. Generally, the ticket is good for 90 minutes, sometimes longer, so it’s possible to get a couple of rides on the same ticket, depending on your plans. The validity is marked at the bottom of the ticket. The MUNI FastPass is only available at certain outlets and online. There are usually one or two stores in each neighborhood that sell the passes, but they sell out fast. The cable car ticket booth at the Powell station has them through the month.

You can’t buy BART tickets from the train driver. If you have a MUNI FastPass, you can use that within the city limits (between the Embarcadero and Balboa Park stations), but you can’t use the regular tickets on the BART. If you don’t have a FastPass, you’ll need to buy a BART ticket from the vending machines in the stations.

The MUNI tickets and FastPasses are available at a discount to disabled passengers, but only with an ID verifying disability. San Francisco drivers and ticket agents are quite strict about the ID; when I was visiting Austin, I didn’t have an ID, but the drivers never charged me, but I was always charged the full price in San Francisco until I sorted that out.

Getting on and off the bus

All the MUNI bus lines are listed as accessible, and this is basically true. There are a couple of situations where a wheelchair user can’t get on the bus, and they happen often enough that I couldn’t really rate the service as Very Good.

On more than one occasion during rush hour, I was denied boarding, because the bus was already standing room only. According to a MUNI representative that I spoke to, in this situation, the drivers are told to get people to get off, let the wheelchair user on, and then let people back on, but this never happened to me. I also never insisted on it, as I was never in a desperate situation timewise, and because I really try to avoid a lot of fuss about me. If the bus already has two wheelchairs on board, it cannot take a third, as there are only two berths for wheelchairs. This is rare, but it does happen. Finally, the lifts occasionally break down. Pad your estimate if you’re traveling by bus, particularly during rush hour.

Wait at the stop in such a position that the driver can see you as they approach, so that they can pull the bus in to the curb properly, otherwise they won’t be able to deploy the lift or ramp. The drivers tend not to pull right in to the curb unless they see a wheelchair user waiting, and getting down off the curb onto the road to get onto the lift or ramp isn’t an option for every chair. With some stops, because of nearby roadsigns and/or parking spaces, the driver may have to pull in before the stop or after the stop. Once the bus is stopped, people will just pile on: some drivers will make them wait for you to get on first, some will leave you to get on last.

Once on board, get the driver to help you with the seats, which have to be flipped up to make space for the chair, and with the wheel clamp and safety straps, which you should definitely use. If the driver refuses to help, insist: it is for your safety.

Tell the driver where you’re going, but also keep note of where you are: drivers sometimes forget and this can leave you getting off one stop later than you wanted. There is a bell specifically to request the lift: it is located on the underside of the seat that is flipped up to make room for the wheelchair. Ring it when you hear your stop announced.

Getting on and off MUNI Metro

The Metro service consists of seven lines: the F, J, K, L, M, N and T. The F is an aboveground line that runs vintage cars. Many of the stops for this line have been made accessible with pedestrian boarding islands by the tracks. Check that the stop you want is accessible here.

The other lines are all accessible in the underground stations (Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center and Van Ness for all the lines, plus Church, Castro, Forest Hill and West Portal for the K, L, M and T). They are also accessible via pedestrian boarding islands once you go above ground, but only at certain stops, basically every few blocks. This can mean that you have a few blocks up or down hill to go before you get to your destination, so be prepared. Here is a good map of the accessible stops. Sometimes the boarding island is before the stop, sometimes past it.

If you get on at an underground station, get on at the door closest to the driver, and stay nearby. The front seats do fold up to make a berth for wheelchairs, but the drivers rarely offered to do this for my manual chair; they always did it for powered chairs though. I always had to ask. Make sure the driver knows where you’re going and remind him when you’re getting near the stop. On one occasion, I didn’t remind the driver when I wanted to get off, and ended up having to go five blocks farther to get to the next accessible stop.

Don’t sit in the doorway. The doors open on different sides at different underground stations, and once you go above ground, the floor in the doorways on the right side folds down to form steps.

Overall, the MUNI Metro is a good service to use, and it is generally faster than the buses, but it is not as comprehensive in terms of the neighborhoods it covers or the accessibility of the stops.

Getting on and off BART

BART trains always stop at stations where the floor of the train is flush with the platform, and all the stations are accessible via elevators. You can get on and off at any door, you do not need to talk to the driver or service personnel, and there is a berth for wheelchairs in every carriage. However, there are no wheel clamps or straps to secure the chair, so you need good brakes or strong arms. The ride is very smooth, and the carriages are generally carpeted, which gives good traction, so there isn’t necessarily a problem with there being no straps, but I always wonder why they don’t have them, especially considering my one misadventure with the bus.

Misc!

The stations that are both BART and MUNI Metro stations are: Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center and Balboa Park.

MUNI lists the trains as Inbound (going to and through downtown San Francisco from the west and south of the city plus the T line out past the Ball Park) and Outbound (going from downtown San Francisco to the west and south of the city, plus the T line in from the Ball Park).

The elevators on the MUNI and BART stations sometimes break down, and you are advised to call ahead to check if they are working. Be warned as well: those elevators are often dirty, especially the downtown ones. My friends would often tell me they’d meet me upstairs rather than riding in the elevator with me, so hold your breath if you have a sensitive stomach.

San Francisco’s public transport system is on the Next Bus site which helps in planning your journey. It’s a handy site and covers a whole range of public transport networks

(Added on Friday, August 29th) A San Francisco native posted a comment giving his opinion of the MUNI bus service and the problems with it from the point of view of both tourists and regular users. 

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