The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is facing a glaring financial crisis, warning community members that if they do not meet the funding required by July 2026, drastic cost cutting measures would be taken. These include suspending lower utilized Muni routes, reducing frequencies by up to 50%, suspending historic train and cable car service and operating late-night OWL service only from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. These projected cuts, only enacted if the budget is not made, are part of SFMTA’s larger plan to financially recover but pose a looming threat to the lifestyle of community members and USF students.
On June 21, 2025, the SFMTA began reducing services in response to its $50 million budget gap projected for fiscal year 2026 (July 2025-June 2026). As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, SFMTA revenue from parking meters, bus fares and general funds from the City of San Francisco has declined significantly due to reduced ridership and inflation. To combat this, the agency implemented targeted service cuts on select routes, a hiring freeze and enhanced fare enforcement, though these measures fell short of fully closing the gap.
Alix Thompson, a junior English major, shared her frustrations with her current commute to school from her apartment on the 31 Balboa. “I heavily rely on the 31. I have to resort to taking Waymo sometimes when I miss it, which takes me straight to LoMo, where many of my classes are, or else I’ll be really late to class, so that’s frustrating. Even if they were just 15 minutes apart instead of 20, that would make a huge difference.”
The SFMTA continued to address budget concerns with a 2% service cut, which was reduced from an earlier proposal of 4% after strong pushback from San Francisco community members over the impact on riders. These cuts included the shortening of three routes: 5 Fulton, 9 San Bruno and 31 Balboa, on weekdays at Market Street, while integrating the 6 Haight-Parnassus and 21 Hayes into one line.
This saved $7 million toward the $50 million gap for fiscal year 2026, even as the larger $307 million structural deficit looms without new funding, prompting deeper cuts should the November ballot measures fail. As a result, Muni riders could see a 50% reduction in service frequency, meaning wait times would double at a minimum, major cuts in late-night transportation and potential reductions or elimination of fare discount programs for low-income riders, seniors, youth and people with disabilities.
Cliff Zaragoza, a senior history major who commutes daily from home every day to USF using Muni, finds the transit system to be accessible. “You can get anywhere in the city within 90 minutes, which is cool. It’s very democratic, I would say. Evens out so everyone has an opportunity to go places.”
Muni is essential to San Francisco’s functionality. In fact, the SFMTA’s tagline states “San Francisco runs on Muni.” Each day, it transports more than 500,000 people for work, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, and other needs. Service cuts threaten the city’s livability by complicating access to jobs and destinations. With San Francisco’s daytime population exceeding its residential population due to commuters, Muni plays a critical role in meeting that demand and shuttling workers to and from job centers.
Launched in 1912, Muni is one of the oldest city-owned transit systems in a major U.S. city. The
“Transit First” policy, adopted in 1973 and written in the San Francisco Charter via Proposition E in 1999, prioritized Muni and other transit over private cars on city streets, allowing for the development of transit-only red lanes and the redesigning of route maps. These efforts made Muni a key tool for reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in the city.
“The 31 no longer runs all the way to the Caltrain Depot downtown, so that has affected some of my friends who take the train home, and in all honesty has led me to using ride share to get there more,” Evan Capulong said, a junior business major, when speaking about his dissatisfaction with the 31 Balboa bus line. “I am sure there are other examples, but the MUNI benefits other students and me a lot due to our access, so the cuts will definitely have an effect on our ability to get around the city.”
With the service changes that began on June 21, students like Thompson and Capulong are forced to wait longer for Muni. As mentioned, the 31 Balboa, which moves inbound from Balboa Street to Market Street, was shortened. This costs students valuable time for classes and other on-campus responsibilities. These cuts reduced overall frequencies to about every 20 minutes across morning, midday, and evening on weekdays and weekends, leading to unreliable spacing with actual gaps of 20-30+ minutes. The increase in wait times is directly tied to the 2% system-wide reduction aimed at saving costs toward the $50 million gap.
