New Equity Toolkit Helps SFMTA Improve Access

New Equity Toolkit Helps SFMTA Improve Access
By Mariana Maguire

The SFMTA’s Equity Toolkit helps us improve Muni service for San Francisco’s most transit-dependent residents and essential workers. Using data layered with mapping we are able to improve access to jobs and key destinations by identifying and fixing gaps in service. Our Equity Toolkit helps us serve San Franciscans better.

The toolkit focuses on San Francisco’s nine neighborhoods identified by the Muni Service Equity Strategy, including the Inner Mission, Outer Mission/Excelsior, Visitacion Valley, Bayview/Hunters Point, Oceanview-Ingleside, Chinatown, Tenderloin, Western Addition and Treasure Island. It’s part of SFMTA’s Transportation Recovery Plan for rebuilding our transportation system for a strong, lasting recovery that is more just and equitable for historically marginalized communities.

For many of our essential workers, COVID-19 is not only a health crisis, it is an economic crisis too. Economic and public health data show that most of our essential workers live in historically underserved equity strategy neighborhoods. If they are dependent on public transportation and can’t get to work reliably, not only does the city suffer, those workers could lose their jobs. That’s why improving job access for our essential workers is so important.

The Equity Toolkit uses transit service data from the six regional transit agencies – SFMTA, BART, SamTrans, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit and Caltrain. The data includes routes, schedules and frequencies. This show us how far a customer can get within 30, 45 and 60 minutes from key neighborhood locations within neighborhoods identified by the Muni Service Equity Strategy. We can compare job access for transit riders before and during the pandemic, and gauge how our service changes affect access. We can also now detect gaps that we couldn’t before and make better decisions for future Muni service.

Image from SFMTA’s Equity Toolkit showing information for the Bayview neighborhood post-Shelter-in-Place.

So far, the Toolkit shows that access to jobs and services via public transportation is down in nearly every neighborhood in the city since we started the Muni Core Service Plan in March. That plan prioritized service for high-ridership Muni routes, transportation-dependent populations and connections to essential jobs and services. As a result, people living in neighborhoods identified by the Muni Service Equity Strategy currently have more Muni service than people in other neighborhoods, who generally have more alternatives to public transit.

For example, in the Bayview, where there is a high concentration of essential workers, the existing Core Service Plan has made essential jobs within a 30-minute commute 12% more accessible than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Jobs within a 45-minute commute are 55% more accessible.  The Equity Toolkit shows that we still have work to do to ensure adequate Muni service for those who need it most right now. We will continue to use what we learn to improve our Core Service Plan and increase access to essential jobs and services for San Francisco’s most vulnerable communities.

In the coming weeks we will have more blog articles that dive deeper into the neighborhood-specific findings from the Equity Toolkit.

Published December 24, 2020 at 12:52AM
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New Muni Route to Serve Bayview and Hunters Point Neighborhoods

New Muni Route to Serve Bayview and Hunters Point Neighborhoods
By Enrique Aguilar

Starting in early 2021, Muni’s new 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express line will improve Downtown access, reduce commute times and add transit capacity for residents of the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods. This community-designed route connects the hilly communities east of Third Street to Downtown and was chosen by residents who voted in a fall 2020 survey. The process and the route demonstrates our commitment to working with communities to provide equitable Muni service. 

Launching the new route coincides with the gradual return of Muni Metro rail service. Returning to rail frees up enough buses to run new service, like the 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express and new 27 Bryant route, and improve frequency on other key routes. Service on the 15 will run every 10 minutes from approximately 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. weekdays and 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on weekends. 

Map of new 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express route

The Muni Service Equity Strategy highlights the importance of improving transit performance in neighborhoods with high percentages of low-income households and people of color. The Bayview is San Francisco’s most diverse neighborhood, comprised of 27% African Americans, 37% Asian and Pacific Islanders, 24% Latinx, 12% seniors, 24% youth and over 30% of households having less than $30,000 in annual income. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Southeast neighborhoods the hardest. Prioritizing transportation for those with the fewest options and in an area with a high concentration of essential workers is a critical principle in our Transportation Recovery Plan. Residents often endure long travel times to get to jobs, health care, education and other essential trips whose destination is not within the neighborhood. Addressing long and unreliable travel times is the most consistent request we receive from customers when identifying needed improvements. The 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express directly responds to this feedback by following the community’s lead in identifying the best way to link the Bayview neighborhood to downtown San Francisco.   

 

 

Muni bus on 3rd Street in Bayview 

Community Collaboration 

The SFMTA has been working in collaboration with residents of the Bayview and Hunters Point community to improve transportation. Last year the SFMTA adopted the Bayview Community Based Transportation Plan, which identifies transportation priorities that reflect community values and support a growing and resilient Bayview.  

In coordination with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton’s Office, the SFMTA project team formed a working group comprised of community leaders. In response to COVID-19 physical distancing constraints, the group met virtually and had regular meetings starting in August 2020. The group structure allowed for deep discussions that were critical in identifying key priorities and destinations and provided other important feedback to shape three route alternatives. Those three alternatives were put to a community vote with the preferred option being one that residents felt provided service closer to their homes, made trips shorter and served a part of the community where service is most needed. 

We thank Supervisor Shamann Walton’s office, the working group members and all those whose voted on a preferred route – your voice helped us identify and build this exciting new Muni line to serve the community.  

Published December 22, 2020 at 05:09AM
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