Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 157,700 passengers per weekday in the fourth quarter of 2019, making it the second-busiest light rail system in the United States. Six services – J Church, K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Ocean View, N Judah, and T Third Street run on separate surface alignments and merge into a single downtown tunnel. The supplementary S Shuttle service operates within the tunnel. Muni Metro operates a fleet of 151 Breda high-floor light rail vehicles (LRVs), which are currently being replaced by a fleet of 249 Siemens S200 LRVs.
The San Francisco Municipal Railway was created in 1909 and opened its first streetcar lines in 1912. Five of the current lines were added in the following decades: the J in 1917, the K (including the Twin Peaks Tunnel) in 1918, the L in 1919, the M in 1925, and the N in 1928. The other Municipal Railway streetcar lines, and those of the privately owned Market Street Railway, were converted to buses in the 1920s to 1950s, but these five lines were retained as streetcars because of their private rights of way. The system was converted to light rail, with larger US Standard Light Rail Vehicles, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This included the opening of the Market Street subway as well as extension of three lines to Balboa Park station. An extension along The Embarcadero to the Caltrain terminal at 4th and King Street opened in 1998.[1] [2] The T Third Street line opened in 2007, serving the southeastern portion of the city.[3] The Central Subway, with three new subway stations and one new surface station, opened on November 19, 2022.[4]
The system has 113 stations, of which 59 (52%) are accessible. All nine subway stations plus 24 surface stations have high-level platforms, 34inches high, that allow for accessible level boarding at all doors.[5] The other 80 stations have a mixture of low-level platforms on dedicated right-of-way, low-level boarding islands (platforms between the tracks and traffic lanes), sidewalk bulbs, and no platforms (where passengers cross parking or traffic lanes to board). Of those 80, 25 have "mini-high" platforms providing accessible boarding at a single door, while one has a wheelchair lift. Three stations on the L Taraval are being retrofitted with mini-high platforms as part of a reconstruction project.
| / | Transfer stations with BART / Caltrain | |
| / | Transfer stations with BART / Caltrain, and Line termini | |
| Line termini |
| Station | Image | Line(s) | Service began | Platforms | Accessible | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | Transfer to Union Square/Market Street station | |||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | Transfer to Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit | |||||
| High-level side platforms (subway station) | Yes | J Church stops on the surface at boarding islands with mini-high platforms at . The K, L, and M also used these boarding islands from 1972 to 1982. | |||||
| High-level side platforms (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms (subway station) | Yes | High-level platforms added in 1985[6] | |||||
| High-level side platforms (subway station) | Yes | Originally a surface station outside the portal; converted to high-level platforms in 1980 | |||||
| (J) (N) | Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | Also served by the K, L, and M from 1972 to 1982 | ||||
| Boarding islands | No | Also served by the K, L, and M from 1972 to 1982 | |||||
| Low-level side platform (inbound) and boarding island (outbound) with mini-high platforms | Yes | Partially inside Dolores Park | |||||
| Low-level side platforms | No | Inside Dolores Park | |||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Low-level side platforms | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Church and 29th Street (inbound) Church and Day (outbound) | Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | |||||
| None | No | Terminus of the line until 1991 | |||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Low-level side platforms with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Low-level side platforms | No | Connection to BART at Glen Park station | |||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | K Ingleside stopped nearby from 1979 to 2015 | |||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | Connection to M Ocean View at | |||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| None – bulb planned | No | Inbound stop planned for closure | |||||
| None – boarding island with mini-high platform planned | Planned | Outbound stop closed on February 25, 2017 | |||||
| Boarding islands – mini-high platforms planned | Planned | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | Consolidated from separate stops at 22nd Avenue and 23rd / 24th Avenues on February 25, 2017 | |||||
| None – boarding islands planned | No | ||||||
| None – boarding islands with mini-high platforms planned | Planned | ||||||
| None – boarding islands planned | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding island (inbound only) | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| (San Francisco Zoo) | Bulb with mini-high platform | Yes | |||||
| Low-level side platforms | No | ||||||
| Low-level side platforms | No | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Bulbs with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Bulbs with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding island with lift (inbound) | Yes | Connection to J Church, K Ingleside, and BART at | |||||
| Side platforms with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Bulbs with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Bulb (inbound) | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Bulbs with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Bulbs with mini-high platforms | Yes | Replaced former stops at 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue | |||||
| Bulbs | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| None | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands with mini-high platforms | Yes | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| Boarding islands | No | ||||||
| (Ocean Beach) | Mini-high platform only | Yes | |||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platforms | Yes | N Judah and T Third Street use separate platforms | |||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | Transfer to other Muni Metro lines and BART at Powell station | |||||
| High-level island platform (subway station) | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level side platforms | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes | ||||||
| High-level island platform | Yes |
Prior to the late 1970s, there was a higher density of stops on the surface streetcar lines. Many of these stops were closed as the conversion to Muni Metro introduced longer trains and a desire for higher surface speeds. Most were had no infrastructure other than marked poles at street corners; several on the M Ocean View had small platforms. A number of stops on Market Street were closed when the Market Street subway opened; most are now served by the F Market & Wharves streetcar. Four stations with significant infrastructure were closed during conversion:
| Station | Image | Line(s) | Service ended | Platforms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church and 19th Street | Low-level side platforms | Inside Dolores Park | ||||
| Low-level side platforms (subway station) | ||||||
| Low-level side platform | Replaced by | |||||
| Low-level side platforms | Streetcar loop on the north side of the terminal, separate from the elevated bus loops formerly used by Transbay trains |
Several surface stops have closed during the Muni Metro era during station consolidation projects.
| Station | Image | Line(s) | Service ended | Platforms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [8] [9] | None | Consolidated into | ||||
| None | Consolidated into | |||||
| [10] | None | |||||
| [11] | None | |||||
| None | Consolidated into | |||||
| None | Consolidated into |