Measure description
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency tracks this measure of ridership demand. Average weekday ridership represents the number of passengers carried on motor buses, trolley buses, and light rail.
Why this measure is important
Increasing ridership helps reduce traffic congestion and is an important measure of San Francisco's progress toward becoming a healthier, more sustainable, and livable city. Ridership is also an indicator of citywide and regional economic activity, as well as accessibility to residents and visitors.
Muni average weekday boardings
Chart description
This chart shows the average number of weekday riders by fiscal year. The Y-axis shows the average number of riders. The X-axis shows the fiscal year. The unit of measure for this measure is the number of riders.
The SFMTA adjusts the annual target for this measure each fiscal year. Ridership numbers above the target indicates a good trend for San Francisco.
How SFMTA is Performing
The City Charter includes a "Transit First Policy" that prioritizes public transit in managing the City's transportation system. If San Francisco offers safe, reliable, and effective Muni service, then more people are likely to choose to take transit.
Many factors influence ridership. Service modifications and capital projects that improve Muni’s travel time and reliability make public transit a more attractive option for travelers. Making streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists can also increase transit ridership as more people use these modes to connect to transit.
Ridership is highly seasonal. School schedules, work patterns, and holidays all contribute to the seasonality of ridership patterns, which tend to be highest in the Fall and Spring and lowest in the Winter. Ridership is also responsive to transit fares, levels of service, and the overall economic climate.
How performance is measured
A boarding represents one customer riding one transit vehicle. If a customer transfers to a second vehicle while their trip is in progress, two boardings will be counted.
Average weekday boardings allows for a direct comparison to other months and years, regardless of the total number of weekdays in a month. Monthly figures are estimates based primarily on automatic passenger counter data, faregate information, revenue collected, and peak load measurements. Peak-load measurements are in-person counts conducted at the busiest stop along each route. Ridership data is collected over the course of the year. Figures are finalized at the end of each fiscal year, which typically includes revising monthly numbers due to data collection schedules.
Total annual boardings represent the total boardings that occur over the course of the year. This metric accounts for the total number of weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays throughout the year. This include holidays during which Muni provides Saturday or Sunday service. This metric provides a more complete picture of an entire year.
The number displayed on the scorecard page represents represents the most recent data from the first chart above.
Additional information
- View this metric and others on the SFMTA’s website.
- See the SFMTA’s 2023 Annual Report.
- See the SFMTA’s Strategic Plan Progress Reports.
Data notes and sources
Primary data source: Click here to view the source data from SFMTA's Performance Portal.
This data is also available in the Scorecards Dataset on DataSF.
Please note this data has an approximately 1 month lag time (e.g. August 2024 data will be available in September 2024.)
City Performance Scorecards
This page is part of the City Performance Scorecards.