Muni carried 15 million trips in September, its highest monthly ridership since the pandemic, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said. Weekdays averaged 555,000 boardings, which is 84% of what the system carried before COVID.
Rail growth on every line
Muni Metro averaged 131,000 weekday trips, up 11% from September 2025, or about 12,000 more boardings a day. Downtown rail use rose 14%, which SFMTA said was partly because more workers are returning to offices. Every rail line grew:
- T Third: up 20%
- K Ingleside: up 12%
- L Taraval: up 11%
- M Ocean View: up 8%
- N Judah: up 6%
- J Church: up 5%
SFMTA said T Third riders were drawn in part by the Chinatown Autumn Moon Festival, the Portola festival, Giants games at Oracle Park and the Valkyries’ playoff run at Chase Center. Signal timing changes have cut up to seven minutes off a T Third trip, the agency said.
Weekends nearly fully recovered
Weekends averaged 373,000 daily boardings, 99% of pre-pandemic levels. On-time reliability held at 85%. SFMTA also said moderate delays of 10 to 20 minutes in the Market Street subway are down 69%, and delays of more than 20 minutes are down 63%. The agency named the 28R 19th Avenue, the 38R Geary and the L Taraval as its most reliable routes.
The numbers come as SFMTA faces what it calls the worst financial crisis in its history. The San Francisco Chinese-language weekly News for Chinese also reported the September figures.