The best and worst on-time performing Muni bus lines, ranked
Last week Curbed SF examined SFMTA’s latest data dump about Muni light rail’s on-time performance—or rather, its lack thereof.
By comparison, Muni bus service is far more reliable than its trains. And yet, not a single bus line in the city is even close to Muni’s stated goal of an 85 percent on-time rating (a target that’s mandated by the city charter).
These figures represent performance for January of 2019. Note that, for Muni purposes, “on time” means no more than four minutes late and no more than one minute early.
The best performing bus line in the city: The 66 Quintara, which runs from Eighth Avenue to Vicente Street, which was on time 70 percent of the time in January and late just seven percent of the time. The 66 is also the only line to have never been deemed “very late” all month.
The worst line in SF: The 81 Express to Caltrain, which was on time an abysmal 35 percent of the time and late or very late 52 percent of the time, the only line in the city to break the 50 percent late barrier in January, all of which undermines the entire express concept.
From best to worse, here’s how all 63 active Muni bus lines performed last month. The first figure represents a line’s on-time rating, the second how often it was late or very late. (The question of whether early buses are better or worse than late ones is a judgment call and so did not factor into the rankings.)
- 66 Quintara: 70 percent/seven percent
- 88 BART Shuttle: 69 percent/21 percent
- 6-Haight/Parnassus: 65 percent/11 percent
- 25-Treasure Island: 65 percent/26 percent
- 41-Union: 64 percent/11 percent
- 5R-Fulton: 64 percent/17 percent
- 38AX-Geary: 64 percent/18 percent
- 30-Stockton: 63 percent/9 percent
- 38R-Geary: 63 percent/10 percent
- 30X-Marina: 63 percent/11 percent
- 21-Hayes: 63 percent/12 percent
- 67-Bernal Heights: 63 percent/12 percent
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52-Excelsior: 63 percent/15 percent
- 39-Coit: 62 percent/9 percent
- 3-Jackson: 61 percent/17 percent
- 22-Filmore: 61 precent/13 percent
- 14R-Mission: 61 precent/14 percent
- 7-Haight/Noriega: 61 percent/18 percent
- 57-Parkmerced: 61 percent/20 percent
- 33-Ashbury: 60 percent/12 percent
- 18-46th Avenue: 60 percent/16 percent
- 1-California: 60 percent/19 percent
- 49-Mission/Van Ness: 59 percent/9 percent
- 24-Divisadero: 59 percent/12 percent
- 31-Balboa: 59 percent/16 percent
- 2-Clement: 59 percent/19 percent
- 47-Van Ness: 58 percent/15 percent
- 48-Quintara: 58 percent/22 percent
- 1AX-California: 58 percent/22 percent
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35-Eureka: 58 percent/24 percent
- 5-Fulton: 57 percent/19 percent
- 37-Corbett: 57 percent/27 percent
- 83X-Mid Market: 57 percent/28 percent
- 12-Folsom: 56 percent/14 percent
- 54-Felton: 56 percent/17 percent
- 1BX-California: 56 percent/27 percent
- 31AX-Balboa: 56 percent/28 percent
- 55-16th Street: 56 percent/29 percent
- 14-Mission: 55 percent/18 percent
- 9-San Bruno: 55 percent/19 percent
- 56-Rutland: 55 percent/22/percent
- 31BX-Balboa: 55 percent/36 percent
- 28-19th Avenue: 54 percent/16 percent
- 43-Masonic: 54 percent/17 percent
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44-O’Shaughnessy: 53 percent/20 percent
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23-Monterey: 53 percent/24 percent
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36-Teresita: 53 percent/25 percent
- 38X-Geary: 53 percent/30 percent
- 14X-Mission: 52 percent/16 percent
- 9R-San Bruno: 52 percent/29 percent
- 10-Townsend: 51 percent/15 percent
- 8-Bayshore: 50 percent/14 percent
- 38-Geary: 50 percent/16 percent
- 28R-19th Avenue: 49 percent/six percent.
- 29-Sunset: 49 percent/20 percent
- 76X-Marin: 48 percent/eight percent
- 19-Polk: 48 percent/20 percent
- 27-Bryant: 47 percent/25 percent
- 82X-Levi Plaza: 47 percent/27 percent
- 7X-Noriega: 47 percent/30 percent
- 8BX-Bayshore: 41 percent/19 percent
- 8AX-Bayshore: 41 percent/25 percent
- 81X-Caltrain: 35 percent/52 percent
Across all routes, Muni buses were on time 57 percent of the time in January, early 27 percent of the time, late for 12 percent of stops, and very late four percent.
The system’s overall on-time rating across buses and trains together was 55 percent. The city has not released data for the historic cable cars since January of 2018.