Muni Celebrates 100th Birthday With Free Rides

Some celebrate birthdays with cake. Others with parties.

San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency is celebrating its 100th birthday with free Muni rides on Friday and on New Year's Eve.

That's right: Muni service will be free to all customers from 5 a.m. today through 5 a.m. Saturday, in honor of a century of being the first publicly owned, land-based transit agency hailing from San Francisco. Muni will also be free on Monday from 8 p.m. to Tuesday at 6 a.m.

Don't forget to keep your money in your pocket, though. One person tweeted that he forget that Muni was free, used his Clipper card early this morning to pay, and was charged.

In addition to the free rides, the transit agency launched a special section of its website, sfmta.com/100, to share photos from the Muni archives, historic information and a calendar of centennial events.

“We are celebrating 100 years of Muni, which is a hallmark of the continued innovation that makes San Francisco unique among American cities,”  Tom Nolan, chairman of the SFMTA Board of Directors said in a statement. “Free rides are one of several special events celebrating this major achievement.”

At midnight on Monday, there will be a city-sponsored fireworks show from a barge off of The Embarcadero, south of the Ferry Building. Last month, Muni celebrated its elderly age by rolling out vintage streetcars for all to see and reminisce about the beginnings of Muni in 1912.

For more details on the New Year's public transportation service:

•  Muni Metro service between West Portal and Embarcadero stations extended to 4 a.m. and until 2:15 a.m. to 4th and King streets
•   Extra Owl service (1 a.m. to 5 a.m.): 5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 38 Geary, 90 and 91 Owl and the L and N Owl bus routes.  Service on the F Market historic streetcar line provided by buses after approximately 4 p.m.
• Caltrain’s final New Year’s train will depart from the 4th and King Street Station at 2:15 a.m., Jan. 1. All Caltrain and Samtrans service will be free after 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. For more details, please visit caltrain.com .
• BART will provide additional service until approximately 3 a.m., Jan. 1. After 8 p.m. BART service to and from the East Bay will be separated between Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond trains will depart from Montgomery Station (not Embarcadero) and Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont trains will depart from the Embarcadero Station (not Montgomery). For more details, please visit bart.gov .

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