The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced that it will temporarily suspend all subway service next week and replace it with bus shuttles during the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The changes are scheduled to take effect Monday. The West Portal, Forest Hill, Castro, Church and Van Ness stations will close, as will the Muni portion of downtown stations shared with BART.
Bus shuttles will provide service along the suspended subway lines, using the agency's Early Morning Metro Bus Service stops. N-Judah buses will arrive in 12-minute intervals and all other lines will arrive in 10-minute intervals on weekdays. Bus service on all lines will have 15-minute intervals on weekends.
Muni will also suspend service on the 5R, 9R, 28R, and 38R rapid route lines, but the agency will continue operating standard local bus service with longer coaches on each line. The agency will also suspend weekend service on the 47 line beginning April 4, extending the 49 line to Fisherman's Wharf on weekends to compensate.
Muni is making the service changes to "focus resources on routes outside of the downtown area that are connecting people to essential jobs and services," the agency said in a statement.
Muni officials do not expect the subway service suspension to affect riders' ability to practice social distancing while taking public transit.
The service suspensions will also allow the agency to reallocate sanitation products to more frequented stations and reduce the risk of exposure for station agents.
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A full, updated list of altered and suspended Muni routes can be found at sfmta.com/travel-updates/covid-19-reduced-muni-service-updated.
