San Francisco city leaders and public transit advocates are taking steps in trying to get people back on buses and trains by launching events and rallies for what's been dubbed Transit Month.
On Wednesday, the campaign includes a unique ridealong and rally with Mayor London Breed on some of Muni's busiest routes. Other special events are planned throughout September.
Breed, along with other city leaders, are scheduled to do the special ridealongs to City Hall, using the 38-Geary line, the N-Judah light-rail, the crosstown 49-Van Ness and the world famous cable car, which just reopened.
The campaign comes as Muni tries to rebound from what's been a year and a half of minimal ridership. The agency doesn't reveal specific numbers, but during the pandemic, revenues were down significantly, peaking with an 88% drop last April.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
In June, revenues still were only about 20% of where they were in 2019.
BART ridership was down more than 90% when the pandemic took hold. Now, on a typical weekday, it's still less than 25% of pre-pandemic levels, though inching upward every day. While BART technically is not part of the San Francisco transit campaign, the group has organized an event next week in the East Bay.
Several meetings and town halls also are planned through the rest of September.
