The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency today discussed details of its plan to provide supplemental transit service during a 9-day shutdown that will affect several key light-rail and bus routes beginning Friday evening.
Affected routes will be shut down or rerouted to allow for construction work making street and transit improvements from 7 p.m. Friday until about 5 a.m. Monday, June 4, along the N-Judah corridor.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin said the work on the Church and Duboce Track and Street Improvement Project and Carl Street Rail Replacement Project will provide new track for more reliable Muni service and improved access for all modes of transportation so that cars, pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders “can coexist more safely.”
During the closure, the most significant impacts will be to the N-Judah and J-Church lines: N-Judah trains will not run and J-Church trains will run only above ground and will switchback at Market and Church streets.
The 22-Fillmore bus will also be rerouted on the weekdays of the closure–Tuesday through Friday–with the route running along Divisadero and 18th streets between McAllister Street in the Fillmore and 16th Street in the Mission.
A 22-Shuttle bus will also operate those days between the 16th Street BART Station and McAllister and Fillmore streets.
Bus options will be available along the N-Judah corridor, including express bus service in commute directions on weekdays and local service during the entire closure.
All substitute buses will stop at Van Ness Station, where travelers can transfer to other surface or subway routes.
On the rest of the Muni Metro system, additional and longer trains will run Tuesday through Friday.
Shutting down the city’s busiest light-rail route, the N-Judah, “will certainly have an impact on many people,” Reiskin said to reporters this morning.
“We just want to make sure people know this is coming,” he said.
Reiskin estimated that as many as 20,000 people ride the N-Judah every day and 8,000 people ride the J-Church daily.
Transit riders traveling to or from the Outer Sunset will be able to take the Nx express bus, which makes stops along Judah Street between Ocean Beach and 19th Avenue before running express to the Financial District, with stops at Bush and Montgomery streets and Sutter and Sansome streets.
What are new for the shutdown are Nax and Nbx express buses, which will operate in the commute direction on the weekdays during the closure.
The former will provide local service between La Playa and Ninth Avenue before traveling express to Van Ness Station, while the later will provide local service between Ninth Avenue and Van Ness Station.
Because N trains also normally provide service to the Caltrain station at Fourth and King streets, the SFMTA plans to operate shuttle trains between the Caltrain and West Portal Stations.
The N-Owl, however, will continue to provide service along its regular route between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
In addition to making transit riders aware of their options on Muni during the closure, the SFMTA is encouraging people to consider getting around by bike or taxi or on foot.
“To relieve pressure on the transit system” during the shutdown, Reiskin said the SFMTA coordinated with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to offer bicycle convoys that will pick up riders on routes loosely following the N-Judah and J-Church lines on working days during the closure.
People moving through the affected areas should allow extra travel time and plan ahead, as parking restrictions and street and bike lane closures and detours will be in effect during the shutdown.
Additional information on the service impacts can be found at www.sfmta.com/longshutdown.
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