Nighttime Muni Subway Shutdown Begins Tonight, Will Last 6 MonthsPhoto: Timmy Denike/Flickr
Rose Garrett
Published on July 31, 2015

If you're accustomed to riding Muni's light-rail service at night, you'll need to make alternate travel plans. Beginning tonight at 10pm, SFMTA will enact nightly shutdowns between West Portal and Embarcadero stations to complete infrastructure upgrades, which are expected to continue until January 2016.

The upgrade projects will include a new radio system, intended to "replace the old analog system and upgrade it to digital technology." The new technology will expand the audio and visual “next stop” announcements, according to the SFMTA, and will also improve Muni’s ability to address vehicle incidents and collect performance data. Also in the works is a project to replace the 90 emergency phones currently in the subway with 181 new, more advanced phones, "designed to facilitate emergency communications for Muni customers and first responders."

How will the shutdown affect you? For starters, know that the subway will be closed nightly from 10pm until 5am. Bus shuttles will be running substitution service between Embarcadero station and St. Francis Circle from 9:30pm to 1:30am nightly, and you can expect normal rail service aboveground. Bus shuttle frequency will be approximately every eight minutes; extra shuttles will be provided on Giants game nights. 

Here are the details on where you'll need to transfer in order to get where you're going, according to the SFMTA:

  • The inbound J-Church will end at Church and Market. Transfer to bus shuttles at the F Line streetcar stops on Market Street.
  • The inbound N-Judah will switch back at Church and Duboce. Customers getting off the train can walk one block to Market Street to board the shuttle bus to downtown.
  • The inbound K-Ingleside will end at St. Francis Circle. Customers can transfer to a bus to travel to downtown.
  • The inbound M-Ocean View from Balboa Park will travel through St. Francis Circle and become the outbound L-Taraval, to serve the L line stops beyond West Portal. Inbound L trains from the SF Zoo will turn into the outbound M line at West Portal.
  • The T-Third Street will switch back at Embarcadero station, excepting the periods between August 17-August 24 and between August 31-September 10, when work will take place at Embarcadero. During these periods, the T trains will end at Folsom Street. Bus shuttle service will be extended to Folsom Street.