San Francisco’s Municipal Transit Agency recently released preliminary findings from its transit safety survey. A bill Transform helped pass in 2023, SB 434 (Min), requires all California transit agencies to conduct these surveys. San Francisco’s initial results show that less than half of respondents feel safe on Muni most of the time. It also highlights the disproportionate impacts of harassment and assault among transit riders. Women, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and riders with disabilities felt less safe than the average rider, and non-gender-conforming people in particular experienced significantly more threats and harassment. 

If you haven’t taken the survey yet, Muni is collecting rider feedback through February 28. The survey is available in Cantonese and Spanish as well as English.

Initial Muni survey results highlight areas for improvement

Muni riders reported experiencing or witnessing harassment most often on trains or buses, less often at bus stops, and even less often on train platforms. The most common time and place to witness something that made a rider feel unsafe was during the day on a vehicle. Still, some riders reported that they didn’t ride alone at night or avoided Muni altogether after dark.

The most common behavior was verbal harassment or hostile gestures; 62% of riders experienced this, and 74% had witnessed it directed at someone else. Half of the survey respondents had seen a physical assault while on transit, and 36% had experienced it themselves. 

People with disabilities, women, Latino riders, and Spanish speakers were more likely to report seeing or experiencing harassment. API and Chinese speakers were most likely to report harassment based on race or language.

Improving safety on public transit 

Improving safety is crucial to ensuring everyone has access to schools, jobs, and opportunities, and also to the Bay Area’s economy. Local businesses suffer when riders stay home because they don’t have safe transportation options. For many riders, transit is the only travel option that meets their needs, and when that is taken away due to safety concerns, it dramatically hurts people’s quality of life.  

Transform’s 2023 report, Ride Fearlessly, outlined a series of steps transit agencies can take to make riders feel safer without increased policing. Possible actions include increased frequency so riders aren’t left for long waiting for the next bus or train, public awareness campaigns, and making mental health interventions and support available, to name a few. 

The reality is that we need significantly more funding to implement these safety programs along with increasing the transit frequency and reliability that will bring additional riders back to transit. Transform has joined a coalition that’s asking San Francisco’s elected leaders to close Muni’s funding gap to ensure this system, which is vital to the well-being of the city, remains safe and reliable.