Culture Bus approaching end of the road
By: Joshua Sabatini
Examiner Staff Writer
April 13, 2009
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| Making the rounds: The 74 route carries passengers between SoMa’s museum district, Union Square, Civic Center and Golden Gate Park for a $7 adult fare. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — The Culture Bus’s number is up less than a year after it launched.
The distinctive yellow No. 74 buses, which were launched in September, shuttle riders between cultural hot spots in The City, such as the museum district in SoMa, Union Square, the Civic Center and the museum concourse in Golden Gate Park.
The bus was supported by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the cultural institutions it connects because it attempts to build on San Francisco’s No. 1 industry: tourism.
But as The Examiner first reported in late October, the bus has failed to attract the expected number of passengers and now appears headed for elimination in the fall. When it launched, five daily buses arrived at designated stops every 20 minutes. In January, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reduced service to once every hour. The adult fare is $7, while those with a regular Muni pass pay $3. It costs $1.50 to ride regular buses.
The transit agency spent $607,372 between Sept. 27 and Jan. 31to operate the new bus line, and collected only $59,927 in revenue, putting Muni in the red to the tune of $547,445 on the line’s operating costs.
Muni officials said the Culture Bus was a pilot project and that ridership has been less than what the transit agency expected and hoped for.
“Our cultural-institution partners understand that the discontinuation of the service is likely,” Muni spokesman Judson True said.
The agency is facing a $129 million budget shortfall and is considering service reductions, among other proposals, to close the deficit.
Each of three different proposals under consideration for systemwide service reductions at the transit agency includes getting rid of the Culture Bus. Three other Muni lines, N-Judah, 5-Fulton and 71-Haight-Noriega, will all continue to run between downtown, the Civic Center neighborhood and stops near Golden Gate Park museums, the transit agency said in a report outlining the service cut options.
Muni’s board is expected to vote April 30 on the reductions. A vote in favor of any one of the proposals would mean the Culture Bus would pick up its last round of passengers in September.
74X-Culture Bus ridership
Average passenger tallies:
Sept. 27-Oct. 24: 1,018 (weekdays); 1,921 (Saturdays); 936 (Sundays)
Oct. 25-Nov. 21: 905 (weekdays); 1,127 (Saturdays); 869 (Sundays)
Nov. 22-Dec. 19: 1,131 (weekdays); 1,186 (Saturdays); 631 (Sundays)
Dec. 20-Jan. 16: 971 (weekdays); 1,106 (Saturdays); 1,008 (Sundays)
Jan. 17-Feb. 13: 399 (weekdays); 661 (Saturdays); 719 (Sundays)
Feb. 14-March 13: 416 (weekdays); 503 (Saturdays); 464 (Sundays)
March 14-April 10: *430 (weekdays); 297 (Saturdays); 348 (Sundays)
* March 14-April 3
Source: Municipal Transportation Agency
