CONTACT: Stephen Chun, SFCTA; 415-522-4816 office; 415-356-4509 mobile, stephen.chun@sfcta.org

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Francisco’s designated county Congestion Management Agency, yesterday released its comprehensive Downtown Travel Study that highlights the major travel trends and insights of the post-pandemic era, using observed data to document changes in travel patterns and associated local demographic and economic conditions. San Francisco’s downtown has experienced profound changes since the COVID-19 pandemic and the report focuses on a profile of the northeast sector in 2023-2024. 

Major findings include:

  • Travel downtown dropped significantly in the post-pandemic era, characterized by lower regional trip-making and transit use, paired with an increased share of trips made by private vehicles and increases in remote work and e-commerce deliveries.
  • Notably, freeway congestion has returned to pre-COVID levels in the p.m. peak on freeways in San Francisco even as weekday office attendance remained at less than 50% of pre-COVID levels by the end of 2024.
  • Transit ridership has grown steadily since 2021: Muni recovered to close to 74% of pre-COVID weekday ridership by 2025 Q1; BART reached 42% of 2019 Q1 ridership by 2025 Q1; and Caltrain achieved approximately half of pre-COVID ridership by March 2025, following the launch of electrified train service.

Continued economic recovery will rely on stabilizing and growing local and regional transit funding and strategies to manage emerging freeway congestion as the economy improves. 

“This Downtown Travel Study provides valuable insights into San Francisco’s transportation sector, and a roadmap for how to facilitate a healthy recovery for downtown in our transit first City,” said San Francisco County Transportation Authority Chair and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar. “We must continue to make our public transit safer and more inviting for all users, reduce traffic congestion and bolster transit funding in order to achieve a more sustainable and resilient city and region."

Some key findings on Downtown travel trends:

  • Trips to, from, and within Downtown dropped from 1,641,000 to 893,000 trips (-46% or -748,000 trips) between 2019 and 2023, while trips in the rest of San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area dropped by 25%.
  • Driving has become the dominant mode of transportation for travel between Downtown and the rest of San Francisco / Bay Area. For trips between Downtown and outside Downtown, drive trips dropped 16%, while transit trips decreased by 57%.
  • 69% of the drop in Downtown trips is due to a decline in non-work purposes such as shopping, eating out, and personal business, though the number of work trips had the largest percentage decrease.
  • Use of delivery services (e.g. for food or online shopping groceries/ packages) increased significantly, with the share of Downtown San Francisco residents receiving deliveries per typical weekday increasing from 26% to 40%.

Some key findings on transportation system performance:

  • Muni continues to have the highest ridership of all Bay Area transit operators, and has recovered to 74% of 2019 Q1 weekday ridership and over 92% of weekend ridership by 2025 Q1.
  • BART ridership at Downtown stations ridership recovered to 36% of 2019 ridership by 2024 for weekdays and 54% for weekends. BART ridership recovery is more robust on weekends than weekdays and outside the Downtown core of San Francisco than within.
  • Caltrain ridership recovered to approximately half of pre-COVID ridership by March 2025. The Caltrain Electrification project continues to boost ridership, contributing to a 37% year-on-year increase in ridership in the first seven months of service.
  • Congestion on the I-80 freeway in Downtown reflects an increased share in through trips (between East Bay and the Peninsula / South Bay), and a decreased share in people driving into San Francisco.

The Transportation Authority’s Congestion Management Program (CMP) reports on transportation conditions and management strategies on a biennial basis. Visit Congestion Management Program for the latest CMP reports and links to biennial and monthly San Francisco congestion dashboards. 

For more information and to access the report, please visit Downtown Travel Study. 

About the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (sfcta.org)
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority’s mission is to make travel safer, healthier, and easier for all. We plan, fund, and deliver local and regional projects to improve travel choices for residents, commuters, and visitors throughout the city. The Transportation Authority Board consists of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who act as Transportation Authority Board Members. Board Member Myrna Melgar serves as Chair of the Transportation Authority and Tilly Chang is the Transportation Authority’s Executive Director.