Introduction
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Francisco’s designated county Congestion Management Agency, 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. 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.
Key Findings
- 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.
Resources
Download Executive Summary DRAFT (PDF)
Download Full Report DRAFT (PDF)
Download Board Presentation FINAL (PDF)
Press Release FINAL
Contact
Joe Castiglione, Deputy Director for Technology, Data, and Analysis
May 13, 2025 Transportation Authority Board
Board Presentation (PDF)
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