Photo: Ed Brownson, flickr
Introduction
Updated every four years, the San Francisco Transportation Plan is the blueprint for the city's transportation system development and investment over the next 30 years. The plan analyzes all transportation options like transit, walking, driving, and biking to set investment priorities and advance the city’s goal to build an effective, equitable, and sustainable transportation system. The SFTP also positions San Francisco projects for federal, state, and regional funds.
The SFTP is part of the ConnectSF long-range transportation planning program and is consistent with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Plan Bay Area 2050, the long-range transportation plan for the nine-county Bay Area.
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2050
Growth and revenue estimates used in the plan are based on MTC's regional long-term forecasts developed as part of Plan Bay Area 2050. The San Francisco Transportation Plan investments and policies build towards ConnectSF’s goals around equity, economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and safety and livability.
The SFTP draws from previous phases of ConnectSF, including the Transit Strategy and Streets and Freeways Strategy, community input, San Francisco's 2021 Climate Action Plan, and multiple neighborhood, citywide, and regional transportation plans. The priorities in the SFTP are informed by technical analyses, community input and interagency collaboration.
SFTP 2050: Investment Scenarios
The San Francisco Transportation Plan includes two investment scenarios:
- Investment plan: About $80 billion in expected transportation revenues
- Vision plan: About $95 billion encompassing potential new revenue sources
Through 2050, San Francisco can expect about $80 billion in funding available to support the transportation system. This funding makes up the Investment Plan. Most of these funds are already committed and cannot be used for other purposes. About $13 billion of Investment Plan revenues are discretionary, meaning there is more flexibility in how they can be allocated.
The Vision Plan assumes additional revenues to help move the city closer to the long-term goals for San Francisco’s transportation system. The Vision Plan totals about $95 billion dollars, which includes all the Investment Plan revenues plus an additional $15 billion in potential new revenues. In total, the Vision Plan includes $28 billion in discretionary revenues.
The SFTP includes many different types of revenue sources and matches the different funds to eligible projects and programs. Most of the revenues are from local sources and are important for leveraging other sources (e.g. federal, state, regional and private investment). The SFTP Investment Plan estimates includes the 2022 Transportation Sales Tax Expenditure Plan revenues.
Prioritizing investment is necessary because the transportation needs exceed the revenues in the SFTP. For example, if all discretionary revenues were put towards transit maintenance, there would still not be enough revenues to eliminate the maintenance backlog. The SFTP includes needs beyond transit, which means that revenues need to be prioritized across the entire multi-modal transportation in order to achieve a balanced system.
SFTP 2050 spreads revenues across many areas based on:
- Known city and regional priorities,
- ConnectSF goals, and
- What we heard during community outreach
SFTP 2050 Benefits
Safer streets
SFTP 2050 includes funding for 200 miles of pedestrian and bicycle improvements like sidewalk extensions, new crosswalks, and traffic calming. The Safe Routes to School program is also maintained and expanded through Vision Plan investments.
Smoother streets
Street maintenance is funded to maintain the average current quality of our roads, sidewalks, and bike lanes and begin preparing streets for the risks of climate change. Signs and signals are also maintained.
Reliable transit and paratransit
Transit jobs access would increase city wide about 8%, with modest improvements in local driving and regional transit job access. Transit job access also improves for low-income households and Equity Priority Communities farther from Downtown. SFTP 2050 funds the full need for paratransit service and Free Muni for Youth.
Less congestion and crowding
Transit speeds on city streets would increase about 15%, reducing transit average commute times about 3% or about 7 hours per year.
Improved air quality
There would be a 4% reduction in vehicle miles traveled in San Francisco, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The table below shows areas where benefits were measured and how these benefits align to the ConnectSF and SFTP goals. Taken together, and despite the significant financial challenges triggered by the pandemic, the investments outlined in the SFTP will create positive impacts in San Francisco and advance ConnectSF goals. Additional revenues in the Vision Plan will help address our known gaps, such as restoring transit service, which can help decrease transit crowding, and addressing the maintenance backlog
SFTP Citywide Benefits
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| Equity | Economic Vitality | Environmental Sustainability | Safety and Livability | Accountability and Engagement | |
| Shift in Driving Mode Share |
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| Vehicles Miles Traveled / GHG |
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| Affordability |
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Timeline
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Fall 2022
Outreach
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December 2022
Plan adopted
Fact Sheet
More Detail: Investment Plan and Vision Plan
The charts below show the investment amount (blue) and unmet needs (red).
Discretionary Revenues have been spread across many areas to reflect what we heard in outreach and to advance our goals. (All costs are shown in 2022 dollars.)
About $2 billion of the new local/regional discretionary revenue in the Vision Plan is set aside as a placeholder for transit system investments. Given the uncertainty the city faces, this allows flexibility for future new revenue to be directed toward transit operations to further increase service levels, transit capital maintenance and/or priority and rehabilitation to improve reliability, and/or to capital projects to further expand bus or rail in San Francisco.
Investment Plan and Vision Plan ($ Billions, 2020 dollars)
More Detail: Policy Initiatives
Policy initiatives address transportation trends and larger needs that warrant further exploration and advancement to strengthen investment priorities and their impacts on transportation goals.
Policy initiatives cover:
- Transit funding for operations and maintenance
- Regional transit coordination
- Street safety
- Personal security
- Neighborhood planning and equity
- Planning for mode shift
- Equity-focused pricing and incentives
- Pricing for infrastructure funding
- Capital project delivery
- Shared station development and improvements
- New mobility and autonomous vehicles
- Climate and resilience.
The San Francisco Transportation Plan Development Process
The Transportation Authority Board, comprised of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, serves as San Francisco's county congestion management agency and adopts the San Francisco Transportation Plan approximately every four years.
The 2050 plan builds on the work of ConnectSF (a multi-agency partnership to build an effective, equitable, and sustainable transportation system for our future), Plan Bay Area, Regional transit operating plans, and San Francisco’s community based plans and Climate Action Plan.
Needs
The San Francisco Transportation Plan investments and policies build towards the ConnectSF vision that addresses the specific needs and opportunities that face San Francisco. Two efforts that explored the city’s transportation needs and solutions - the Transit Strategy and Streets and Freeways Strategy - informed the San Francisco Transportation Plan.
ConnectSF Transit Strategy
The Transit Strategy describes the major capital projects and programs that will help our city’s transit system meet the existing and future travel needs.
The primary strategies are:
- Make the system work better
- Deliver a five-minute network
- Renew and modernize our rail system, and
- Build more rail to San Francisco’s busiest places
ConnectSF Streets and Freeways Strategy
The Streets and Freeways Strategy identified five strategies to address our city’s pressing challenges and move us closer to our vision. The recommendations are:
- Maintain and reinvest in the current transportation system
- Prioritize transit and carpooling on our streets and freeways
- Build a complete network for walking and biking
- Prioritize safety in all investments and through targeted programs
- Repair harms and reconnect communities
Current San Francisco Transportation Plan
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2050 Documents (released 2022)
The SFTP includes:
- An Investment Plan to guide the allocation of $80 billion in existing and anticipated transportation revenues through 2050
- A Vision Plan to guide the allocation of an additional $15 billion potential new transportation revenues through 2050
- Policy initiatives to complement the Investment Plan and Vision Plan
- Guidance for implementation and monitoring
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2050 (PDF)
Appendix A SFTP 2050 Investment Plan Development Process (PDF)
Appendix B Revenue Assumptions Table (PDF)
Appendix C SF-CHAMP Analysis Methodology Memo (PDF)
Appendix D Equity Evaluation (PDF)
Appendix E Public Outreach Summary (PDF)
Appendix F Streets and Freeways Survey Safety Preferences Findings (PDF)
Previous San Francisco Transportation Plan Documents
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2040 Update (released 2017)
The 2017 minor update builds off the plan passed in 2013. The 2017 update:
- Reaffirms the 2013 plan’s goals, investment, and supporting policy recommendations
- Includes a progress report on projects, policies, and planning studies
- Revises transportation funding revenue forecasts, updates project costs, and reassesses projects previously identified for funding
- Includes an overview of existing and future conditions—such as population and employment growth, traffic congestion, and affordability trends that impact San Francisco’s transportation system
- Identifies new planning efforts and policy papers that are underway or anticipated to begin soon that will focus on key issues facing San Francisco.
These analyses guided advocacy in the update to Plan Bay Area 2040, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s federally and state-mandated regional planning effort.
2017 San Francisco Transportation Plan Update (PDF)
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2040 (released 2013)
The 2013 San Francisco Transportation Plan articulated two transportation investment scenarios through 2040, identified potential new revenues and established an Early Action Program for the first five years of investments. In addition, the 2013 plan includes policy recommendations and strategic initiatives to complement the investment scenarios as well as in-depth analysis on circulation in the growing core of the city, transportation equity, visitor trips, and project delivery.
San Francisco Transportation Plan 2040 (PDF)
Appendix A Plan Development Process (PDF)
Appendix B Needs Analysis White Paper (PDF)
Appendix C Core Circulation Study (PDF)
Appendix D Revenue Assumptions (PDF)
Appendix E Outreach Summary (PDF)
Appendix F Transportation Equity Analysis (PDF)
Appendix G Summary of SFTP Policy Recommendations (PDF)
Appendix H Small Project Delivery White Paper (PDF)
Appendix I Large Project Delivery White Paper (PDF)
Appendix J Plan Performance Summary (PDF)
Appendix K SF Travel At a Glance (PDF)
Countywide Plan (released 2004)
The first plan, the Countywide Transportation Plan, was adopted by the Transportation Authority Board in July 2004, and established the City's investment strategy and policy initiatives for the sector through a technical and community-based planning process.
2004 Countywide Plan (PDF)
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