Central Subway finally open — how well will it work?
Throughout its dozen years of construction, San Francisco’s new Muni Central Subway had been dogged by questions and concerns over its design, alignment and connectivity to the Bay Area’s greater rail transit network.
Now that it’s open — thousands of people rode the subway trains on Saturday’s opening day — the greatest questions are about its functionality: How fast is it? How long does it take to make the Market Street transfer to BART and Muni stations? Just how deep are the subway’s station platforms?
Central Subway trains will shuttle riders to the extension’s four new stations Saturdays and Sundays until the Jan. 7 start of full service. Here’s what it was like during the first day of operation.
People walk through a new Central Subway car during a media tour in October. The subway now operates at four stations on Saturdays and Sundays and will start full service on Jan. 7. The line had been under construction for more than a decade.
The long descent underground
It’s been well-documented that the subway’s three underground stations — Yerba Buena/ Moscone, Union Square and Chinatown-Rose Pak — were burrowed deep beneath the surface. That’s because the subway’s tunnels run underneath the BART and Muni subways on Market Street to cross from South of Market to Union Square and Chinatown.
Descending to the station platform at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station, the new north
bound terminus of the T line, means journeying 12 stories beneath the surface. Yerba Buena/ Moscone Station and Union Square Station have similar descents.
But, despite their depth, the stations’ aesthetics likely will make the Central Subway more inviting to casual transit riders in ways that other Bay Area train stations do not, such as BART’s dimly lit Civic Center Station.
Escalators — three sets in Chinatown, two sets in Yerba Buena/Moscone and a massive one connecting Union Square’s platform to its mezzanine — help turn the plunge into de facto moving art galleries. The walls at Chinatown’s station feature Instagram-worthy backdrops. The ceiling of Union Square’s mezzanine features color-changing LED panels.
Though the multiple stairways at Yerba Buena/Moscone and Chinatown stations are obvious reminders of just how deep underground the subway platforms are located, it’s difficult to feel claustrophobic at the bottom. Each underground platform, lit brightly with some seating, has high ceilings that make the two-car train platforms feel more expansive than they are.
At Union Square Station, two long sets of escalators connect the station’s platform to its mezzanine, which spans two blocks. Riding the northbound escalators take you close to the station’s entrance at the southwest corner of Union Square Plaza on Geary and Stockton streets. Heading up, the southbound escalators take you toward the mezzanine at Powell Station and a second exit at the northwest corner of Stockton and Ellis streets, close to Market Street.
Each of the three underground stations features glass elevators near their entrances that can take riders directly to the subway platforms. Chinatown station’s elevators can take you up to its rooftop deck. Union Square Station’s elevators are also accessible at the center of its mezzanine level.
It’s all about the escalators
One of the most criticized aspects of the Central Subway leading up to its soft opening had been the transfer to BART and Muni stations on Market Street.
A key trade-off of the Central Subway is that the T line will no longer take riders to the Market Street subway that links together the two rail systems. Design renderings showed riders would have to traverse the length of three football fields to make the transfer to BART and Muni’s Powell stations.
Many riders were surprised to see that transfer is shorter than expected. It takes roughly three minutes to transfer from the Union Square Station platform to the closest BART fare gates at Powell Station, with escalators accounting for the bulk of the transfer.
After riding the Central Subway for hours on Saturday, it’s evident just how crucial functioning escalators will be in making the subway extension a practical and accessible transit option for riders.
Escalators could mean the difference between an efficient ascent and an uncomfortable chore to leave the subway.
It takes roughly 100 steps of stairs to reach Yerba Buena/ Moscone’s surface from its station platform; 140 steps to reach the surface at Union Square; and 160 steps to get to the Stockton Street exit in Chinatown.
The set of escalators at Union Square Station covers 99 steps of stairs and, according to Municipal Transportation Agency Director Jeffrey Tumlin, “is the longest escalator in the Western United States.”
One Union Square escalator wasn’t active Saturday — the third southbound escalator — and it was unclear why. Tumlin said the agency will be vigilant about maintaining the subway’s escalators, acknowledging their “cantankerous” nature.
“I really hope — and I expect — that Muni is going to do everything to keep these escalators going,” BART board Director Janice Li said. Like others, she was surprised by the quick transfer to BART. “I think escalators will make the trips feel a lot shorter.”
How long it takes to ride the line
It took about 9½ minutes to reach the Chinatown surface boarding northbound at Fourth and Brannan Station, the Central Subway’s sole above-ground stop.
Because subway trains will shuttle riders between its four new stations only until Jan. 7, it’s difficult to measure exactly how quick the ride will be from Chinatown to other key T line destinations, such as Caltrain’s Fourth and King Station, Chase Center and the line’s southbound terminus at Sunnydale.
It was also tough to suss out Saturday just how much more efficient the subway ride will be versus riding Muni’s 30-Stockton and 45-Union/Stockton buses. The historically crowded bus lines offer parallel service on the Stockton corridor to Market Street, and are often mired in heavy traffic congestion on weekdays.
But, as one would-be daily subway rider who works near Fourth and King streets told me, “It definitely cuts down time from the 30 and 45. Now, there’s no reason to use them.”