In August 2024, SamTrans will restore Route 118, which has not operated since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Route 118 is a limited stop route designed to provide a faster connection from Pacifica to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in Daly City. Route 118 serves similar areas to local Route 110.

With the reintroduction of the route, SamTrans proposes to use Highway 1 between instead of parallel corridor, Oceana Blvd, between Brighton Road and Monterey Road. Using Highway 1 and the bus stops on Highway 1 will make the route a faster and more direct connection to BART. Stops on Oceana Blvd will continue to be served by Route 110.

With this change, Route 118 would serve the following stops on Highway 1 between:

• Highway 1 at Moana Way (northbound)
• Highway 1 at Pacific Ave (southbound)
• Highway 1 at Palmetto Ave (southbound)
• Highway 1 at Milagra Drive (northbound)

The following bus stops would no longer be served by Route 118 (but would continue to be served by Route 110):

• Oceana at Brighton (northbound)
• Oceana at Clarendon (southbound)
• Oceana at Eureka Square (both directions)
• Oceana at Paloma (both directions) 903
• Oceana – Good Shepherd School (both directions)
• Oceana at Milagra (northbound)
• Oceana at Manor (southbound)
• Highway 1 at Highway 35 Exit Ramp (no 110 service)

SamTrans proposes to realign Route 120 to better serve a new Jefferson Union High School District facility at 123 Edgemont Drive that will include District offices, an adult education facility, special education services, community space, and employee housing. In this proposal, Route 120 would deviate from Southgate Avenue in Daly City using Higate Drive, Edgemont Drive, and Lincoln Avenue shown in Figure 1 below. Current riders may experience about three minutes of additional travel time on Route 120 to accommodate this change.

Today, Route 121’s northern end point at Mission Hills Park does not have access to a restroom for our bus operators, which is a critical employee need.

To solve for this operational challenge, staff is recommending splitting the Mission Hills portion of Route 121 east of Daly City BART from Route 121 and creating a new route to serve the area (new proposed route shown in blue below).  The new route, Route 125, would travel along the same alignment as the current Route 121 between Daly City BART and Pope & Bellevue with customers having continued access to Route 121 at Daly City BART.  Route 125 would run at the same frequency, seven days a week, and serve all the same stops and areas of today’s Route 121.

Customers with a destination beyond Daly City BART would need to transfer to Route 121 at Daly City BART; however, there would be no loss of service coverage. All efforts will be made during route scheduling to align the schedules for most efficient transfers.

Those paying with Clipper, SamTrans mobile ticketing app, or a SamTrans pass would get a free transfer. Riders who pay their fare using cash would need to pay an additional fare to make the transfer. Systemwide, this represents an estimated 12% of SamTrans customers. SamTrans encourages riders to use Clipper fare payment to get benefits like free transfers and one-way trip discounts. Customers may qualify for half-price fares through Clipper START or a pre-loaded Clipper Card through the US-101 Express Lanes Community Benefits Program.

The proposed change would allow for restroom access for bus operators and will improve reliability and reduce unclear waiting times mid-route for riders.

Route 249 is a new limited stop route between San Mateo Caltrain Station and College of San Mateo recommended in Reimagine SamTrans. In the approved plan, the route starts at 1^st Ave and B St outside the station. Staff recommend revising the routing to instead start at the Caltrain Station on Transit Center Way. This would allow riders a seamless transfer to Caltrain, which will have improved frequencies when electrified service starts in fall 2024.

The approved Reimagine SamTrans network calls for 20-minute frequency in the morning peak period only on Route 278. This was responsive to pre-pandemic ridership patterns; however, recent Route 278 ridership shows more balanced ridership across the morning and afternoon.

Staff recommend allocating additional frequency to the route in the highest ridership hours of morning and afternoon, roughly the 8:00 AM hour and 3:00 PM hour. This change will allow SamTrans to provide more balanced service that matches rider demand and class schedules.

Route 296 Owl was created in Reimagine SamTrans to distinguish trips that operate late at night and have a slightly different alignment than regular Route 296 trips. Route 296 Owl trips end at Palo Alto Caltrain Station instead of E Bayshore & Donohoe in East Palo Alto.

However, some 296 Owl trips today operate well outside of the typical “Owl”, or overnight, period. Staff propose to convert current 296 Owl trips that operate before 8:30 PM and after 6:00 AM to regular Route 296 trips. Customers riding to/from Palo Alto or Palo Alto Transit Center on Route 296 Owl during the trips proposed to be converted to regular 296 trips would need to transfer to Route 281 or 280 to continue their trip from East Palo Alto to Palo Alto (or vice versa.

SamTrans is exploring an agreement to use passenger loading and bus layover space inside Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco. With this change, Salesforce Transit Center would become the downtown San Francisco terminus for routes 292, 397, FCX and EPX.

Routes 292 and 397 would be realigned to serve the Salesforce Transit Center via 3rd Street and 4th Street in San Francisco. Routes 292 and 397 would continue to serve the Mission Street corridor but would no longer serve stops on Mission Street East of 3rd Street, including stops at Drumm & Clay Street, Mission & Spear Street, Mission & Main Street, Mission & 1st Street and Mission & 2nd Street. However, the new stop at the Salesforce Transit Center is within a 10-minute walk or roll of all discontinued existing stops.

Using Salesforce Transit Center will allow for enhanced waiting facilities for riders, including security, lighting, and shelter. Customers will have improved access to regional transit services provided by AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, SF Muni, and WestCAT. The new location will also allow for one consolidated downtown San Francisco layover location with restroom and break space for our bus operators.

SamTrans is exploring an agreement to use passenger loading and bus layover space inside Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco. With this change, Salesforce Transit Center would become the downtown San Francisco terminus for routes 292, 397, FCX and EPX.

Routes FCX and EPX would be realigned to serve the Salesforce Transit Center via Harrison and Bryant streets in San Francisco. Passengers would have a faster connection from US-101 directly into the Salesforce Transit Center. Routes FCX and EPX would no longer serve stops on Mission Street or 9th and 10th Streets, including stops at:

• Drumm St & Clay St
• Mission & Spear St
• Mission & Main St
• Mission & 1st St
• Mission & 2nd St (in the southbound direction)
• Mission & 4th
• Mission & 5th
• Mission & 7th
• Mission & 8th
• Mission & 9th
• 9th & Folsom/Harrison
• 10th & Howard/Bryant

Using Salesforce Transit Center will allow for enhanced waiting facilities for riders, including security, lighting, and shelter. Customers will have improved access to regional transit services provided by AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, SF Muni, and WestCAT. The new location will also allow for one consolidated downtown San Francisco layover location with restroom and break space for our bus operators.

Due to very low ridership, Reimagine SamTrans recommended eliminating school-oriented Route 85 which primarily serves Ormondale Elementary. Based on public input in 2021, the final network incorporated one afternoon trip, which had higher ridership than the morning trip.

As of October 2023, about eight students use the afternoon trip on an average weekday. This is 14 students fewer than the median school-oriented route trip. Route 85 also has higher costs and subsidies per passenger when compared to the average school-oriented route. Based on ridership and available resources, SamTrans cannot operate service in both the morning and afternoon periods.

SamTrans is seeking input on whether to operate the morning trip to school or continue to operate the afternoon trip from school.

Click here to give your input on these proposals!

In March 2022, the SamTrans Board of Directors approved a set of changes to the SamTrans bus network through a project known as Reimagine SamTrans. This new network was crafted after careful consideration of what we heard from the public, from over 200 outreach meetings and thousands of comments and survey responses over the course of two and a half years.

We are now using this valuable input to implement a new, streamlined bus network with:

• Brand new routes and connections

• Faster and more direct routes

• Simpler, easier to understand routes

• Continually improving frequency

Three phases of Reimagine SamTrans implementation have occurred since 2022, and have included new routes, consolidated routes and a small number of eliminated routes. SamTrans also launched its new Ride Plus microtransit service operating in East Palo Alto/Belle Haven and in the mid-Coastside (Half Moon Bay and El Granada).

SamTrans is recruiting additional bus operators so we can implement the full Reimagine SamTrans service vision! Come join us to help deliver these exciting new services. Interested in becoming a bus operator? Click here.

What to Expect Next

You may be asking, what changes are still to come for my route?

Reimagine SamTrans calls for more bus service in San Mateo County. Phases 1, 2 and 3 of implementing Reimagine SamTrans included only some of the changes approved in the full plan.

An overview of the Phases 1, 2 and 3 changes for each route – plus the planned changes for the final phase in August 2024 – can be found in the table below.

More detail on the changes for each route can be found in appendix E of the final Reimagine SamTrans plan, available for download from this webpage:

https://www.samtrans.com/planning/reimagine-samtrans/resources