Pride Parade 2008 Service Updates

A lot of street closures for the SF Pride 2008 events means a lot of Muni service updates. It’s actually a bit of a mess, because in a few instances, the same line will be rerouted slightly differently at different times of day. Sunday, Muni will add more service to the subway from 8 am to 11 pm and complementary bus service for the J-Church, north of 30th Street. BART will also be running extra service on Sunday for the parade. Since there will be many Civic Center street closures in the area bounded by Van Ness, Turk, Leavenworth, Market, and Hayes, bus lines passing through here are rerouted. General rule of thumb: just wait at the bus stops for other lines that are located on these streets, or walk clear of the area until you reach a relatively unaffected line. Details, after the jump:

Saturday, June 28 (Pink Saturday, Dyke March):

• F-Market & Wharves: will not run past Van Ness starting 5:00 pm. Use Metro subway to substitute.
• J-Church: interrupted between Duboce/Church and 16th/Church, from 7-10 pm for the Dyke March.
• 5-Fulton: will not run past Franklin for evening and owl service, starting about 7:45 pm. Use the 21 or 31 in the evening, or nearby another owl route (38, N, or L).
• 19-Polk: Outbound to India Basin, buses will reroute around Civic Center by going west on Turk, south on Van Ness, and northeast on Mission before turning south down 8th Street. Inbound to Fisherman’s Wharf, catch the 19 at 7th & Market or Larkin & Golden Gate (or any of the usual points to the north or south of these stops).
• 21-Hayes: will skip around Civic Center, using Van Ness to get back to 9th/Market.
• 22-Fillmore: this one will be a mess from about 6-10 pm, so Muni will run an express bus service between Fillmore/Hayes and 16th/Mission. If your trip includes this section of the route, you have to transfer onto and off of the bus bridge.
• 26-Valencia: Buses will reroute onto Mission for the inner section of Valencia, up to about 19th Street.
• 24-Divisadero, 33-Stanyan: might be best to just avoid altogether after the late afternoon if you can, since service can be sporadic even on the best of days. At different times, the 33 will have to move off its route in the Mission and Castro. The Muni updates page lists in detail the route changes it may or may not choose to follow when the time comes.
• 35-Eureka, 37-Corbett, L-Owl: will have to make their way through activities in the Castro at night. Check here for the specifics about alternate stops.

Sunday, June 29 (Parade from Embarcadero to Civic Center, click here for SFGate maps). These changes apply until the parade route is cleared:

• F-Market & Wharves: no service between Steuart and Van Ness; use subway instead.
• Muni Metro Owl service: interrupted at the very end of its Sunday morning operations; will reroute onto Mission east of 3rd.
• 5-Fulton: will not run east of Van Ness during the parade. Rule of the thumb for the day: ride Metro subway to Van Ness Station, and then transfer to the 5 (at Van Ness/Hayes during the parade, and at Van Ness/Market after the parade).
• 19-Polk will have to skirt just around the end of the parade route at 8th and Market. Click here for the alternate stops.
• Several routes that converge onto Market will stop running at or near Market, including: the 6-Parnassus, 9-San Bruno, 21-Hayes, 26-Valencia, 31-Balboa, 38-Geary, and 71-Haight/Noriega. Transfer to the Metro subway or BART for the Market Street portion of the trip.
• Routes that cross Market near downtown (9X-San Bruno Express, 10-Townsend, 27-Bryant, 30-Stockton, 45-Union/Stockton) are usually a mess. The 30 and 45 will not run South of Market; use the 9X to bridge the gap, or use N-Judah/T-Third Metro service. The two clear thoroughfares that bookend the parade are The Embarcadero and Van Ness, so some North/South lines will have to swing out of their way to track around the parade.

For trips between downtown locations, the easiest plan in many circumstances will be to use a combination of Van Ness and the Metro subway to get as close as you can to your destination, and then walk the rest of the way.

Muni Official Service Updates: click here for full details about Saturday June 28, and here for full details about Sunday June 29.