Transit California sat down with Julie Kirschbaum, the Director of Transportation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).
Transit California: You were appointed SFMTA’s Director of Transportation in February 2025 after nearly 20 years of service to the agency at various levels. What do you see as your priorities for SFMTA in your new role’s future?
It is the honor of my lifetime to be asked to lead an agency that I care so much about. I’m so proud of everything our staff accomplishes, often under difficult conditions, and one of my top priorities is going to be supporting you and the amazing work they do.
Just to give you one example – during the pandemic, our Transit Division staff made changes like shifting from set schedules to headway management, and that has helped Muni become more reliable than it’s ever been. Supporting staff innovation and risk taking is one of the best things I can do to improve our programs and services.
My other main priorities are to rebuild trust with community members and stabilize the agency’s finances.
In terms of rebuilding trust, it’s essential that residents and business owners feel confident in our agency. I’m looking for win-win solutions where community members don’t feel like Muni improvements like transit-only lanes happen at the expense of people who drive.
In the conversations I’m having with community members, I’m emphasizing people aren’t defined by their transportation choices—most San Franciscans use a mix of options to get around. I drive to drop my kids off at school, take Muni to work, and walk to meetings between my office and City Hall on a daily basis. We need to acknowledge that this is common for most of us and ensure our services reflect the needs of everyone.
Second, I am committed to fighting for transit funding to keep Muni and our regional transit providers strong. Our employees work hard every day to keep the system running, and I will advocate fiercely to ensure we have the resources we need to keep our city moving and support economic recovery.
Transit California: Last year, SFMTA recorded its highest customer satisfaction ratings in the agency’s history, even with challenges facing transit agencies across California. What do you feel is driving these ratings?
Being responsive to customer needs has been central to our success in transit, and it will continue to be a top priority for me in this new role.
We’ve made Muni fast, frequent, reliable, clean and safe, which is what people told us they wanted.
Thanks to 75 miles of transit priority lanes and 100 miles of transit improvements, Muni is faster than ever. Thanks to proactive maintenance, more even spacing of buses and trains, and our new Metro fleet, Muni is more reliable than ever. Thanks to our increased cleaning standards, expanded vehicle cleaning team, and 50% increase in shelter and platform cleaning, Muni is cleaner than ever.
All of this is growing our ridership – we provide about half a million passenger trips every weekday – a 10% increase in the last year alone.
Transit California: You are the first woman appointed permanent Director of Transportation in San Francisco’s history, and WTS’s San Francisco Chapter acknowledged your longtime leadership earlier this year by awarding you the 2024-25 Katherine G. Johnson Trailblazer Award. How does your perspective as SFMTA’s first female Director of Transportation inform your work?
Being a woman and mom greatly shapes how I approach my work and how I know the system needs to work for families who need reliability and safety prioritized as they head to work, school and play.
I have a daughter who takes advantage of our Free Muni for Youth program and has become an expert at navigating the Muni system because of it. Her experiences becoming a young, independent transit rider inform my goals for system safety. More young people than ever are using public transit in San Francisco – and will become lifelong Muni riders – because of the Free Muni for Youth Program.
I pursued a career in transportation because I wanted to do work that makes a real difference in people’s lives. Transportation is more than just moving people from place to place—it’s about creating access, opportunity and connection.
Transit California: One of your signature accomplishments is leading SFMTA to reduce subway delays by 70%. How did you and your team achieve these results?
Our regularly scheduled Fix-It weeks can take credit for the vast improvement in service reliability, along with the introduction of our new fleet of rail cars, which are significantly more reliable than the older fleet we are phasing out. Since Feb. 2019, moderate subway delays in our Market Street subway are down 75% and long delays are down 52%.
Fix-It Week is crucial because it allows us to tackle larger maintenance projects and upgrades that just aren’t possible during our regular overnight hours. Once the trains stop running at midnight, our crews need time to set up and break down equipment, which often leaves only a couple of hours for actual work. That’s fine for small fixes, but bigger projects require more time.
By closing the subway, a little earlier for a week at a time, we can get a lot more done helping to keep Muni trips quicker and trains arriving on time. This proactive approach prevents breakdowns before they happen, making the system cleaner, safer, and more reliable for everyone.
Riders are noticing these improvements, too. Thanks to initiatives like Fix-It Week and Muni Forward, we recently received our highest rider satisfaction rating since we began surveying people. That’s a testament to the incredible work of our mechanics, electricians, engineers, and cleaners who keep the system running smoothly. And of course, we appreciate our riders for trusting Muni to get them where they need to go!
Transit California: Like many agencies throughout California, SFMTA is facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall and is considering both budget cuts and ways to raise revenue, even as ridership is recovering back to pre-pandemic levels. What resources does SFTMA need to address this shortfall and avoid devastating cuts?
Bay Area transit agencies – really transit agencies across the country – are facing a severe financial crisis. Coming out of the pandemic, transportation patterns have shifted, and we need a new model for funding public transit. Starting in July 2026, when our one-time pandemic relief funds run out, we’re facing a budget deficit of more than $320 million.
I can’t overstate how devastating it would be for San Francisco for us to try to cut our way out of this deficit. Muni is the backbone of the Bay Area economy. Muni carries over half of Bay Area transit riders, and about 55% of all regional transit trips start or end in San Francisco.
That’s why we’re fighting so hard for new funding. We’re incredibly lucky to have transit champions in the California legislature like Senators Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguin, who introduced SB 63 to provide operations funding to transit agencies throughout the state. I’m also thrilled the San Francisco’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, is committed to making sure Muni survives and eventually thrives. And there’s a ton of grassroots support from Muni riders.
At the same time, we are taking a thorough look at operations and making changes that optimize efficiency and service reliability. We have reduced spending, become more efficient and increased the revenue that our agency has control over. The pandemic taught us how to do more with less, to work smarter, and to make the most of our limited resources.
Transit California: You recently announced a plan to prioritize fair enforcement of the state’s “daylighting” law, which prohibits drivers from parking vehicles within 20 feet of any crosswalk to improve visibility and save pedestrian lives. What is SFMTA’s role in the enforcement of this law?
Daylighting is a proven safety measure to prevent traffic crashes and save lives. Daylighting helps make it easier for drivers to see pedestrians, especially for children and people who use wheelchairs.
While I was Acting Director, I realized we needed to implement this new state law fairly when we roll it out citywide.
The new enforcement plan will make things clearer for residents and visitors. When they see a curb near a crosswalk that has red paint, they will know not to park. When they receive a warning at an unmarked curb, they will understand the 'daylighting' law and our plan for it. This way, people can identify legal parking areas with clarity, and intersections have increased safety.
Transit California: We’re coming to the end of April, which is Earth Month. Muni has the greenest fleet in North America. Can you tell us how you achieved that?
At the SFMTA, every month is Earth Month. We’re incredibly proud that even though almost half of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, our vehicles produce less than 2% of the city’s emissions.
We have operated a network of zero-emission vehicles for decades.
Meanwhile, we continue to look for the latest in green transportation technologies. Our Board of Directors and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently approved the purchase of more than half a dozen new battery electric buses. When they’re delivered next year, they will bring our battery electric bus fleet to 30 vehicles.