38 Geary is a bus line operated by the

San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cabl ...

(Muni). Together with the limited service routes that share the number, the 38R Geary Rapid, 38AX Geary 'A' Express, and 38BX Geary 'B' Express, the

Geary Boulevard Geary Boulevard (designated as Geary Street east of Van Ness Avenue) is a major east–west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, United States, beginning downtown at Market Street near Market Street's intersection with Kearny Street, an ...

corridor makes up Muni's busiest thoroughfare.

Route description

The route operates between the

Transbay Transit Center The Transbay Transit Center (officially the Salesforce Transit Center for sponsorship purposes) is a transit station in downtown San Francisco. It serves as the primary bus terminal — and potentially as a future rail terminal — for the San ...

and the Richmond District almost exclusively via Geary Boulevard. Much of the route features side-running bus lanes to speed travel times. The route operates 24 hours with less frequent Owl service overnight as part of the All Nighter network.

38R Geary Rapid

The 38R Geary Rapid skips several stops along the route east of 33rd Avenue in order to provide a faster service through the corridor. The line has previously been known as the 38 Limited. Ridership just on this line was 29,500 daily boardings in 2019 — higher than the local line.

38AX / 38BX Geary Express services

Geary is additionally served by two special

express bus Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...

services. Both lines originate inbound at Davis Street and Pine Street near

Embarcadero station Embarcadero station is a combined BART and Muni Metro rapid transit station in the Market Street subway. Located under Market Street between Drumm Street and Beale Street near The Embarcadero, it serves the Financial District neighborhood and s ...

and reach Geary Boulevard via Pine Street with only a few stops in the Financial District. Inbound trips run on Bush Street and California Street. The 38AX Geary 'A' Express continues nonstop to Masonic Avenue and Geary Avenue until 25th Avenue where it begins making local stops until terminating at 48th Avenue. The 38BX Geary 'B' Express turns off Pine at Presidio Avenue and makes local stops on Geary between Presidio and 25th. Buses run during peak hours on weekdays. Express buses were suspended during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

History

The Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railway began operating cable cars on Geary starting in 1880.

(Muni) acquired the corridor as its first

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

line, opening in 1912. Service was initially provided by the A Geary–10th Avenue, B Geary, and C Geary–California. The A was reduced to a shuttle service in June 1913 and the B Geary, itself previously a shuttle between 10th and 33rd Avenues, was lengthened to run from Downtown to the beach.Perles, Anthony; McKane, John (1982). ''Inside Muni: The Properties and Operations of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco''.

Interurban Press Interurban Press was a small, privately owned American publishing company, specializing in books about streetcars, other forms of rail transit and railroads in North America, from 1943MacDougall, Kent (May 19, 1983). "Books Ring Bell With Devote ...

. . Rail service was replaced with buses on December 29, 1956, with the B Geary becoming the 38 Geary. 38 Geary turning onto Market, August 2011

During construction of the Transbay Transit Center, the inbound terminus was moved to the Temporary Transbay Terminal. Much of the Geary Bus Rapid Transit project was implemented between 2019 and 2021. Part of the final design was influenced by emergency measures made in response to the

Ridership

By 2014, over 54,000 daily trips were made along the corridor, more than the entirety of

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as fa ...

References

External links

38 Geary
— via SFMTA {{Muni San Francisco Municipal Railway bus routes 1956 establishments in California