In an effort to discourage drunk driving as San Francisco rings in the new year, Muni is offering free rides to the public the night of New Year’s Eve running through the morning of New Years Day.
At midnight on New Year’s Eve a city-sponsored fireworks show from a barge off of The Embarcadero will be held and visitors are encouraged to ride Muni to and from the event.
Muni will have extended service and all rides will be free from 8 p.m. today until 5 a.m. on Thursday, according to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Paul Rose.
Riders with Clipper Cards should not tap their cards, according to the SFMTA website.
Extra Owl service, running from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. will be in operation for the 5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 38 Geary, 90 and 91 Owl and the L and N Owl bus routes, according to the SFMTA website.
Additionally, the 1 California line will operate to and from Presidio Avenue and Drum Street, near the Embarcadero, until 3 a.m.
Revelers traveling between San Francisco and the East Bay or the South Bay are encouraged to take advantage of expanded late night services from BART, Caltrain, AC Transit and SamTrans.
BART riders will be provided with additional service until approximately 3 a.m. on New Years Day. BART trains will run every 20 minutes after midnight with extra trains downtown to get people home following the fireworks show, according to the BART website.
Extra trains will be at the ready in downtown San Francisco after the midnight fireworks show.
To help with platform congestion following the fireworks show on the waterfront, BART trains will skip over certain stations at the busy Embarcadero, Montgomery and West Oakland stations.
After 8 p.m., trains heading into San Francisco from Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond will not stop at Embarcadero Station, but will stop at Montgomery station.
Trains from Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont will not stop at Montgomery station, but will stop at Embarcadero station.
Following the fireworks, Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond line passengers can only use Montgomery station, while the other East Bay lines will only pick up passengers at Embarcadero station.
Daly City and Millbrae-bound passengers are encouraged to use Montgomery station, which is expected to be the less crowded downtown station.
New Year’s Day BART service will operate on a Sunday/holiday schedule and service will begin at 8 a.m.
Caltrain will be offering free train rides to revelers, plus four post-midnight trains, departing San Francisco at 12:45 a.m., 1:15 a.m., 1:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m., or when full, according to the Caltrain website.
Caltrain officials are also reminding passengers that open containers of alcohol are not allowed aboard their trains and that disruptive passengers will be asked to get off the train at the next stop.
SamTrans in San Mateo County will also be offering free rides beginning at 8 p.m. on today until 5 a.m. on Thursday.
AC Transit in the East Bay will have late night service on Routes 800 and 822 from San Francisco.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
