City officials, and a group of high schoolers, are trying to change that. Thanks to years of advocacy by the Lowell High School Transit Club and other riders, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency<\/a> is moving ahead with the second phase of an ambitious project to speed up the route and make it more reliable.<\/p>\n According to SFMTA data, over a quarter of all students take public transit or the yellow school bus to and from school. High schoolers lead the way, with 55% reporting that they take transit regularly. Of those students, more than 14,000 ride the 29 daily.<\/p>\n But the line has long struggled with overcrowding, delays and reliability problems, particularly during the morning and afternoon school rushes. Students often watch multiple buses pass before they can board, while buses themselves become trapped in traffic and fall behind schedule<\/a> from frequent stops.<\/p>\n Phase Two of the 29-Sunset Improvement Project, approved May 19 by the SFMTA Board of Directors, includes bus stop consolidations, upgraded shelters and lighting, wider sidewalks, traffic-calming measures and infrastructure changes designed to reduce delays and overcrowding.<\/p>\n It focuses on the southern half of the route, stretching from Junipero Serra Boulevard and Holloway Avenue through Ingleside, the Excelsior and Bayview neighborhoods. Four of the nine communities the route serves are prioritized by the SFMTA as \u201cequity neighborhoods,\u201d meaning the majority of the route\u2019s riders are low-income or people of color.<\/p>\n The pandemic delayed portions of the project and temporarily shifted attention away from transit advocacy as schools shut down and ridership collapsed across the Muni system. But the 29-Sunset has rebounded faster than many other routes because it serves neighborhoods rather than downtown office commuters, the SFMTA said. Today, ridership has returned to 18,000 people daily, roughly 90% of pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want the 29 to run on time for years to come,\u201d said SFMTA chief Julie Kirschbaum. \u201cIt\u2019s an example where as we\u2019ve seen ridership grow, we have invested in service and now this capital investment to reflect that growing demand.\u201d<\/p>\n Phase One of the project cost about $9.5 million, funded using sources including $1 million in vehicle registration fees from the city\u2019s Proposition AA, as well as regional programs like the One Bay Area Grant. Phase Two will cost $10 million, similarly drawing from local tax revenue and state and local grants.<\/p>\n For Lowell students, the changes represent the culmination of years of organizing.<\/p>\n The project began in 2019 after pressure from students who eventually formed the Lowell Transit Club, which attended public meetings, organized feedback campaigns and communicated directly with transit officials working on the first phase of the project, according to club president Quinn Luk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Woody Szydlik, 17, said he joined the club in part because his friends were involved \u2014 but the bigger reason was that he relies on the bus to commute from the Richmond neighborhood to Lowell. Like many riders, he has experienced delays that made him late to class.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought maybe I could do something to help that,\u201d Szydlik said.<\/p>\n Brian Haagsman, outreach lead for the 29-Sunset Improvement Project, recently rode the route during a Monday afternoon school rush, watching students crowd onto packed buses outside Lowell and San Francisco State University.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing some intrepid high schoolers who are willing to get on, get on no matter what,\u201d Haagsman said. \u201cBut we know that to make this a line that\u2019s comfortable to ride, we need to make it reliable and have space to accommodate everyone who wants to ride the route.\u201d<\/p>\n The route, he explained, faces a difficult combination of challenges. Because so many schools dismiss students around the same time, buses suddenly fill with large groups of riders. Delays then compound as buses stop more frequently to pick up waiting passengers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the bus gets delayed, then there might be a person or more people waiting at every single stop along the route,\u201d Haagsman said. \u201cThat makes it get even more delayed. So then you have a bus that\u2019s both delayed and might not have space for you.\u201d<\/p>\n The SFMTA first identified major reliability problems on the route in a 2019 evaluation. Officials found that buses frequently bunched together, leaving two or three arriving at once after a long service gap, while heavy traffic and closely spaced bus stops slowed trips across the city.<\/p>\n As San Francisco\u2019s longest daytime bus route, the 29-Sunset is particularly vulnerable to delays because problems in one neighborhood can ripple throughout the line.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so the intensity of use, the fact that schools all end at the same time, are just challenges within the route that make these types of investments so valuable,\u201d Kirschbaum said.<\/p>\n Because of the route\u2019s size, the agency split the improvement effort into two phases. The first focused on the western section of the route and was coordinated with a repaving project already underway on Sunset Boulevard.<\/p>\n That phase introduced changes that were part of SFMTA\u2019s ongoing Muni Forward initiative, including upgraded boarding islands and transit signal priority, which allows buses to receive extended green lights at intersections, reducing the amount of time they spend sitting in traffic.<\/p>\n Some bus stops were consolidated, and stops were moved from the near side of intersections to the far side.<\/p>\n \u201cSimply by moving the bus back to the stop sign, the bus stops once,\u201d Haagsman said, as the bus cruised down Winston Drive towards Buckingham Way near Stonestown Galleria. \u201cIt\u2019s faster, more reliable, and it\u2019s one small change that helps improve the ride for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Plans to remove or relocate bus stops that officials consider redundant or underused drew some debate, but SFMTA planners argue that many stops are spaced too closely together, forcing buses to stop more often than necessary and contributing to delays.<\/p>\n Agency officials say they relied heavily on ridership data and community outreach to make those decisions. Every Muni bus tracks how many passengers board and exit at each stop, allowing planners to identify which stops are busiest and which see relatively little use. Haagsman conducted bus tours, stopping along the way to discuss conditions at locations such as Mansell Street and Visitacion Avenue in McLaren Park, where installation of a shelter is now proposed.<\/p>\n In their outreach, \u201cwhat we heard consistently was people need a bus that is reliable,\u201d Haagsman said.<\/p>\n The SFMTA estimates that some Phase One improvements reduced round-trip travel times by as much as 15 minutes. Phase Two continues many of those same strategies on the southern half of the route.<\/p>\n Plans include upgraded shelters and lighting at stops, wider sidewalks, new transit bulbs \u2014 sidewalk extensions that allow passengers to board buses directly from the curb \u2014 and additional traffic-calming infrastructure. Haagsman said those changes will not only improve transit reliability but also make streets safer for pedestrians.<\/p>\n The project also targets several corridors that are part of San Francisco\u2019s High Injury Network, a designation for streets with higher-than-average rates of severe traffic collisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Students in the Lowell Transit Club, meanwhile, said their work continues. Members are now advocating for a future 29-Rapid line that would provide faster, limited-stop service across the corridor.<\/p>\n They have also begun organizing around broader regional transit funding efforts, including the sales tax measure<\/a> on November\u2019s ballot that is expected to generate around $1 billion a year for agencies such as BART, Muni, AC Transit and Caltrain, even if the majority of the club\u2019s members are too young to vote.<\/p>\n Kirschbaum said the SFMTA recognizes the potential benefits of a Rapid route but said that the agency needs to stabilize funding first. Quick build improvements for Phase Two are set to roll out through this summer, with larger improvements slated through 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/05112629-BUS_GH_001-KQED.jpg\")
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