Downtown S.F. rush hour traffic at pre-pandemic levels despite tepid return to office
San Francisco may be a transit-first city, but driving is the main way to get downtown, according to a new study by the County Transportation Authority.
The primacy of automobiles was among several sobering findings in the Downtown Travel Study published this week, which was first reported by the Frisc.
Focusing on the period between 2019 and 2023 that includes the COVID-19 lockdowns and nascent economic recovery, the study provides a window into how travel patterns are evolving — and how much people love their cars. While downtown trips declined 69% overall, with more people working remotely and fewer leaving their homes to shop or eat out, the share made by private automobiles grew from 24% to 37%.
Walking and biking are still preferred modes for people zipping through the city, but by a narrowing margin. In 2019, pedestrians and cyclists made 43.4% of weekday trips to, from or within San Francisco's metropolitan center — which in the study extends from the waterfront to Van Ness Avenue on the north side, 11th Street in SoMa and 17th Street in the Mission and Dogpatch neighborhoods. By 2023, the share of trips made by foot or bike had dropped to just under 40%.
At the same time, traffic has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels during evening rush hour, even as the return to offices has stagnated. Despite fervent efforts to lure workers back, workplace attendance at the end of 2024 was about 45% of what it had been prior to COVID, the study said. It attributed much of the current freeway congestion to workers driving from the East Bay to the Peninsula or South Bay.
For a city and region where political leaders have long tried to wean people off cars, the results of the study may seem dispiriting. But the key points did not surprise Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who chairs the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.
'I'm grateful that the TA did this, and that it gave us a temperature check on where we're at,' Melgar told the Chronicle, noting that the data helped corroborate San Franciscans' day-to-day observations. Anyone who is out on the roads experiences the misery of downtown traffic and knows it is getting worse, she said.
Melgar also views the study as a potential roadmap for city and regional policy. It shows the need, she said, to create incentives for people to walk, bike or take the bus.
'I'm afraid that the increasing traffic situation is going to deter people from coming to work in person, or going out after work with their friends, because they know that getting back in the car is going to suck,' she said.
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