43 Masonic

43 Masonic
Overview
Operator	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Began service	December 29, 1956
Route
Locale	San Francisco, California
Start	Fort Mason
Via	Masonic Avenue and The Presidio
End	Munich and Geneva
Length	6.5 miles (10.5 km)
Stops	88
Service
Frequency	Every 12 - 15 minutes
Weekend frequency	Every 20 minutes
Map	Route map on Muni website
Route map ← 41 Union  List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines  44 O'Shaughnessy →

The 43 Masonic is a north-south bus line operated by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA, or Muni). Considered by some locals as one of Muni's most scenic bus routes, the line runs from the Excelsior District to Fort Mason through the Presidio, Pacific Heights, the Haight–Ashbury, Forest Hill, and Ingleside.

Service

The 43 Masonic runs from the early morning until late night, though it is not a 24-hour bus line and is not apart of Muni's Owl Service. The bus line's home garage is the Kirkland bus yard near Pier 39.

Route

The route begins at the intersection of Munich Street and Geneva Avenue in the Excelsior District, traveling on Chicago Way before traveling on Munich (northbound)/Prague Street (southbound), with the two routes meeting on Naples Ave. From there, both directions of the 43 travel together on Geneva Ave to Ingleside, intermittently stopping at Balboa Park station and connecting to four of the five BART lines. At the intersection of Geneva and Ocean Ave, the 43 turns to Frida Khalo Way and the center of City College of San Francisco's campus and snaking up to Monterey Blvd via Judson and Genessee (for southbound buses) or Judson and Forester (for northbound buses). After a stint on Monterey Ave, the bus skirts around Mt. Davidson Park and travels on Portola Avenue up to the Twin Peaks, intersecting the K Ingleside and M Ocean View metro lines at Forest Hill station along the way. Much of the 43's journey near the Twin Peaks travels using Laguna Honda Blvd. The 43 then proceeds to meet with its first of two intersections with the N Judah at Judah St and 9th Avenue, before running parallel to the N on both Judah street and Parnassus avenue, before turning on Cole Street to intersect with the N Judah for the second and final at Cole's intersection with Carl Street. The 43 subsequently proceeds to serve the center of the Haight Ashbury via Haight Street, which takes it to Masonic Avenue. Traveling up Masonic for nearly the rest of the street northbound, the 43 serves the Panhandle and USF, following Presidio Avenue up until reaching the Presidio itself. At the Presidio Transit Center, the 43 turns to travel along Lombard street before making its final turn onto Laguna Street, terminating at Fort Mason.

Fares

Muni charges $2.50 per ride on the 43, like all of its other bus, metro, and historic streetcar services. Fares can be purchased through ticket vending machines, with a Clipper card, or a mobile app launched by Muni.

History

The 43 Masonic was created between 1979 and 1983 as a crosstown route in order to help modernize the Muni system; the earliest San Francisco Chronicle article mentioning the 43 Masonic was written in 1996. In 1997, though, the 43 Masonic was noted by students as a bus line prone to muggings.

In 2019, the 43 Masonic was the 44th best performing Muni line out of the agency's 63 routes; the bus had an on-time rating of 54 percent, though the bus was logged to be "very late" 17 percent of the time.

The 43 Masonic, along with many other bus and streetcar lines, was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, though restored in June that year (albeit shortened to terminate at Masonic and Geary). By December 2021, the 43 Masonic had only recovered 31% of its pre-pandemic ridership. In May 2022, Muni began drafting plans to restore services which were previously shut down or shortened pending another COVID surge; in July, the 43 was restored to its pre-pandemic route, though modified to include a stop to the recently-opened Presidio Tunnel Tops.

External links

SFMTA website