Before you take off for the holidays, remember that come New Year's Eve, you can ride Muni for free. For free? For free. Muni travel, including cable cars, is free of charge from 8 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6 a.m. New Year's Day. And who in their sane mind would want to ride Muni on New Year's Eve? Not us. Because we don't like harrowing train and/or bus rides. But many of you will have to rely on San Francisco's semi-reliable public transportation, so... have at it.

Muni New Year's Eve details:


  • Muni travel, including cable cars, is free from 8 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6 a.m. New Year's Day.

  • Customers are encouraged to use the Metro to get into and out of the Downtown area.

  • Additional Metro service from 8 p.m. to 2:15 a.m. from West Portal to Caltrain and until 4 a.m. from Embarcadero to West Portal Station.

  • J, K, L, M, and N Metro lines are operating on their regular weekday schedule, until shortly before 1 a.m.

  • Owl service: Extra service on Muni Owl Lines (1 to 5 a.m service): 5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 38 Geary, 90 Owl, 91 Owl, and L and N Owl motor coach service. Frequency will be shortened from 30 to 15 minutes.

  • Extra Owl service is subject to change, based on operating conditions.

  • The San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center, is open all night, as usual, for travel assistance.

  • The F Market and Wharves service will be provided by motor coaches after approximately 4 p.m. There will be reroutes only if necessary.

"But can I also ride BART for free," you ask? No. What, are you high? Of course not. However, BART will have extended hours at the turn of 2012. So at least there's that. BART notes: "BART service normally ends around midnight, but on Saturday, December 31, 2011, BART trains will continue to run until around 3 am Sunday, January 1, 2012. Trains will run at their normal intervals during the extended hours. For example, if your train arrives at your favorite station at 11 pm, it will also arrive 12 am, 1 am, 2 am and 3 am."