The fiasco that was the public transit offering for Saturday night's fireworks in San Francisco did not need to be such a fiasco, and it was clearly a case of over-promising on the part of the SFMTA.

Anyone who has attended Outside Lands and tried to leave after the final act, or anyone who has attended Stern Grove for that matter, and attempted to rely on Muni service to get home, has observed a transit agency that, while clearly trying at times, struggles to deal with the ferrying of large numbers of people in one direction, all in a short span of time.

The city and the SFMTA regularly urge the public to rely on transit to get to and from large concerts and events, but it's rare that I have seen the agency — especially when it comes to bus service — be able to follow through on their promises.

Saturday was a prime example of this, with the city — somehow! — not expecting to see the crush of both car and transit traffic coming to see what turned out to be some lackluster, socked-in fireworks off the Golden Gate Bridge and near it.

Ahead of the fireworks, Supervisor Stephen Sherrill went on social media to announce the street closures around the Marina and Cow Hollow, where, according to the plan, non-local traffic who could not prove residency would not be allowed through. He also subsequently touted the Muni plan, in which he wrote, "For out of towners, a special express line running from the Powell BART Station [will take you] directly to the festivities in the Marina."

All those late arriving for the festivities, though, were being told by the SFMTA by 8:45 pm that they should seek other means of getting to the Marina besides these promised shuttles.

"Due to unprecedented crowds and traffic in SF for the fireworks tonight, the Muni system is experiencing significant delays," the agency tweeted atbou 45 minutes before the show. "Muni riders waiting in line [at] Powell may miss the fireworks. Please consider other forms of transp.: Walking, bicycling, scooter, taxis & rideshare."

But the crush of rideshare, Waymo, and other vehicles attempting to get near Marina Green only added to the traffic nightmare for the buses that did try to get in and out — and riders on those buses also took to Xitter to voice their complaints.

"The traffic management was extremely limited," writes one attendee, Barb Tassa. "We left early, and so many people had double parked along marina blvd and completely blocked intersections, a few cars deep."

Another attendee, Gianmatteo Costanza, writes, "I overheard a group who came from San Jose for the fireworks, stranded in the Marina for 2.5 hours, unable to get home, murmuring 'never again' about returning to SF for this. Yesterday was a black eye for our city and a missed opportunity."

And another attendee, @Liz4SF, writes, "I call BS on [SFMTA and SF Dept of Parking and Traffi] who failed to implement their own plan for road closures and redirected traffic of non-Marina residents... Families, kids, seniors and more left STRANDED & exhausted hours after fireworks. zero traffic management for hours of gridlock."

She added, "SFPD had to step in late in night after sfmta left SF in utter gridlock chaos. Waymos idled so long their batteries died, furthering more gridlock."

This was a particularly bad situation, but hardly one that couldn't have been foreseen — and was it just that Mayor Daniel Lurie wanted to preside over Golden Gate Bridge fireworks? Not having a show that was visible from the Ferry Building meant that anyone coming off BART would have to travel a considerable distance, somehow, to get to the farthest north part of the city.

The SFMTA has prepared a game plan, formed over years, for evacuating people out of Outside Lands, but I've never once seen this go smoothly. On the south side of Golden Gate Park, N-Judah trains ought to be running every three minutes after the festival lets out, but instead run on a sluggish schedule that leaves festival-goers fighting for curb space and, when a train does arrive, battling to squeeze onto a train, sardine-like, knowing that the next train could be 20 minutes out.

Remember that shot we published of two N-Judah riders hopping on a back bumper of a train when they couldn't squeeze on in 2023? That train line also had a massive meltdown when the festival was letting out in 2019, you may recall, which led to doors getting pried open as jam-packed riders starting having panic attacks on unmoving trains.

On the north side of the park, shuttles to Civic Center load up alongside regular 5-Fulton and 5R buses, and there is never adequate signage explaining where people should board or how the shuttle system works. And nor do the buses arrive in any order, leaving locals stranded after only Civic Center shuttles pass by that won't make any stops in between.

Getting out to Golden Gate park during Outside Lands weekend can also be a joke, with not enough buses allocated to the 5-Fulton route on festival days, and those that do come along getting packed to capacity immediately on Market Street and in the Civic Center area during prime times, leaving everyone else along the route to the park potentially waiting an hour for a bus to come by with space.

In these situations, people are going to turn to rideshares and Waymos, compounding the traffic situation, because transit has failed to meet their needs — or worse, left them exhausted and enduring the indignity of waiting for a bit of space on a crowded bus after a day of concert-going, unsure how long it take.

And for everyone who hasn't lived in a city like New York or Tokyo before, there's a trend of trying to maintain organized lines to board these crowded buses and trains — I've experienced this first-hand leaving both Stern Grove and Outside Lands, with people under some illusion that a single line makes sense to board a vehicle with 12 doors, and trying to shame people who push forward. But I digress!

The desperation in these situations wouldn't exist if the SFMTA actually had the capacity to handle these high-demand moments, and they pretty clearly do not.

Related: Large Fight, Muni Messes Mar Outside Lands Attendees’ Sunday Night Attempts to Get Home