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Reminder: Muni is free and BART is open late New Year’s Eve

What are you doing New Year’s?

By Adam Brinklow
Fireworks explode behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Jay Huang

New Year’s Eve is a time for lights, fireworks, good times, and beautiful views in San Francisco. It’s also a time for a major headache getting home in the wee hours of the morning when all is said and done.

Uber is set to surge prices and the city’s handful of cabs will book in a flurry, so for many it will be Bay Area public transportation to the rescue. As it has since 1999, Muni will wave all fares starting at 8 p.m. on December 31 through 5 a.m. January 1.

Fastpass-bearing San Franciscans won’t know the difference, but out of town visitors might appreciate the free ride. An SFMTA press release also promises extra service for the big night, hopefully cutting back on late night crowding:

*Owl service frequency is doubled on the. 5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 25 Treasure Island, 38 Geary, 44 O’Shaughnessy, 48 Quintara-24th, 90 Owl, 91 Owl, L Owl, and N Owl routes.

*Extra LRV Metro shuttles will run from West Portal to 4th and King until 2:15 a.m.

*Extra LRV Metro service between Embarcadero and West Portal will run until 5 a.m.

*Service on cable cars will be provided by buses after approximately 6 p.m.

*Service on the F Market & Wharves will be provided by buses in the evening.’

BART, meanwhile, will cost the same as always (though scheduled price hikes won’t kick in until the sun comes up New Year’s Day, at least), but the transit agency is running extra trains and late service in and out of the city that evening as well,

“Special service to and from San Francisco starts at 8pm and extends to 3am.Trains will run every 20 minutes after midnight with extra trains standing by in downtown San Francisco after the fireworks show,” BART’s site promises. Late-night commuters can check out a full schedule here.

Note that to ease crowding, the Richmond and Pittsburg lines will skip over Embarcadero Station and the Warm Springs and Dublin lines will skip Montgomery Street Station and West Oakland Station.

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